Working from home has certain advantages, but it’s also easy to get into a routine that may be damaging to your body over time. Back pain is so common, that statistics show almost 80% of adults are likely to experience it at some point in their lifetime. Those working from home are particularly prone to back pain while sitting and working from a home office. Whether you’re working from home right now or running your business from home permanently, it’s crucial to learn how to relieve back pain from sitting too long.
Today, we’re exploring some potential health problems from sitting too long as well as short and long-term methods for how to relieve back pain from sitting and working from home. Read on and find your way to pain-free productivity.
Can Sitting Cause Back Pain?
First off, can sitting cause back pain? Absolutely. While you may think you’ve found a comfortable chair to work from home in, if you’re experiencing back pain there’s a good chance that chair isn’t doing you any favors. Experts agree that sitting for prolonged periods of time can be a primary cause of back pain, stemming from increased stress on the back, neck, arms and legs. It can also add excess pressure to the back muscles and spinal discs, resulting in chronic back pain while sitting and working from home.
Where does that excess pressure come from? Sitting too long can weaken core muscles along with your leg and glute muscles. As the core weakens, more pressure is placed on the back, hips, and thighs, resulting in the need to learn how to relieve back pain from sitting too long. Other common pains you may experience if you’re sitting too long while working from home are hip pain, sore knees, butt pain, and even thigh pain.
Aside from a lack of ergonomic chair support for your home office setup weakening your core muscles, you may also be practicing bad sitting habits that you’re unaware of. Poor posture is a common cause of back pain that you may be overlooking, while other habits such as forgetting to take breaks to stand, stretch, or otherwise get physical activity could be contributing, as well.
Aside from physical pain, sitting too long increases the risk of weight gain, diabetes, heart problems, anxiety, and depression. The first step in how to stop back pain when sitting and working from home is identifying habits you may need to change and integrating those changes into your daily routine until it becomes a healthy work habit.
How to Relieve Back Pain From Sitting Too Long
Learning how to relieve back pain from sitting and working from home isn’t super complicated. A few simple adjustments to your daily and weekly routines can have a profound positive impact on your health and get you back to being pain-free. Some potentially effective methods for how to stop back pain when sitting for prolonged periods of time include:
- Setting up an ergonomic workspace
- Standing up periodically
- Practicing good posture
- Using a massage chair as part of your routine
- Stretching and exercising to stay loose while working from home
Setting Up an Ergonomic Workspace
The first method for how to relieve back pain from sitting and working from home we’ll be discussing is setting up an ergonomic workspace. This is crucial to maintaining a healthy spine in the long-term and could help with how to stop back pain when sitting.
Ergonomics is the science of altering your workspace to maximize comfort. In addition to being comfortable, however, it has also been shown to increase productivity, boost morale, and drive efficiency. Setting up an ergonomic workspace setup is more than just having easy access to what you need to do your work, however. Creating an ergonomic workspace as part of how to relieve back pain from sitting is about creating an environment in which your productivity is maximized through consideration of your health and workflow. It even affects the design of the tools you use within your home office space.
Some basic steps for how to stop back pain when sitting in your home office with ergonomics in mind include:
- Choosing an ergonomic office chair
- Adjusting your desk
- Setting monitor positioning appropriately
- Choosing the right home office tools to boost workflow
- Organize your home office workspace to prevent reaching or slouching
Having an ergonomic workspace is an effective method for how to relieve back pain from sitting and working from home because it keeps you from having to exert excess pressure on your back throughout the day.
Stand Up From Time to Time
The next item on our list of methods for how to relieve back pain from sitting too long is to stand up from time to time. It may sound obvious, but you’d be surprised at how much time can pass us by while we’re working without us realizing it. Suddenly you’re going to stand up and feel stiff and sore.
To avoid this, make a mental note to stand up every 30 to 60 minutes, at least. Another easy way to make sure you’re maintaining a healthy balance of sitting and standing is to take phone calls while standing or walking around if you can. If you need to be seated at your desk for any calls, then reminding yourself to walk to the kitchen for a glass of water every half hour or so can be just as effective (and simultaneously increase your water intake, which is crucial to improve blood circulation).
Practice Good Posture
A huge percentage of people who work at a desk have poor posture habits without recognizing it. It’s important to maintain the natural curvature of the spine and provide the right support to keep its shape. Poor posture can quickly lead to lower back pain, stiff muscles, and even longer-lasting physical development problems.
Make a mental note to ensure you’re practicing good posture as an effective means for how to relieve back pain from sitting and stop it from recurring again.
Use a Massage Chair Regularly
If you’ve ever experienced a massage, then you know how much they can help with back pain relief. Instead of having to fit regular expensive massage therapist appointments into already-busy schedules, many professionals are turning to the benefits of owning a massage chair at home, instead. The advancements in today’s luxury massage chairs have effectively eliminated any difference between using a massage chair vs human massage.
Whether you choose a 3D vs 4D massage chair, prefer an L-track massage chair to continue the rollers below the lower back to the glutes and top of the hamstrings, or simply love a high-tech recovery tool that may provide mental and physical health benefits, these chairs are a revolution. The benefits of massage therapy at home means you can experience different types of massage at the touch of a button. In addition to massage programming, today’s massage chair features provide a plethora of methods for how to relieve back pain from sitting and working from home, as well. The benefits of heat therapy, for example, enhance your massage experience to keep muscles loose and facilitate faster bodily healing.
While they’re certainly ideal for how to relieve back pain from sitting, the evolution of the back massage chair has given them many more potential health benefits than just that. Advancements in technology and design have transformed the simple back massage chair of decades past into an effective tool to enhance any lifestyle today. Massage chairs with AI technology can even use different types of body scanning technology to determine what your body needs and deliver a custom experience each use!
Do Exercises to Relieve Back Pain From Sitting
As more people are working from desks than ever before, we’re unwittingly losing out on a lot of potential movement and activity that is vital to our overall health. The last method for how to relieve back pain from sitting and working from home we’ll be exploring is keeping active with exercises throughout the day.
While we know you may not have the option to get a full gym-style workout while taking a break, it is important to make sure you’re finding opportunities throughout your day to be active. Taking active breaks at work can help relieve back pain from sitting for prolonged periods of time, may help improve productivity, and even boost your ability to concentrate.
Our bodies need movement in order to stay healthy. Taking a break to exercise at work is a simple method that can have a huge impact on both your mental and physical well being. We suggest working in an exercise or two each time you stand up from your desk. This helps you stretch and stay limber throughout the day.
A few easy standing exercises to do at work are lunges, calf raises, and desk push-ups. If you’re looking for exercises you can do while seated that still help with how to stop back pain when sitting, consider tricep dips, oblique twists, or chair squats, instead. You may be surprised at the positive effect simple exercises can have to help alleviate or prevent back pain when working from home.
As you can see, there are a number of simple methods for how to relieve back pain from sitting and working from home. Finding what works for you and integrating it into your regular routine until it becomes a habit can have a long-term positive impact on your overall health. Make sure you have an ergonomic workspace setup, practice good sitting habits, stay active during the day, and choose a massage chair to see the major difference these changes make for you!
To learn more about the benefits of owning a massage chair and how it can benefit your lifestyle, check out these additional resources:
