Blog post produced and written by Clinic Manager and Sports Injury Specialist Jason Dodd.
Working from home is hard right? Who would have thought there are so many other things to contend with!? From children running into conference meetings to constant ringing of the doorbell for deliveries. Now that schools are back this will hopefully change!!
But the one thing that stands out to us is the change of workspace set up. Some of us are fortunate (or unfortunate – depending on how you look at it!) to have always worked from home so we are used to this new ‘normal’ but for some it has seen significant changes on our ‘work set-up’.
From speaking to many of you there are a variety of interesting stories about how you have adapted and the support received. Some have had people come to their house to set up desks whilst some have found themselves sitting in the living room working from the couch. But whichever box you fall into we have certainly seen a marked change in the number of visitors to us because of their working environment.
Now, what is key here to consider is what is it that is causing this discomfort, usually in the lower back. The easily attributable factor is the fact our desk is not set up correctly or that you are sitting on the sofa working instead of your supportive chair. And these factors may all be very true, after all, the body does not like change and will always let you know about that as soon as there is a change (just look at how the body feels after a long bout of exercise, such as a long walk, when you haven’t been doing it for a while).
But consider this…..what if posture was not the cause of the pain? Studies have found that posture is poorly correlated to symptoms of pain, meaning that some people have poor posture yet have no pain and then you have the opposite where people have really good posture but experience a lot of pain too. This paper here, for example, showed that the curve in your neck gradually increase with age HOWEVER, it did not mean that more curvature led to more pain.
This is just one couple of example of course and each individual is different….but what happens when we then move onto sporting behaviours. Take a look at the image below, many of us will be familiar with this ‘normal’
The cyclist, for example, can spend up to 6-8 hours per day in the position they are in there, but will often not develop back pain symptoms. Just ask a cyclist what hurts from a ride! And consider the sport of rowing, they are constantly going into the flexed spinal position as they reach forward, similar to how we would work at a desk (sort of anyway!). The point being, why is it that they do not get the back pain and stiffness that is often associated with desk based work?
When I am asked the question about back pain and posture I often give the advice of ‘your next posture is your best posture’. It basically means the more you move the better it will become. Regular exercises and control of other stressful factors in life can also help manage back pain and I often prescribe things like this to patients to help them. There is no better feeling than being able to pick up a weighted bar which weighs similar to your own body weight and experience no back pain!
Whilst back pain is debilitating and common it is super important we understand that it can be managed really well with things unrelated to medication and that our postural habits are probably not the direct cause of our pain. I am not saying it is totally unrelated, I am saying that there are many factors which can lead to pain in our backs and a full holistic approach is needed to help manage it in an appropriate way.
If you would like any more advice on this topic then please follow us on instagram or call us to see one of our therapists who will be able to help guide you and manage your pain so that you can get back to your normality and start doing what you love again.
