Forget Cummings-fury and quarantine fatigue. The most common feeling of lockdown? Crippling back pain. According to Bupa, 63 per cent of us are suffering from pain to our back, neck, hips, knees and wrists since working from home. From nailing your desk set-up to hero stretches, this is a recovery guide.
Sit up straight
We’d all love to be WFH in ergonomic seats, but the reality is most of us are working at kitchen tables or playing “musical chairs” to escape our housemates, says Triyoga’s yoga director Genny Wilkinson Priest. If you’re able to focus on one thing, make it to avoid hunching or leaning forward, she suggests. Osteopath Robin Lansman from Maida Vale practice Body Back Up advises putting a laptop on a stack of books to raise the height to eye level, and if you can, use a plug-in keyboard to create space between the keyboard and screen. Chair-wise, avoid deckchairs — he’s seen some “shocking” cases from young sunbathers in recent weeks — and try to find one with armrests: “Resting your elbows while you’re working is a good way of supporting your upper back, shoulders and neck properly.” Ideally you want a straight spine, relaxed shoulders and both feet firmly planted on the floor.
Sweat smart
You’re working out more than ever, so why the sudden aches and pains? Some exercises can actually do more harm than good, says Lansman. Sit-ups, for example, can worsen back pain. Instead, he recommends twists and reverse curls to stimulate the muscles and engage the abs. Hackney PT Jeff Kloepping has some other posture-friendly moves to work into your routine: the bird-dog for working the lower back; hip thrusts for activating the glutes; and side planks for the lower back muscles. “It’s great for engaging core muscles you wouldn’t usually feel.”
Sit-ups can worsen back pain — try twists and reverse curls to stimulate muscles and engage your abs
Stretch it out
Don’t save it all up for your evening yoga session. To relieve that tension in the back, take regular walking and stretching breaks all day. Child’s pose is one of the easiest and most effective stretches you can do, says Kloepping. It works your spine and stretches deeper into your lower back muscles, plus it’s nourishing for your mind, agrees Wilkinson Priest. She also recommends the figure of four pose for a strained lower back, and sphinx pose for strengthening the spine and core. For a longer stretching session after work, Flex Chelsea is livestreaming a new 55-minute Stretchit class every Monday and Wednesday — perfect for taking things deeper.
