Everyone who works in an office every day knows the painful back. After 8 hours of sitting and possibly with bad posture, it hurts in several places of the spine. If you want to avoid this pain, there are a few tips you can use.
Integrate movement into everyday office life
It sounds so simple and yet it is so difficult. It is not easy to move regularly in the office. But stretching in between, walking a short distance or simply getting up and moving your body a little can do wonders. Smart watches offer a little support here. They have a function that reminds you to move every 60 minutes. It also offers the possibility to do a small workout, for example in the form of stretching 5 times, and thus to move regularly.
The regular break can also be used to move actively. A short walk after lunch not only helps digestion, it also relieves and strengthens the back.
Adjusting the workplace
One-sided postures put a lot of strain on our backs, and this can be prevented by adapting the furniture in the office to the workstation. The office chair and desk should be height-adjustable. A so-called standing desk can help. These are usually individually height-adjustable and can thus be used in many postures. Standing is much healthier than sitting and helps to strengthen and build up the back muscles, thus preventing pain.
Attention should also be paid to smaller details at the workplace. For example, the distance to the monitor is also very important for good posture; if it is too close or too far away, we tend to sit at the desk in an incorrect posture. The distance from the monitor should be 60 to 80 cm, depending on its size, and the height and angle of the screen should also be adjusted correctly. It is therefore advisable not to buy a rigid monitor.
Use a wedge cushion
A wedge cushion can also provide lasting relief for the back muscles. At first, you may feel unaccustomed to sitting on this cushion, but after a few days you will not only get used to it, but ideally also feel relief from the pain. A wedge cushion tilts the pelvis, stretches the lumbar spine and relieves the intervertebral discs and muscles. In addition, a wedge cushion ensures correct posture,
Finding a mix of relaxation and strengthening
A healthy back is essential for a VDU workplace. You can achieve this by constantly strengthening your muscles. In your free time, it is advisable to learn or use muscle-strengthening exercises from back school. A physiotherapist can help, but you can also find simple exercises to do on the internet. With a certain amount of regularity, the muscles can be strengthened in the long term and pain will be reduced.
However, relaxation is just as important as strengthening. Tension and stress can also be factors in pain. Relaxation can also be achieved through short meditative exercises at the workplace. Autogenic training or progressive muscle relaxation according to Jacobson can be very helpful here.
So, as so often in life, movement is the key. If you go home after an 8-hour day at the office desk and immediately sit down on the sofa or even at the PC at home, you risk a deterioration of the back muscles and back pain. Incorporating compensatory movement into everyday life is the key to healthy back muscles and less pain.
