Working from home, headache or pain in the neck ?
by 
Avoid pain in the neck working from home
The basic principles of a good ergonomic set-up are centred around loading the bones and minimising prolonged positioning, especially prolonged poor positioning requiring the overuse of muscles.
At work you may have had an ergonomic review optimising your work environment. Now you need to try and replicate those positions at home. Access to supportive chairs and desks can be problematic and expensive and currently may be difficult to source. In consideration of this I shall try to supply some basic advice and suggestions based entirely on my opening sentence. Again, reduce load on muscles, load the bones and take breaks regularly. Check out some tips below to avoid that pain in the neck!
Sit Well
Keep your feet flat on the ground or supported by some style of footstool
Knee and hip angles should approximate 90 degrees
Buttocks to the back of the chair
When possible you should feel the chair back support, this means that you have the support of the chair and your muscles can relax somewhat.
Ideal Desk Setup
Ideally the desk height should be equal to or just below the height of the elbows when bent at 90 degrees and kept at your side. This allows the hands to be equal with elbow height or just below.
Keyboard Position
This one is easy. Seated as noted above, your hands should be able to be comfortably lowered to the keyboard without hitching the shoulders, straining the neck or leaning forward. If you are using a laptop, a separate keyboard purchase is almost essential in order to keep a good keyboard and monitor position.
Monitor
The monitor should be within an arm’s length and the top of the screen should be at approximately eye height.
Regular change of position
This may be the single most important principle. Even if you maintain a perfect position your soft tissues can still become strained after some time. It’s nice to suggest that you get up and move every 20 minutes but at the very least you should incorporate some brief activity as often as possible i.e.:after a long submission, email or report, or shorter breaks more often with shorter piece style work. In essence reversing your sitting position with movement or stretches always helps. For example, if you have been leaning forward then arch back, if your shoulders are rounded, then stretch back in the opposite direction. Another issue is movement. Your body produces synovial fluid (which is the body’s lubricant) with movement, and when we don’t move this is resorbed by the body, a major factor as to why we feel stiff.
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