Are you working from home because of the Corona virus?
It’s a great feeling to accomplish work from the comfort of your kitchen table. While working from home can help avoid some of the headaches of a regular workplace — such as long commutes and inflexible work hours — it can still cause its own discomforts, especially if you’re using a laptop.
Imagine slaving over a hot keyboard from your kitchen table, doing work while sprawled on your bed, or hunched over a coffee table from your couch. It’s no wonder that injuries and pain can happen just as commonly at home as it does from the workplace!
Working at home should be a comfortable, productive experience. With our training, we can identify habits and poor work setups that could cause you pain while you work at home. We help you so you can remain productive anywhere… even in your pajamas.
What do you imagine when you think of an office workspace? Many people envision designated cubicles, desks, coworkers, the proverbial water cooler, and computer setups with keyboards and mouses.
However, when you think of a home workspace, you may picture something else entirely: a kitchen table, or sitting in the familiar indentation on the couch or being flopped on a bed with a laptop and notebook nearby.
It is important to consider that working from the comfort of your home is not always comfortable. When we ask our patients that work from home to describe their workstation setup, very few tell us that they have a separate home office with a desk.
Good ergonomics isn’t limited to the usual 9-to-5 workday. The same practices that can help avoid aches and pains at the workplace can be applied to your home office, too!
The most important tip that we can offer when working from home is to have a designated workstation with a comfortable office chair. Having the right setup will allow you to work productively, pain-free, and more easily while you work in the comfort of your home.
If so, I want to take a moment to look at your home office space.
If your workspace involves hunching over the coffee table with a too-low laptop and a sprawl of spreadsheets everywhere, then we need to talk!
Working at home should be comfortable, flexible, and beneficial to your time and energy. It shouldn’t be a source of pain.
If you’re not sure how to design a good office space within the comfort of your home, don’t worry. We can help. Give our office a call, and our trained doctors of chiropractic can help review your workspace and make recommendations that work best for you and the space you have!
Laptops are fantastic for their lightweight portability. Unfortunately, the features that make laptops so versatile can also cause other issues! Keyboard spacing, screen size and positioning, and pointing devices are all poorly designed when it comes to laptop computers, creating issues in your neck, upper back, lower back, and even hands.
Furthermore, it is nearly impossible to have good posture when using a keyboard fixed to a laptop! Because the keyboard and the monitor are attached to each other, it is a challenge to sit ideally when working.
One tip is to have an adjustable office chair to get the proper body positioning and height when sitting, especially if your laptop rests on a surface that is not height adjustable. Put the laptop on a stand, so the screen remains at eye level to reduce neck strain, and if possible, use an attachable keyboard instead to give your wrists and forearms more support while typing.
For more tips, give our office a call. We are well-versed in helping you prevent injuries, whether it’s at the workplace, your home office, or your local productive coffee shop!