In recent days, due to the COVID-19 lots of people working from home. It seems to be an exciting idea to spend more time with your family but it might have some downsides too. Most of the employees used to work in an office with ergonomic office stations. Not all of them have these facilities at home. If you are planning to work remotely even after the lockdown comes to an end, It is a good idea to invest in buying a predesigned ergonomic workstation. Meanwhile, It is strongly recommended to consider precautionary matters in order to prevent low back pain. I am going to share some of these tips with you to help you have a healthy lifestyle.

Here are some ergonomic tips for you to begin with; when you have to stay in a sitting position for a long time, keep knees at the level of your hips and feet on the ground. Lean back and pull the shoulders back. Instead of twisting your back try to move your body to use your feet. Use a firm mattress to keep your spine in a neutral position while you are asleep. Never try to reach for something above your shoulder level. Use a stool instead. Never sit or stay in a particular position for more than one hour. Try to change your position. Come to the edge of the chair and use your leg strength instead of your back to stand up. At last, If you feel pain in your back go to a professional to have your back checked.

Always take your time to adjust the height of the chair before starting to work even if it is not an ergonomic one. Always try to keep your feet on the ground while you are working. There should be a few inches of space between the chair and your knees. Don’t forget about the desk. The height should be adjusted to a point that when you sit on the chair, you should be on the top of the mouse and keyboard. Your monitor should have a 2 feet distance from you and eyes should be level with the top quarter of the monitor otherwise you are going to hurt your cervical spine. As I already said try to change your position frequently in order to keep your spine healthy.

If you are using a laptop instead of a desktop, you have to do some adjustments to keep yourself healthy. Due to the compact design of the laptop and attachment of the screen and keyboard, the user can not maintain a healthy position for a long time. For heavy use, It is highly recommended to use an external monitor for the laptop to keep your workplace ergonomic. If you can’t use an external monitor, use a laptop stand instead. While in short term use you could put the laptop on your lap without hurting yourself. You still have to adjust the screen in order to keep your natural posture. It is highly recommended that even for the short term use a comfortable chair.

One more thing! If you have to spend more than few minutes to answer an email try to do it in a sitting position rather than doing it in a standing with your smartphone. You have done all of these and still have pain, visit your practitioner for an assessment and advice.Stay safe! Stay healthy!