Maintaining Your Spine Health While Working From Home

Since the beginning of the pandemic, have you noticed how drastically our lives have changed? Even our individual spine health is affected, too! It seems like everything has changed! And we’re so used to the new normal now that we hardly notice the difference anymore.

From waking up early, we’re suddenly a stone’s throw away from our makeshift workstations. While we’ve learned to ignore the events happening behind our coworkers’ backs during video calls, we’ve ignored and set aside something else for too long…

Back pain

Back pain is common among adults. Many may have even started as early as their teenage years. Whether you’re back working in the office or working remotely from home, you may have experienced back pain too.

When your back pain becomes chronic, it doesn’t entirely mean that you should shrug it off and suffer silently. Here are some things you may want to consider to improve your spine health while at work.

Improve your workstation setup

Unknown to many, back pain isn’t dependent on what activities you do every day or your posture when you sit. Your work-from-home setup has a lot to do with it, too. Unfortunately, not everyone has a comfortable workstation at home. People who have extra rooms and generous budgets often have access to a comfortable workspace that benefits their spine health. 

Others, however, have to make do with what they have when it comes to curating their workstations.  Some convert their kitchen tables and chairs into their workstations before, during, and after meals with the family. Some even plop down on their bed and hunch forward as they work. 

Related:Productivity Tip: Your Bed is NOT an Office

As a new work-from-home professional, you have to think about the long-term effects of your workstation decisions. This is especially since we don’t know how long it will be until we can safely work in public spaces again. And who knows? Maybe your company might be thinking of switching to a work-from-home set-up without you knowing. 

Which elements of your workstation should you consider to help you work more efficiently and to prevent back pain from long hours of sitting?

An ergonomic chair

This is not your ordinary computer chair. Ergonomic chairs have been designed with human comfort in mind. These chairs are engineered to support your back and spine as you sit down. It takes away the pressure in your lumbar area. It also helps you prevent neck pain, making sure your seating is comfortable for extended hours of work. 

A comfortable (and if the budget suits it, adjustable) desk

In today’s modern home offices, working while you sit has been replaced by standing desks. This type of desk helps you stretch your legs while you work, but steer you away from health risks such as diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, weight gain, DVT (deep vein thrombosis; a form of a blood clot in the leg), varicose veins, and many other health issues due to low amounts of calories being burned as you sit.

A dependable desktop or laptop computer

What use are a good desk and a comfortable chair if the computer you’re working with stresses you out daily? If your system makes your progress slow down at work, then that delay will only add to the things you’ll constantly be worried about. It simply doesn’t seem like a relaxing way to work from home at all, so make sure to upgrade your computer if your finances allow it. 

Productivity tools

When it comes to productivity, the tools you need to set in place are entirely up to you. To give you an idea, most people would identify productivity tools as things that keep them organized, mellow, and stress-free. 

The most common tools that satisfy those needs are the following:

• Virtual calendars and organizers (e.g. Trello, Teamwork, Monday)
• Communication tools (e.g. Zoom, Skype, Basecamp)
• Password managers (e.g. LastPass, Bitwarden, Dashlane)
• Time and activity trackers (e.g. Hubstaff, Top Tracker, Harvest)
• Scheduling and appointments (e.g. Google Calendar, Calendly, SimplyBook.me)
• File sharing and management (e.g. Google Drive, Dropbox, Box)
• Social media management (e.g. Hootsuite, Later, Buffer)

When you’ve created a nice and workable workstation for yourself at home, it won’t be long until you see the positive difference in your mood and productivity levels. It’ll help improve your posture, spine health, and mental health, too! No more panicking over missed deadlines!

Decrease time on your smartphone

We have so many screens, entertainment platforms, and apps these days that every single gadget now poses as a weapon of distraction. It’s so easy to get distracted with even the most mundane things in our lives, isn’t it?

Your phone can let out a tiny notification tone and in a split second, your phone is in your hands. When you look down to your phone, your neck curves into a C shape. This movement causes tension in your neck muscles and forces the bones and discs to mash together, producing strain and eventually, pain and discomfort. 

Related: What is “Text Neck” and How Can You Prevent Your Kids from Having it?

Stretch and move from time to time

When you’re in one position for a long period, you’ll likely trigger some kind of pain in your body, specifically along your back. You need to stretch your muscles and help your body acclimate to physical activities. Our bodies deteriorate when we move less and become sedentary. It’s advised to move with different ranges of motion as much as you can. This will help you avoid painful sensations in different parts of your body.

Avoid crossing your legs

If you’re the type of person who has a habit of crossing their legs, better steer clear of doing it. Crossing your legs puts heavy pressure on your lower back. This may cause alignment issues with your spine, weakens blood circulation and blood pressure, and increases your risk of getting painful spider veins along your legs. 

Fix your posture to boost spine health

One of the bad habits that most of us are guilty of is slouching and having bad posture. 

Gravity impacts our posture whether we’re sitting, standing, walking, or simply lying down. When we’re sitting in front of our computers, gravity creates a force in our muscles, joints, ligaments, and bones. 

Because of this, your body goes under pressure which often goes unnoticed as you’re in a relaxed state. 

With bad posture, it can create tension and add pressure to some parts of your body. Over time, this can create a painful strain that can become very uncomfortable. 

However, when you have good posture and you’re moving around from time to time, you are able to lessen the pressure. We are also able to distribute it evenly, helping avoid discomfort even as you stay in a specific position for a long amount of time.

Related: Tips for Better Posture While Working from Home

Seek spine health options from a chiropractor

Asking for help from a professional is always the best thing to do when it comes to improving your spine health. Doing that can also help get rid of the chronic pain that you’ve been enduring. Chiropractors are highly trained in dealing with our spine, one of the most delicate parts of our bodies. 

The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) has stated that through manual-thrust manipulation (a popular technique in chiropractic care), lower back pain symptoms have been reduced by 30% in 94% of patients.  With traditional medicine, only 54% of patients felt the same results within four weeks as well. 

This report by the ACA only proves that the pain we feel in our bodies isn’t always resolved with medication. In fact, our bodies are known to have the ability to heal itself. Chiropractic care can be just as effective or even more in this case when it comes to pain management and holistic health. 

At Intero Chiropractic, we’ve developed a systematic approach called the FREED Method. FREED is an acronym that stands for: 

Funneled Diagnosis 

Right Tool, Right Order 

Elicit The Body’s Ability To Heal 

Evaluate Objectively

Develop a Plan to Fully Live Life 

The FREED Method’s long-term effect is in the name itself. This technique frees our patients from chronic pain using a scientific approach. This approach helps pinpoint the exact cause of pain and address the root problems. We want them to know that their good days are ahead of them, not behind them. 

Our approach starts with a funneled diagnosis that considers as many causes of the pain as possible. It later narrows it down to the origin of the dysfunction. Then, we’ll come up with a step-by-step process to address all issues in order of priority. The next step is preparation for helping the body heal itself without the need for surgery or medication. The patient’s progress will then be objectively measured using objective indicators like sensory nerves (pain), motor nerves (fatigue and weakness), and autonomic nerves (energy and digestion). 

Finally, we’ll create a plan to provide continuous healing, help patients build strength, and ensure that they regain confidence in their bodies.

The Bottom Line

When it comes to the regulation of spine health, solutions for back pain, and all sorts of chronic pain that you feel in your body, it’s best to seek wellness from the scientific, systematic FREED Method that’s been backed up by research and has treated plenty of happy patients. 

Most people think that pain can only ever be managed by medication. But what they don’t know is that our bodies are equipped with the ability to heal themselves. Our doctors adjust to allow optimal spine health and natural healing.

Learn more about our approach to chiropractic care and how it differs from traditional medicine through this link.

Let’s get you started with a careful assessment when you book an appointment with us today!

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at 925-255-5805 or visit us at our clinic in Pleasanton, CA. 

We look forward to helping break free from pain, discover long and lasting healing, and encourage you to live your best life!

Are you a big fan of exciting rewards? This April 2021, we’re launching our VIP Adjusting Hours for our wellness/lifestyle patients and VIP members at Intero Chiropractic! 

With our VIP Hours, you can enjoy little to no wait times, avoid fewer crowds, and experience services during the morning and afternoon clinic hours. 

VIP Adjusting Hours Schedule:

Tuesdays: 09:30 AM to 11:45 AM

Wednesdays: 03:30 PM to 05:45 PM

Thursdays: 09:30 AM to 11:45 AM

Fridays: 12:30 PM to 01:30 PM

*No walk-ins, limited availability

Ask us about our VIP membership!

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