How proper ergonomics and chiropractor treatment can help you stay healthy while working from home.

What is ergonomics and why is it important:

Over 95% of office workers’ day is spend glued to a chair and staring at a computer. With an increased number of employees working from home due to the pandemic, more people need to be aware of the idea of ergonomics and staying healthy while working from home. Ergonomics is the study and science of the worker and the work environment such as the design of the workplace along with the health and comfort of the employee at their workstation.

“Chiropractors report a surge of injuries and discomfort stemming from the nationwide push to work from home, as millions of workers have spent months clacking away on sofas and beds and awkward kitchen counters. Out with ergonomics, in with hunching over laptops.” The New York Times, 4 September 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/04/well/live/ergonomics-work-from-home-injuries.html

With the pandemic, many workers are forgetting the importance of practicing good ergonomics habits while working at home. Workers deciding to rest on their sofas or beds while working actually leads to work from home injuries that results in slouching, poor posture, less productivity, body/muscle pain and discomfort. Although deciding to be extra comfortable and lazing the whole day on your couch while working may sound ideal, the neck and back pain that comes after does not feel ideal. With working from home, it can be hard to maintain an effective ergonomic workstation. The importance of practicing good ergonomics allows employees to work more comfortably in a way that improves their health. Not only will practicing good ergonomics benefit a worker’s overall health, but also proven increase productivity and efficiency by 25%.

What is a chiropractor:

Chiropractors are licensed practitioners that diagnose, treat and correct joint, muscle and body pains. They are the ones that can help relive that pain and discomfort that comes from bad postures. Chiropractors help individuals through various treatments that relives and treats discomfort.

Here are ways that we recommend improving your workplace ergonomics while working from working at home:

  • Practice good posture: practicing a good posture is crucial in maintaining good ergonomic habits. This can easily be implemented by sitting up straight leaning against the chair backrest, relaxing arms and neck position, having elbows bent to keyboard 90 to 120 degrees and having your feet flat on the floor. These will benefit your overall health and will prevent discomfort to muscles and joints.
  • Take stretch breaks: sitting too long on chair all day can lead to risk of chronic health problems. It is important to take at least a 5 to10 minute break throughout the day from your workstation to stretch and move your hands and legs around or even stand up to walk around. By taking breaks to stretch, your body will improve blood circulation and will avoid any pain or discomfort.
  • Improve your workstation: With improving the design of your workstation, you implement an ergonomic workplace for yourself. Having items such as ergonomic chairs, desk mats, improved lighting and clutter free desks are important in improving the ergonomic design of your workstation. This will avoid discomforts as you will be working more comfortably.
  • Rest your eyes: Sitting in one place and constantly looking at a laptop screen can lead to eye strain. Taking a few breaks to look off to the side, looking at objects in a far distance or adjusting your screen to be in level with your eyes will help avoid any eye strains.

Following some of these simple recommendations can help benefit yourself stay healthy while working from home.

How can a chiropractor help me stay healthy while working from home:

Chiropractors help individuals through improving and easing pains and discomfort and helps improve your posture. Proper ergonomics and chiropractor treatment can help you stay healthy while working from home. Treatments will also benefit an individual in an ergonomically  improved posture, improved health and well-being along with healthy, safer and more comfortable work environments.

Avoid muscle and body pains with our treatments:

While looking for more advance ways to help improve and relieve any pain and discomfort that may have been caused from bad ergonomic practices at home, we provide a variety of provide Chiropractor Treatments that can help you. At The Health First Group, we have Chiropractors at our Mississauga Heartland, and Etobicoke locations.  We offer treatments such as posture correction, spinal health management, muscle release therapy and much more that can help you relieve your muscle and body pains. With over 7.3 million Canadians suffering from chronic pain, you should think about visiting one of our chiropractors.

REFERENCES:

https://dpg-formfittings.com.au/the-five-things-you-need-to-know-about-ergonomics/

https://ergo-plus.com/office-ergonomics-10-tips-to-help-you-avoid-fatigue/

https://ergo-plus.com/workplace-ergonomics-benefits/

Our Locations:

200 Matheson Blvd W #104
Mississauga, ON, L5R 3L7
Phone: 905-507-2772
E-mail: admin@healthfirstheartland.com

415 The Westway, Unit 12B
Etobicoke, ON, M9R 1H5
Phone: 416-901-0262
E-mail: info@healthfirstrehab.ca