How COVID Caused Back Pain (And How To Fix It)
The Problem
It feels like it was just yesterday that Boris Johnson’s government made the call to lockdown the country. The effects this has had on our country is almost unbelievable from huge rises in suicide rates to slumping the economy and forcing the closure of so many small businesses. One interesting change a lot of Chiropractors noticed was how COVID caused back pain! What do I mean by this? Let me explain…
One huge change that occurred as soon as lockdown started in March 2020 was the sudden shift of people working from their offices to their homes. Now you may not see the immediate problem with this, after all you’re going from working at a desk at the office to working at a desk from home. The problem is that so many didn’t go to working at a desk at home but instead went to working on the sofa, or their bed, or (and my personal favourite) an ironing board!! People just weren’t prepared for the shift and thus suffered within weeks to months with lower back pain and neck pain to name the top two.
There have been so many people I’ve treated and have had to help guide through the process of creating a work environment that didn’t slowly destroy their spines over time. One of the problems is that unfortunately the body doesn’t immediately tell you when you’re in a bad position and it’s not until so much of the damage has already occurred that it will start to speak up. By then you’ve gone too far down the road that it can take some time to get you back to where you were, working pain free.
How To Fix It
So if you’re in this position, maybe you’ve just started noticing more discomfort in your back or neck, then keep on reading and allow me to help you to prevent this issue from getting any worse.
The first thing to keep in mind is that your spine is designed to move and thus a sedentary desk job already puts you in a very vulnerable position which means you have to work extra hard to ensure you keep your spine healthy and pain free. Those that have a good balance of activity when working tend to be at less risk and thus can get away with a lot more.
Therefore my first piece of advise is to move regularly. Set an alarm to go off anywhere between 20 and 60 minutes to remind you to move. This break doesn’t have to take much time out of your day and can be as little as 30 seconds at one time. The key is to break up this lack of movement. Go grab a drink or go to the loo, anything to get you out of that seat.
A standing desk is a great idea not just because standing is better than sitting but because you have the ability to change positions throughout the day.
There’s a great exercise that I recommend a lot that you can use to break up your day called the cat camel. You can see me demonstrate this in my video below:
Desk Posture
Now in terms of your set up, the first thing I would say is to ensure you are situated at a good proper desk with a chair (not the sofa or your bed, no matter how tempting). Then, position yourself before you set up your desk, making sure your shoulders are back and down with your chest up and out, and your head balancing over your shoulders. Then you’re going to want to find an external monitor to plug into your laptop or your computer. Don’t try and work directly from a laptop as it is almost impossible to sustain a good posture using it. Buying a monitor, if you don’t have one, will certainly be a lot cheaper than having to sort our your neck or back problem later on down the line.
Position the monitor so that it is directly in your eye line so you are looking at the top third of the screen roughly. Then rest your arms on your desk to take the pressure of your upper trap muscles and you should be good to go. Check out one of my recent videos below on more tips on this subject or my blog on this here:
- back pain
- desk posture
- posture
- covid
- working from home
- chiropractic