- Working from home for a year can take a toll on your body.
- According to one study, injuries to the back, hands, and wrists increased in 2020.
- There are ways to improve your home workspace for comfort.
If your bedroom, kitchen, or a designated corner of your living space has been your office for the past year, it’s possible your body is feeling the effects.
One Call, a healthcare network management company and ancillary services provider for the workers’ compensation industry, compared claim data from 2019 to 2020 and found the following:
- 10.3 percent increase in wrist or forearm sprain, strain, or contusion
- 13.2 percent increase in pain in hand or finger
- 16.2 percent increase in cervical radiculopathy, inflammation, or damage to a nerve root in the cervical spine
- 17.9 percent increase in carpal tunnel syndrome
- 24.6 percent increase in lower back pain
“We looked at injuries believed to be consistent with the types of injuries that could be incurred when working at a desk with a poor ergonomic setup,” Michelle Despres, vice president, national product leader of physical therapy, and ergonomics specialist at One Call, told Healthline.
Despres found the following to be the most common risk factors for those in sedentary work environments involving computer use.
Postures
- sitting in a slouched position with a flattened low back curve, forward head, and rounded shoulders
- using a keyboard or mouse with hands in a non-neutral posture, which can up risk of hand or wrist discomfort
- using a laptop with prolonged bending of the neck, overstretching muscles in the back of the neck, shortening the muscles in the front of the neck and chest
Static positions
- sitting without changing positions for extended periods
- working at non-traditional workstations, such as dining table, couch, bed, floor, or household items stacked up
Contact stresses
- forearms resting on edge of desk
- resting wrists on a wrist rest while keying or mousing
- chair arms that are too high
- seat pans pressing into the back of knees
- chairs too high that feet dangle pressing the seat pan into backs of thighs
Source: healthline