Maintaining Good Posture with Working from Home

Currently a lot of us are in a tough situation of working from home.  We have had quite a few requests the past few days asking for tips and pointers for working at home when you don’t have an ideal setup. We have also had increased complaints of neck, mid and low back issues. I’m going to break this blog post down into ideal posture tips and exercises.

POSTURE TIPS

1. Ideally sit at a desk or kitchen table so your hips and knees can be at 90 degrees. If this isn’t possible try a chair that can achieve this similar setup. Couches and beds are not ideal due to the low profile of the seat or the bed.

2. If working from a laptop try to set it up as a desktop. Hopefully, everyone has an external monitor or keyboard/mouse that they can turn the laptop into a desktop, if not this may be the ideal time to order one. If that’s still not a possibility try and take even more frequent breaks due to the abnormal posture with the laptop.

3. You want to keep your eyes about 20 inches from the monitor and try to be looking eye level or a little below to help keep the neck and eys from straining. This is a major cause of frequent Headaches during the workday. 

4. If you have a higher counter try to also work in the standing position. When standing have your weight more midfoot so it’s not all in your heels, which can cause hyperextension of your knees and put more strain in your low back. It also promotes you to shift to one side, which will also cause increased low back pain. You can put one foot up on a book, which helps keep the pelvis level.

5. Take Frequent Breaks. You should be really trying to move around every 20-30 minutes. Resetting your posture every 20-30 minutes helps to take you out of any bad habits you have developed and gives your muscles the break they need during sustained postures. 

EXERCISES:

We have added some common back and neck exercise videos on our Video portion of the website or you can find them on Instagram and Facebook @dynamicptchicago.

Low Back Exercises:

1. Sidelying Lumbar Rotation:

Begin lying on your side with top leg bent at a 90 degree angle and hooked behind lower leg knee. Lower leg should be straight.

Holding your top hip forward with bottom arm reach top arm overhead and backward.

Hold that position for about 10 seconds, perform 5x each side

You should feel the stretch in your chest, mid and low back

2. Cat-Cow Stretch

Begin on all 4’s with arms directly under your shoulders and knees bent at 90 degrees

Slowly round your back up toward the ceiling, then let it sag down to the floor while looking up, and repeat.

Perform about 2 sets of 10

3. Figure-4 Stretch

Begin lying on your back with both legs bent and your feet on the ground.

Lift one leg and place that ankle on your opposite knee, then apply a gentle pressure to your bent knee with your hand. You should feel a stretch in your buttocks. For an added stretch you can lift up your leg and hold 30 seconds.

Try 3 sets for 30 seconds on each side

Neck Exercises:

4. Upper Trapezius Stretch

Sit in Upright position with 1 hand on top of head and the other behind the back.

Use one hand to tilt your head sideways, pulling your ear toward one shoulder until you feel a stretch in the opposite side of your neck, and hold.

Hold stretch 30 seconds, try 3 sets on each side

5. Door Pec Stretch

Begin in a standing upright position in the center of a doorway.

With your elbows bent, place your forearms on the sides of the doorway at a 90 degree angle from your sides, then take a small step forward until your feel a stretch in the front of your shoulders. Hold this position for 30 seconds, 3 sets.

Those are just a few exercises you can perform ideally 3 times during the day. We also have more exercises that include tools like a foam roll, band or ball on our Instagram and Facebook Page, @dynamicptchicago.

If you have any questions or would like to know more about another topic reach out to Info@dynamic-pt.com or call 312-778-6455. We are currently seeing patients and performing Telehealth Visits during this Shelter-In Time.