The ongoing health and economic crisis spurring from the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many employers to introduce or expand upon their telecommuting programs. This has been a welcomed benefit to many employees, and many employers have adapted telecommuting as a longer term strategy. One growing concern is on how this change in work arrangement may impact the remote employee’s health. Increased sitting and decreased overall movement can have significant negative impacts on our cardiovascular, psychological and musculoskeletal systems. Low back pain can definitely be a side effect of a more sedentary lifestyle and can cause significant negative impacts to our health and productivity. Participating in the following activities can ensure telecommuters minimize the risks of low back pain when working from home.
A sedentary lifestyle is one of the strongest predictors of chronic pain. The CDC recommends that all adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise each week. Not meeting this minimum guideline can significantly increase your risk for low back pain. As little as 30 minutes of moderate walking a day can be great, but we should also ensure we are performing exercises to promote increasing muscle strength at least 2 times a week as well.This is even proven to be more essential when sitting 7 or more hours a day while working from home.
One of the most commonly held myths on low back health is that there is a perfect posture that we should all strive to achieve to avoid low back pain. Many of us have probably see a diagram of the perfect way to sit to achieve this posture and invested in expensive ergonomic chairs, cushions or other devices. The truth is that our bodies are made to tolerate a variety of postures and generally do not like to tolerate one position for too long. Throughout the day we should vary our seated postures, stretch frequently and get up and walk around at least once an hour. Wearable health devices such as Apple watches and Fitbits can to a great job at reminding us to stand up, or just set an alarm on your phone or laptop.
As we are understanding more about the ways that our bodies process the pain experience, a greater focus is being put on how our brain interprets the emotional aspects of pain. Fear, anxiety and stress can all accentuate and worsen the pain experience. Our brains can adapt to these pain drivers through a process called neuroplasticity. Activities such as meditation can help our brains form neural pathways to deal with these issues and have been demonstrated to assist with pain relief. There are many resources on how to meditate including phone applications such as Headspace and Calm.
We all know that not getting enough sleep can make us tired the next morning. But there are multiple other side effects from a poor night’s sleep that we continue to uncover. Our bodies need sleep every night to renew not only our musculoskeletal system but also our neurophysiologic system. In simpler terms, our brains use the time during sleep to reorganize and repair important neural connections. Because pain is complex experience with both physical and emotional components, we need sleep to help govern our brain’s response to pain. So be sure you are getting the CDC’s recommended amount of sleep (7-9 hours) each night when dealing with any painful condition including low back pain.
If you continue to have pain despite managing your low back pain on your own, seeing an orthopedic manual physical therapist can help. In most states you can see a physical therapist without a referral from your physician. At Results Physiotherapy, all of our therapists either have or are working towards certification in orthopedic manual physical therapy and will work with you to create an individualized plan of care for you to help with your pain. You can request an appointment in one of our 172 clinics in nine states here.
