Working From Home And The Impact On Our Health

Studies show that prolonged sitting and being inactive can lead to a range of musculoskeletal disorders. A bad back, strained neck, sore wrists and restless legs are often the result of being sat down most of the day. With a stark rise in the number of people working from home, this has only got progressively worse.

Home office set-ups are often inadequate when it comes to providing the correct ergonomic comfort and support. Often, workers will sit on their sofa, at the dining table or, even work from their bed or the floor. Working in this unconventional way for hours at a time can become really damaging to your body. This, combined with inactivity makes for serious health concerns.

As we adjust to a more sedatory life, there has been an increase in the number of those suffering with a bad back but, what is the best way to avoid and ease the pain?

An ITV documentary recently looked into Britain’s hidden crisis on back pain, what causes it and how it can be managed. Professor Vybarr Cregan Reid, from the show says that, “inactivity is driving all the big killers. So it’s increasing the likelihood of all those type two diabetes, heart disease, quite a few cancers, but also it’s affecting mental health as well.”

Working from home has seen an increase in the number of people who are inactive. Instead of commuting to the office each day, thousands of people are commuting to the living room. This lack of activity, paired with an uncomfortable workstation set-up is a recipe for disaster.

It is recommended that everyone should have at least 30 minutes of exercise a day and that consistency is key. Dr Stacy Clemes from Loughborough University has been studying the impact of  remote working, “even if you are physically active, if you do a single bout of exercise, say in the morning or at the end of the day, you could still be at risk… so the best thing is to regularly break up your sitting time… every 20 minutes 30 minutes or so, even if it’s just for one minute standing or, walking around for two minutes will have long term benefits.”

In a recent poll, it was found that 80% of people said they had experienced lower back problems, 35% of people spent over seven hours a day sitting down and 40% of people had taken time off of work for back pain.

Combating this with both a more active lifestyle, and an appropriate workstation set up can help avoid nasty aches and pain. Musculosketelal problems not only cause pain but, also result in prolonged absences, reduced productivity and poor morale.

Display screen equipment (DSE) assessments can drastically reduce this problem. With decades of combined experience, our ergonomic experts can assess, recommend and adjust your workstation set up so that you can work effectively but more importantly, comfortably. Offering a range of solutions from face to face DSE assessments, remote DSE assessments and an online DSE assessment solution, we are able to help you, regardless of where and how you work.

Whether you are an individual suffering with aches and pains and would like your workstation looking at or, look after a team of people and want to ensure they have the correct desk set up, get in touch with the VergoUK team today, we would be more than happy to help.