Working remotely from home has many advantages, like cutting your commute time by 100%, saving money on gasoline, fewer distractions, and rocking cozy pajamas in the daytime.
Having the flexibility of working in your loungewear while sipping a mocha late may feel like a godsend. Still, don’t ignore the red flags of muscle fatigue caused by awkward postures and a sub-par office setup.
Work from home injuries are more common now than ever with the abundance of remote workers. Haphazardly setting up your home office without understanding basic ergonomic principles can result in neck strains, back spasms, and repetitive stress injuries such as carpal tunnel.
Five Signs You Should Invest in a Remote Ergonomic Assessment
#1: Lower Back Strain
Sitting too long at your desk all day in awkward postures without getting up for a break can put pressure on your low back muscles.
Chairs without sufficient lumbar support can contribute to low back pain. Over time, sedentary work can cause uncomfortable muscle strains that can pave the way for herniated discs and chronic pain conditions.
Most dining room chairs and even high-end lounge chairs aren’t adjustable and lack the proper lumbar support one needs if it’s functioning as your office chair.
Many people will sacrifice their back comfort by leaning forward in their chair to recreate a more optimal viewing angle and more comfortable hand position to type and use their mouse. An unsupported low back and turtle neck computer posture is a ticking time bomb for ergonomic injuries.
Rolling up a towel to bolster your low back is one solution and if your feet are dangling, use a footstool or stack of books to reduce the stress on your lumbar spine.
These are simple ways to improve your chair comfort; however, now you’re faced with the mismatch of your desk height being too high or low, leading to overreaching and contact stress of your forearm pressing into the hard surface of the work surface edge. (See #4)
Listen to your body- when your fanny says it’s been sitting too long, you stand, and if your feet say they’ve been standing too long, you sit.
Cornell University recommends the 20-8-2 rule. Every twenty minutes, get up from a sitting, stand for eight minutes, and then do two minutes of moving, like going to the bathroom or getting a snack. You might want to consider using a standing desk converter, so transitioning from a sitting to an upright posture is more fluid.
#2 Upper Back Stiffness
Hunching your back like a gargoyle perched over your keyboard can cause rounded shoulders. Your upper back discomfort might result from Resting your elbows on an armrest that’s too high.
That unadjustable armrest that interferes with access to keying and mousing and causes you to overreach your arms may also be the culprit that’s giving you a boulder size knot between your shoulder blades.
Finding an ergonomic chair with adjustable armrests that allows you to adjust the armrest’s height, width, and pivot is a better option for optimal function and safety.
When sitting at your desk, measure your desk height compared to your elbow height when it’s bent 90-degrees and close to your side.
If your elbow height is at to or lower than your desk, then your chair height is too low. In this scenario, what typically happens is, a person will compensate by either sitting on the edge of their chair or pushing their keyboard/mouse farther away from the desk.
Always keep your elbow height higher than your desk height.
By troubleshooting your discomfort with simple tweaks to your work habits, you can relieve the onset of muscle fatigue and learn how to work more efficiently.
#3 Stiff Neck and Headaches
Long-term laptop use can contribute to forward head postures as one needs to crane their neck to see the screen.
Preventing neck cricks while at your computer comes down to sitting correctly in your chair. When deeply engaged during screen time, we forget that we’ve evolved into humans, and we succumb to the caveman slouch.
Every inch the head moves away from the midline, that’s an added 10 pounds of pressure on the neck. When the neck flexes forward just 4 inches, it can result in 40 pounds of force. That sustained pulling on the posterior neck muscles at their attachment points can conceivably cause a 40-pound headache in the forehead and around the eye’s orbit.
Now, this makes a case for doing chin tucks and maintaining a more neutral neck posture, right?
Take microbreaks every 25 minutes using the Pomodoro Technique. Get up for a short stretch break or a trip to the water cooler to prevent physical and mental fatigue.
When your monitor is too high, you can strain your neck when tilting your head to look up at it. To remedy this, adjust your monitor’s screen height to be slightly below eye level or even lower if you’re wearing bifocals or progressive lenses.
Use a three-ring binder to raise it closer to eye level or get a laptop stand if you’re working with a laptop.
Going that route, you’ll need a wireless keyboard and mouse to prevent looking like a zombie from Michael Jackson’s Thriller. This revised setup might take a little getting used to, so be mindful of your posture.
Consider scheduling a remote ergonomic assessment for optimal solutions on how to arrange your workstation so that you can avoid getting injured.
#4 Numbness in the Elbows, Wrist, Hands, or Fingers
Excessive typing and overuse of computer mice can lead to repetitive strain injuries, also referred to as RSI.
Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common RSI caused when the palm’s median nerve is compressed and inflamed. Symptoms range from pain and tingling to weakness in the hands.
Many people have lousy keyboard habits that can irritate the carpal tunnel. One example is typing with awkwardly bent wrists because the keyboard is too high or low.
Keep your elbows bent in an “L” shape and your forearms, wrists, and hands in a straight line.
Gripping, finger-clicking, and dragging your computer mouse can lead to muscle soreness in your shoulder, refered to as mouse shoulder.
Select ergonomic mice that match your hand’s size if this is the case.
When you use a mouse while keying, it is essential to access it without overreaching or using awkward postures. To achieve this, position your mouse as close to the keyboard as possible.
#5 Eye Fatigue
If you’re experiencing eye fatigue, blurred vision, or headaches, there’s a good chance it’s connected to your monitor height, distance, glare, or how you organize your workspace.
Placing your computer too far away can strain your eyes. Bring your monitor closer to you, about an arm’s length. Adjust the monitor distance to easily read the screen while sitting comfortably against the back of your chair.
Glare from overhead, task lights, or sunlight can cause squinting, neck tilting, and headaches. Make sure to place your computer perpendicular to the window to stop the sun glare on your screen.
If adjusting your monitor tilt doesn’t help with the glare, try dimming your lights or drawing the blinds or curtains. You can purchase an antiglare screen or block the light source somehow.
There’s a good chance that your eye fatigue might be from staring at the computer for way too long. So consider giving your eyes a rest with the 20-20-20 rule. Every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds.
When you find yourself dealing with one ergonomic dilemma after another, and it’s giving you decision fatigue, that’s a sign that it’s time to book a remote ergonomic assessment.
A professional ergonomist can guide you toward safer solutions so you can avoid getting hurt and be more productive.