GREEN BAY (NBC26) — There are definitely some perks to working from home: no commute, so you can sleep in, making lunch or grabbing a snack whenever you want. But working from home can also be a real pain.
Everyone has a different work from home style; maybe you sit at your kitchen table, lounge on your couch or even lie in bed. These work spaces aren’t ideal and already are causing many people pain.
"They may be choosing was quick and convenient," said Dr. Erica Kroncke, physician at Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Specialists. "But that might not be the best for them.“
Kroncke treats patients from neck to fingers and back to toes, and working from home has brought many to her office.
“It’s really more than just that, like, 'Sit up straight' that we probably heard when we were younger," she said. "Muscle tension can be kind of a chain reaction.“
Luckily, Kroncke has some exercises that can relieve a lot of pain. The first, to help with posture from bending over a keyboard.
“What we want is that chin to come back so it’s centered over the shoulders," she said. "And then rather than the shoulders being forward, you’re really going to open those shoulders up .So you think about your shoulder blades, I want you pulling them back and down toward your pockets and really tensing up those shoulder blade muscles.“
Second, for wrists and fingers that type, click and scroll all day.
"You’re going to take your other hand, and then you’re going to want to put it kind of along the fingers and the palm, and you’re just gently holding that," she said. "You want to hold your stretches like 15 to 20 seconds. You should feel a stretch through this area, maybe a little on the backside.”
And the third, for hips, after spending all day sitting.
“If you have your knee straight straight, toes up, the goal of this is really going to be tilting your pelvis forward," she said. "My belly button's down gently, almost pushing your buttocks out, but I can get a great stretch through my hamstring, with a simple exercise that’s not bending forward.“
Kroncke also suggests lifting your monitor or laptop, so the top of your screen is at the same level as the middle of your forehead; maybe use a stack of books or some printer paper underneath. This minimizes hunching. Keep your keyboard close to you so you’re not reaching forward, have your forearms parallel with the floor and try to keep your wrist on your mouse floating so there’s no constant pressure. Finally, have your feet planted on the ground, not dangling, with your hips at 90 degrees.
Recent surveys show one in four people will still be working remotely in 2021, and Kroncke could see it going on past this year.
“The aches and pains and the less than ideal workstation set ups aren’t necessarily going to go away in the short term," she said.
You don’t need to spend money on expensive floating desks that let you stand while working or fancy chairs with lumbar support, she said. You can improvise and still work from home safely.
