During the period of confinement, as a consequence of the coronavirus, it is advisable to maintain a routine and establish daily work patterns. For those who are teleworking, it is important to incorporate into their routine a series of exercises and body postures to avoid injuries.
The truth is that there is no perfect posture, the best thing to do is to change it. It is not necessary to be focused on maintaining a certain posture, since each one of us has our own physiological curves.
The most important thing is to move and exercise after the day of teleworking at home.
What happens when working from home?
In addition to the usual sedentary lifestyle, there is the lack of commuting to work, as well as the so-called “potato at the desk syndrome”, in which we have greater access to eating meals after hours.
Another unhealthy habit can be the increase in smoking among smokers, since teleworking means that they are less restricted. There are several elements that we must take into account when working from home:
- Understand that our home is not prepared to be a workplace. In the best of cases we will have a room and a desk to work, but in others we will have to share space with those we live with.
- We are not prepared to sit all day. An adult, on average, spends 55-70% of waking time sitting. If we assume that a night’s rest is 8 hours of sleep, individuals spend approximately 11 hours a day in a sedentary manner.
Therefore, bad routines such as getting out of bed and going straight to the computer or eating breakfast while working should be avoided. It is better to create decompression routines.
For that reason, get up on time, respect breakfast time, get cleaned up, get dressed in comfortable clothes and get to work. You don’t have to work in your pajamas, it is better to keep a similar routine to when you worked outside.
How should we sit?
There are many different ways to sit, although most are incorrect, such as sitting with your head forward, shoulders slumped or spine curved forward. For those who work with the computer and telephone, it is advisable to use headphones to avoid holding it with the shoulder with our head tilted while typing.
On other occasions, the ergonomic problems of the teleworking station force to take bad postures: a very high or very low table, computer with the screen that forces to turn the neck or to look very down or a chair that does not offer adequate support in the lumbar region.
Other bad habits we tend to commit are: sitting on the edge of the chair, which makes it tiring to maintain the correct posture of the back, placing the legs without supporting both feet in a way that reduces the support and stability of the body, or placing ourselves too close to the table.
That is why it is important to get a workspace that is as close to the office as possible.
What type of chair can we use? With a backrest?
We should use a stable chair that provides freedom of movement, with adjustable height, with a slight prominence to support the lumbar area and armrests to reduce the muscular load in the neck and shoulder area.
The material should allow perspiration and it is recommended that it has a backrest.
What kind of injuries or pathologies can we suffer if we do not work with the correct posture?
Failure to maintain proper posture can cause generic risks, musculoskeletal disorders and visual fatigue, which can lead to increased tension of the cervical musculature and cause headaches.
To avoid these generic risks it is recommended:
- Enable an independent work area within the dwelling, with enough space to contain the equipment and work materials.
- To have natural light and to keep noise as low as possible.
It is important to remember that noise can be an important stress factor and that natural light helps reduce the risk of visual fatigue.
- Electrical and telephone wiring installed in a fixed manner and in the walls, to avoid unnecessary accidents.
- Adequate room temperature and ventilation according to the time of year.
Musculoskeletal disorders are a group of processes that affect some of the parts of the locomotor system, mainly the soft tissues such as tendons, muscles, nerves and structures close to the joints.
Its most common manifestations range from cervical pain, dorsalgia, intervertebral disc herniation, tendinitis, tenosynovitis, epicondylitis or carpal tunnel syndrome, among others. It is usually concluded that the causative factors of musculoskeletal disorders are incorrect postures and prolonged maintenance of static postures.
The prevention of musculoskeletal disorders requires a good ergonomic design of the telework station, which takes into account all the existing variables in it: table or work surface, chair, keyboard and footrest.
How can we prevent visual fatigue?
- Use natural lighting and complement it with artificial lighting.
- Position the computer screen perpendicular to the windows to avoid glare and reflections.
- Stable screen image, without flashes, flickering or other forms of instability.
- Adequate display screen, following the recommendations of Royal Decree 488/1997:129.
- Ability to easily adjust the brightness and contrast between the characters and the background of the display.
- Placement of the screen at a height that can be viewed by the worker within the space between the horizontal line of vision and that at 60 degrees below it.
- Introduction of breaks to allow recovery from fatigue and reduce the maximum working time in front of a screen.
In the case of working with a laptop, it is important to emphasize the need to take extreme preventive measures, as they can generate additional visual and ergonomic risks due to the small size of the screen and the integrated keyboard.
For this reason, it is recommended to connect the laptop with an independent monitor and keyboard or to connect it with a lectern to an integrated keyboard.
What exercises can we do during breaks to avoid lumbago and back pain?
First of all, it should be clear that it is very important to take breaks every hour or hour and a half. If you go to the bathroom, you can take advantage of this break to do some push-ups and stretch the muscles of your legs, back and neck.
If you have stairs at home to move from one floor to the other, you can take advantage of them to exercise going up and down. This will help you to work your legs and keep your cardiovascular system active.
If we have bracelets or watches that quantify steps, they can be useful to use at home not only to monitor the steps we have taken throughout the day, but they can even remind us that we have not moved for a long time and that we should move or take the opportunity to take a few deep breaths.
Exercises:
- Step with kick.
- Seated leg raises.
- Hip elevation in bridge.
- Bulgarian squat.
These simple exercises can be done either in the morning after breakfast and before going to work or before going to sleep to help you fall asleep better.
We can also incorporate these simple stretches:
- Pectoral stretching.
- Stretching of piramidal.
- Stretching of psoas.
- Stretching of cervical musculature.
Finally, remember that Top Doctors specialists continue working to take care of your health, even when you are at home. Through the telemedicine service you will be able to solve your doubts without waiting.