Is Working From Home a Pain In Your Neck?

One of the most sweeping changes in the last couple of years shaped not how we work, but where we work. Even today, as workplaces reopen, nearly 60% of Americans who say they can do their job from home are skipping the office. What’s more, the majority report that they’re working from home by choice. 

If you’re one of the work from home (WFH) club and you’d like to keep it that way, it’s important to establish an ergonomic home office. If you don’t, the WFH life that you love could become a literal pain in your neck. 

Fortunately, if you have neck pain from a less-than-ideal home office setup, Dr. Jonathan D. Carlson can apply his neck pain expertise to help. At Hawai’i Pain and Spine on the Windward side of Oʻahu in Kailua, he can develop a personalized neck pain treatment that doesn’t just alleviate your pain, but also teaches you how to avoid its recurrence in the future. 

To get started there, let’s look at why working from home can be a pain in the neck.

Home offices and neck pain

Most employers have taken strides to ensure they provide a comfortable work environment. Increasingly, companies consider ergonomics when doing everything from designing office buildings to choosing office chairs.

At home, though, most people have to make an office setup work. You might post up at your kitchen table or carve out a small corner. Most people don’t have a dedicated office chair, desk, and monitor riser like they might at their office. 

Beyond that, at the office, you probably take breaks. You might get up for coffee or water or walk down the hall to the conference room for a meeting. At home, you can jump into a Zoom meeting without ever getting up. That makes you increasingly sedentary, which can take a toll on your body. 

All told, your home office might be great for you in other ways, but it could be hard on your neck. Fortunately, you can make changes to ease any neck pain you’re feeling and prevent problems in the future.

Optimizing your WFH environment for reduced neck pain

First up, it’s time to create an ergonomic office. That means that you need:

• A way to lift your laptop or monitor so it’s at eye-level
• A table height that lets you keep your wrists straight when you type
• A comfortable, supportive chair that keeps your knees bent at a 90-degree angle

Once you have those things, adjust as needed so you can rest comfortably in your office seat. That might mean adding a lumbar pillow to support the curve of your spine or moving your monitor back so it’s about an arm’s length from your eyes. 

Each day, evaluate how you feel midday and when you stop working. If any part of your body feels fatigued, it’s a sign you need to make an adjustment. Keep fine-tuning to find what works best for you.

Also, make it a point to get up from your desk regularly. Getting up every hour or so, even to get a glass of water, can make a big difference in how you feel. 

If these changes don’t resolve your neck pain, don’t hesitate to talk to Dr. Carlson. He can treat your neck pain and make recommendations to improve your home office setup. Call our office to schedule your appointment today.