Watch your posture!

Due to the current COVID-19 outbreak, 90% of office workers have found themselves working from home. Most people don’t have a home office with an ergonomic chair, so will have no other option except to work from the dining table or perhaps the sofa. This work set up can have a detrimental effect to your back health so we’re sharing some tips to maintain good posture.

If you can borrow office equipment from your workplace or are able to invest in a proper office set up (chair, desk, etc) this can go some way to prevent these negative effects on your body. If neither of these are an option, make sure you mix your working environment.

Here are some tips on how to do this:

1. If you can, work standing up from a high surface e.g. kitchen counter, windowsill or even put the ironing board up to standing height and work from that. This allows you to stand straight, taking the strain off your neck and back. Doing this for periods throughout the day can really help with your posture.

2. Move around every half hour, stretch your arms upwards and sideways, and even try lying flat on the floor to stretch the muscles in your back.

3. Make sure you’re getting out for a walk/run (please remember this is only once a day!)

4. If you are on a dining room chair, sit on a cushion if there is no padding – if your legs don’t touch the floor, put another cushion under your feet to avoid any strain.

5. Avoid working from the sofa for too long! This will worsen your posture and you’re less likely to move around because your mind tricks you into thinking you are comfortable. Sitting on the sofa encourages you to ‘slump’, rounding your shoulders and putting your head forward, which puts more strain on your back and neck.

Create a makeshift laptop stand, so your laptop is eye height. This stops you from dropping your neck or slouching over your screen (try using a few cookbooks).

Hopefully, these tips will give you some ideas about how to maintain good posture during this period of working from home.

For any advice about working from home, send us a message on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook, and for any other queries, simply get in touch.

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