Santa doesn’t just hang
out at his desk for work! He is out in
the world, in and out of his sleigh, enlisting
the help of others (elves and reindeer!) to do part
of the hard, back-wrecking work. However, he also works from his
home/workshop which certainly creates stress and pain for him
like it does for the
rest of us who now realize the dream of working from
home. However, we can learn from his example. He doesn’t just lounge
at a desk. He gets help for heavy chores. He moves!
Pflugerville Wellness Center urges all of our Pflugerville
work-from-home friends to do the same as well as arrange
pain-reducing chiropractic care
for the back pain, neck pain, shoulder, and other pain(s) you may now experience.
THE DREAM: WORK FROM HOME, LEARN AT HOME
Working from home: the dream of many…until the dream came true. There are some stunning
statistics on how work-from-home has changed so many
of us. One study of 232 telecom employees documented that
39% had more pain in the low back, 48% in the upper back/neck, and 27% in their
hands. Only 33% said they did not have any such
musculoskeletal pain problems. (Women reported more issues than men.) 30% worked in a separate room
at home, 32% worked in a dedicated area of a room with
other members of the home, 38% worked in a non-separate area like
the dining room. 41% did not have an office
chair; 32% used an ergonomic chair. 71% were troubled
by constant or intermittent disruptions.
52% put in more work hours a day. Only 30% took frequent
breaks. (1) Students experienced much the same as the workers
did when their learning and teaching was undertaken
at home: low back pain for 73%, neck pain for 69%, shoulder pain for 59%. Contributing
factors for students were pain, academic stresses, personal/emotional issues,
work environment, and time with the computer. (2) For the
work-from-home dream to come true with less pain
requires some preparation. Your Pflugerville chiropractor is
eager to help you prepare.
WORKING FROM HOME: THE SET UP
Any new venture needs a plan. Starting
without the plan backfires for many. 89% of
new-to-working-at-home workers who participated in a survey described some musculoskeletal pain.
Upper back pain was said to be a result of
nonergonomic work environments with suboptimal computer
configurations while nonergonomic postures were linked to headache and low back pain. (3) A survey of university
employees reported that 61% of them experienced
more musculoskeletal pain working from home with neck, shoulder and low back
pain being the most often experienced. Women stated
significantly more pain than men. The height of the seat an the distance of
the monitor were significant risk factors
for discomfort and pain in work-from-home employees. (4)
HOPE FOR NEW WORK-FROM-HOME PAIN
There is hope! Regardless of the new
work-from-home trend that caused more sedentary
lifestyles, decreased physical activity, and more
musculoskeletal pain like back pain, researchers noted
that exercise and less sitting around successfully reduced
low back pain and even ‘cured’ it for participants in their study. (5)
Pflugerville Wellness Center offers some simple, gentle exercises for our
Pflugerville chiropractic patients. Start them after we go
through a thorough exam and you start experiencing
relief with our gentle chiropractic spinal manipulation care.
CONTACT Pflugerville Wellness Center
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. John Murray on The
Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he shares
relieving chiropractic care for back and neck pain patients with The Cox®
Technic System of Spinal Pain Management on The Cox®8 Table.
Schedule your Pflugerville chiropractic
appointment now. Be like Santa: move, get help with
the heavy lifting, adapt your workspace! Happy Holidays!