Santa does not just hang
out at his desk for work! He is out in
the world, in and out of a sleigh, getting
the assistance of others (elves and reindeer!) to do part
of the hard, back-breaking work. However, he also works from his
home/workshop which certainly brings him similar stresses and pain like it does for the
rest of us who recently realized the dream of working from
home. However, we can learn from his example. He doesn’t just lounge
at a desk. He gets help for heavy chores. He moves!
New Roads Chiropractic Center encourages all of our New Roads
work-from-home friends to do the same as well as received
pain-decreasing chiropractic care
for the back pain, neck pain, shoulder, and other pain(s) you may now have.
THE DREAM: WORK FROM HOME, LEARN AT HOME
Working from home. It was the dream of many…until the dream came true. There are some stunning
statistics on how work-from-home has changed so many
of us. One study of 232 telecom employees documented that
39% had more pain in the low back, 48% in the upper back/neck, and 27% in their
hands. Only 33% said they did not have any such
musculoskeletal pain issues. (Women related that they had more issues than men.) 30% worked in a separate room
at home, 32% worked in a dedicated area of a room with
other members of the home, 38% worked in a non-separate area like
the dining room. 41% did not sit in an office
chair; 32% used an ergonomic chair. 71% were bothered
by constant or occasional disruptions.
52% put in more work hours a day. Only 30% took recurrent
breaks. (1) Students underwent much the same as the workers
did when their learning and teaching was done
at home: low back pain for 73%, neck pain for 69%, shoulder pain for 59%. Contributing
factors for students were pain, academic stresses, personal/emotional issues,
work environment, and time in front of the computer. (2) For the
work-from-home dream to come true with as little pain as possible
requires some preparation. Your New Roads chiropractor is
eager to help you prepare.
WORKING FROM HOME: THE SET UP
Any new venture necessitates a plan. Starting
without the plan backfires for most. 89% of
new-to-working-at-home workers who participated in a survey stated some musculoskeletal pain.
Upper back pain was said to be a result of
nonergonomic work environments with suboptimal computer
configurations while nonergonomic postures were linked to headache and low back pain. (3) A study of university
employees found that 61% of them had
more musculoskeletal pain working from home with neck, shoulder and low back
pain being the most common. Women reported
significantly more pain than men. Seat height and monitor distance were significant risk factors
for discomfort and pain in work-from-home employees. (4)
HOPE FOR NEW WORK-FROM-HOME PAIN
There is hope! Despite the new
work-from-home trend that caused more sedentary
lifestyles, reduced physical activity, and more
musculoskeletal pain like back pain, researchers noted
that exercise and less sitting around successfully decreased
low back pain and even ‘cured’ it for participants in their study. (5)
New Roads Chiropractic Center offers some simple, gentle exercises for our
New Roads chiropractic patients. Begin them after we perform a thorough exam and you start experiencing
relief with our gentle chiropractic spinal manipulation care.
CONTACT New Roads Chiropractic Center
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. John Murray on The
Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he shares
relieving chiropractic care for back and neck pain patients with The Cox®
Technic System of Spinal Pain Management on The Cox®8 Table.
Make your New Roads chiropractic
appointment today. Be like Santa: move, delegate
the heavy lifting, modify your workspace! Happy Holidays!