Protect your posture

Remember the good old days when we moaned about our uncomfortable commute to work? 2020 has actually made us miss crammed trains and delayed services...kind of.

It’s the first thing people would often cite about their working day – the misery of travelling to and from the office.

Whether that was being cramped in on a train or sitting bolt upright in a car while traffic edged inch-by-inch along city centre streets, commuting would often cause aches and pains lasting the whole day.

So it’s little wonder people leapt into the working-from-home revolution by propping up a laptop in bed, stretching out across the sofa, or setting up a soft chair at the kitchen table, with a steaming cup of coffee never further than an arm’s reach away.

But actually, it is those habits which pose more of a health risk than commuting ever did.

Posture problems

While being squashed into a public transport seat for 45 minutes isn’t ideal, it’s time-limited, and you can often shake-off the effects during the subsequent walk into the office.

It’s quite different if a poor posture endures all day, every day.

Today we want to shine a spotlight on the risks of not sitting properly at a desk, and not getting up to take regular breaks. If your boss gives you a row for leaving your desk, you can blame us.

The last thing anyone wants to do in this climate is make a GP appointment for a bad back because your home office wasn’t up to scratch.

Try these small changes in your WFH set up and start to feel your posture go back to its original pre-2020 form.

Take a seat

The right chair is absolutely essential to a correct posture. Lying back on a soft sofa while tapping away at a laptop or reading a document may seem appealing, but you’ll soon know about the negative impact. If you don’t have a suitable chair, you should speak to your employer about how they can help.

Mix it up

Variation is important too. If you have been seated at the kitchen table all morning, why not move to a different chair for the afternoon? Or if you have some Zoom meetings coming up, prop your laptop up and stand for the duration.

Laptop accessories

If you’re working from a laptop, try to use external accessories like a mouse and plugged-in keyboard. That will allow you to sit back as you do in the workplace, rather than be hunched over peering into your device.

Keep active

When you’re in the office you probably get up for a wander, maybe to chat to colleagues, to visit the water cooler, or nip out for a coffee. Try to replicate this at home by taking regular breaks to walk round the garden, or even up and down stairs.

Don’t store up problems for the future

If you do find yourself suffering from mild back pain, visit our online pharmacy for the perfect remedy.

But try to make the changes you need now to avert potentially painful consequences down the line. Regardless of how long this pandemic lasts, working from home is here to stay in one form or another.