Home Office Ergonomics Not Ideal? Get moving and feel better!
In the transition to working from home, our bodies took a hit from suddenly spending all day in a less than ideal working environment – here’s how to keep moving and keep your body happy.
Once many of us made the transition to working from home last year we started to experience aches and pains we never had before.
This is likely because most of us were not accustomed to working in our home office for a full eight plus hours per day. And that’s if we even had a home office in the first place!
Your employer invested good money into a proper ergonomic office chair, a laptop stand, maybe even a standing desk! Transitioning from that to your couch or kitchen table is hard on the body. Even sitting in a different style of office chair than what you’re used to, or working off a laptop instead of having it docked and working off a larger screen can make a big change in how your body is positioned during the day.
We dug into the research on home office ergonomics and want to share our top suggestion to help you feel better when working from home – or from the road (shoutout to those working travelers who make it work on the floor of airports, in rental cars & parking lots, too)!
Keep moving
Avoid long periods in static positions that can create stiffness ànd pain loops. Historically, we’ve all been told to “stand-up straight” and “keep your hips level”! But recent research offers even more simple advice. Moving often and engaging in full range of motion (ROM) are keys to staying at your healthiest physically and mentally.
Use a Pomodoro Timer app, or your phone, to set a reminder every 30 minutes throughout your workday. When it goes off, take five minutes to do some full range of motion stretching. As a bonus, working in 30 minute sprints is also great for your overall productivity!
Start at your feet and work your way up i.e. ankles, knees, hips, wrists, elbows, back, shoulders, and neck. Whether you’re wearing dress shoes or bunny slippers check out Snacknation to see exercises you can do just about anywhere.
In addition to getting up and moving more, take a look at this infographic for ideas on how to sit properly at your home workstation so your body stays happy & healthy.
What has been your experience working from home? Did you try any home ergonomics tools you’d recommend? Do you use the pomodoro method? Give us your best advice in the comments!