Health & Wellbeing

What’s the biggest problem people face working from home?

If you had asked me that in April last year, it would’ve been the physical discomfort from suddenly having to work an eight hour day or longer, without what everyone now realises are the creature comforts of the adjustable office chair, nice big desk, monitor raised on an arm etc.

However, as we’ve all pushed on nearly a year now, although musculoskeletal issues still make up the lions share of what I assess, mental and emotional wellbeing is rapidly catching up.

So, what are the key factors affecting homeworkers mental health?

This can vary obviously, but a big problem is the psychosocial impact of having no physical interaction with work colleagues. We are all glued to successive video meetings now, but it’s becoming apparent that not being able to talk to an actual physical person triggers stress, anxiety and even depression. Then in turn, mental anguish manifests into physical tension, causing back ache, neck pain, headaches, which distresses you even further. It’s a viscous circle. On top of that, people find they are staring at the same four walls day-in-day-out without suitable breaks that would help both mentally and physically.

What can be done to support this?

From the individual’s point of view, develop good routines – • Regular breaks away from the screen. • Try to leave the house at least once a day for some exercise and fresh air. • Have a definitive cut-off between home and work, so you’re not constantly “on” checking emails etc. • Correct your home/work life balance. From an employer’s side – • Reduce the standard video meeting length, so backto-back meetings have a break in between to allow the opportunity for a period away from the screen. • If your organisation has an Employee Assist

Programme (EAP), heavily promote it and hammer home the point that staff have someone they can talk to in confidence. • Introduce fun team building activities. Here’s a few examples - Step Challenges (www.movespring. com), Online Bake-Offs (www.essenceofcake.com),

Trivia Nights (www.triviahublive.io/)

What is the essential equipment needed to stay healthy working from home?

Depends on who you ask, but as 99.9% of us work from mobile devices, like laptops, tablets, hybrids, then the absolute minimum is a laptop/tablet stand with a separate keyboard & mouse. Having said that, I’ve assessed people living in a house share or a bedsit, so are confined to one room with no real surface to work from and are just sitting on the bed, an armchair, or even the floor. With these scenarios, the assessor will need to get creative to find the best possible solution.

Do you think ‘Working From Home’ will be a permanent fixture post-covid?

I’m going out on a bit of a limb here, but personally, no. If you’d surveyed people anytime from the first lockdown to the end of summer last year, most would’ve said they plan to work from home as much as possible in the future – No travel costs, lie-ins, working in trackies, not sitting next to your boss, but the pendulum seems to be swinging the other way and people I speak to now miss the travel (to an extent), miss speaking to people, miss their ritual Starbucks in the morning. All-in-all, this forced mass-homeworking has made organisations realise it is possible and staff work just as hard at home, so they can now save money on real estate. Having said that, there would need to be an even bigger step-up financially & on an interpersonal level from employers to manage the increased pressure on mental wellbeing. So, I think companies will eventually encourage staff to come back to the offices at least on a 50/50 basis.

What’s the best advice you can give to homeworkers?

Well, the last twelve months have given me the opportunity to analyse every possible scenario a homeworker can face. Looking at every homeworking assessment I’ve completed during and pre-pandemic, I’ve formed my ‘Five Pillars for Healthy & Productive Homeworking’. As it looks like I am running out of page, here is the abridged version. 1) Mimic the commute – Book-end your day with a 5/10min walk to have a definitive break between home & work. 2) Start as you mean to go on – Get your workstation setup correctly from the start, adjust the chair, raise the screen height, make sure the lighting is adequate etc. 3) Regular breaks – Get up and move at least once an hour to improve circulation and activate sedentary muscles. 4) 20/20/20 Rule – Every 20mins, take a 20sec break from the screen and look at something at least 20ft away. Refresh your eye muscle and adjust your focus. 5) Avoid Death By Video Call – Reduce the length of video meetings where possible, carry out as many meetings as you can via the phone, so you can be more mobile.

As I say, this is the abbreviated, but you can access and download for FREE the full ‘5 Pillars’ guidance at www.free-well.co.uk/resources

Simon Garcia is the owner of Freedom Wellbeing Inc, a corporate wellbeing consultancy, specialising in workplace assessments, ergonomics training, workplace mental health & safety and commercial mediation. With over ten years experience in this field, Simon has carried out innumerable workplace assessments, with over 1,000 homeworker assessments carried out since the start of the first lockdown in March 2020.

The aches & pains of lockdown

And 5 top tips on how to prevent them from occurring

By Bethany Elliott-Hutton

As allied health care professionals and key workers, the osteopaths and physiotherapists at bodytonic clinic have been able to continue providing hands-on treatment to the people of London.

Since reopening the clinic has seen an influx of both new and returning patients requiring treatments for a range of different ailments. With many people working from home it is not surprising that there have been some recurring themes to people’s aches and pains so we share 3 common areas below:

Neck Pain - the first and most common area of complaint the physical therapists at bodytonic clinic have been seeing throughout the lockdown period, in particular neck muscle strain. Usually, a muscle strain is a result of overuse, improper use, or fatigue of a muscle. The biggest culprit for a neck muscle strain is poor posture! The phrase ‘tech neck’ refers to stressing the muscle of the neck due to using laptops, phones and technology. When we look down at our devices, this puts extra load on the muscles on the back of our neck, resulting in the muscles having to work harder. Over a prolonged period of time this causes the muscles to fatigue and be overused, causing an array of symptoms including pain, restricted movements, shoulder pain as well as headaches.

Low Back Pain - the second most common area of complaint is low back pain. It is estimated that 60% to 80% of the general population will experience an episode of low back pain in their lifetime.

The most common type of low back pain we have been seeing in the clinic is known as nonspecific low back pain. This is when low back pain is not due to any serious disease or back problem such as a disc prolapse. Usually, the cause is due to a muscle strain, or soft tissue, or ligament injury. Everything from the mattress you sleep on, to the job you do can have a cumulative effect on the low back. Whether you are doing a lot of heavy lifting or sitting still for long periods of time, you may be putting unnecessary stress on your back. Wrist and Arm Pain - the third most common area of complaint has been pain in the wrist and arm commonly caused by repetitive strain injury to the muscles of the arm and wrist.

Lockdown has meant people are working from home and as result, people are working longer hours. With all the extra typing and sitting it is not surprising that the wrists and arms are feeling the effects, especially when working on a makeshift desk at the kitchen or dining room table and in some cases from the sofa or bed.

So, what can you do to combat those annoying aches and pains?

● Adjust your home set-up. One way to combat aches and pains is to make sure you have your desk and computer set up correctly for your posture. Set the screen to eye level to prevent from looking down.

Use a separate keyboard and mouse, take regular breaks from your desk so that you can give your body a rest, and help to reset your posture.

● Keep away from working on the sofa

or the bed. Sitting upright in a chair with your feet flat on the ground and hips and knees at around 90 degrees is the best position to reduce strain and stressors through the spine. ● Change positions. Try taking phone calls standing up, this will give your body a rest from your sitting down posture. ● Keep active. Make the most of your daily exercise allowance and try to get outside in the fresh air every day. ● Visit bodytonic clinic. If your aches and pains are not going away the osteopaths and physiotherapists are on hand to help.

Your initial consultation will consist of a thorough case history and examination followed by treatment. We will understand the root cause of your problem and develop a tailor-made treatment plan for you, along with advice on ways to adapt your working from home set-up, and provision of exercises to help reduce and manage your aches and pains.

For more information on how we can help you please feel free to contact bodytonic clinic at bodytonicclinic.co.uk and one of our team members will be happy to answer any of your questions.

10-11 Dock Offices, Surrey Quays Road, London, SE16 2XU. 0203 6060 490 bodytonicclinic.co.uk Canada Water, Stratford and Wapping