How do you stay fit working from home?

2020 has been a challenge for most, with working from home becoming the new norm and exercise becoming a welcome change of pace to break up the day. With the current pandemic forcing workplaces to shut down their offices and shared spaces, many people are finding themselves at home, on a computer, in a new environment, for up to 10 hours a day. These circumstances are proving to be the perfect combination of ingredients for creating an increase in general neck, shoulder and back pain.

Our physiotherapist Michael Scardamaglia identifies the best ways to stay fit and prevent pain whilst working from home. The answers are relatively simple and can be done with just a few minor tweaks to your daily routine.

Regular movement

Remaining in the same position for a long period of time is what we call ‘sustained postures’ in the physio world. Sitting in a sustained position means our small postural muscles around our spine are working overtime to keep you upright, but eventually these muscles reach a tipping point where they are just too fatigued to continue on, resulting in those little aches and pains you can experience

The main point here is to set an alarm every 30mins to 1hr; a gentle reminder to get up, go outside, walk up/down the driveway and have a quick stretch to give these postural muscles a chance to relax.

Check your set up

In short, your desk setup should tick the following boxes

• Feet flat on the floor
• Monitor raise to eye level
• Keyboard at elbow level
• Sitting back in the chair
• Shoulder blades against the back of the chair

To learn more about setting up your home office, click here.

Daily exercise routine

Completing a daily exercise routine will do wonders for you both physically and mentally. This doesn’t mean you have to smash out a run or swim everyday, it could be as simple as walking, pilates/yoga at home, strength and mobility work and cardiovascular exercise

An easy way to do this is to plan your days/weeks out and set aside 30 minutes per day to get this done. An example program you may complete could be as simple as the following

1. Walk 15mins
2. Squats x20
3. Push ups (knees on or off ground) 2×10
4. Thoracic extensions over a foam roller x10
5. Crab walks for glute activation x20
6. Paloff pressing for core control x15 each side

Heat packs for mild aches and pains

If you are experiencing some small aches and pains, heat packs are a fantastic way to give you some temporary relief when you’re in the zone and need to power on. Keeping in mind though that this is only a temporary relief and will be maximally effective if you are completing the previous 3 steps to keeping you fit to work from home.

To summarise this for you, we basically want you to keep active and moving throughout the day, because our bodies weren’t designed to stay still for too long and will reward you for the little bits of TLC you give it throughout the day. Simply follow these 4 steps to ensure working from home doesn’t leave you with aches and pains that distract you from your work.

For further questions or advice on the best way to stay fit at home, please don’t hesitate to contact our team or book online today.