Now that a lot of us have the choice, the question remains: should we be working from home or working from the office?
Workplaces are now offering more and more flexibility for their employees. A mixture of working from home, as well as from the office, is what we now know as the hybrid approach to work. This flexible approach seems to be staying here for the long-term, so we should be crystal clear on the positive and negatives of both.
What should I consider?
A big factor when deciding whether to work at home or at the office initially can be influenced by the social advantages (and disadvantages) or each. It’s good to be in the office for team morale, culture, and friendships. On the other hand, it’s good to be at home for the flexibility, the lack of commute, and comfort. But one key area which should be heavily considered is: how good is your desk setup at each?
Offices are usually pretty good for this, because… well, they are offices. If you are finding yourself working at home on a dining room table, with a less than optimal chair, then this will lead to uncomfortable back pain building up in the form of muscle tightness as the working-week progresses.
Worse still, if you’re working from your sofa or even from your bed, then your spine and back muscles really aren’t going to be thanking you after a day or two! Headaches can often occur when the muscles around the neck and shoulders tighten up. This can then cause a “pinching” sensation on the nerves and result in a headache. If you would like to read more about headaches, a previous blog was written about this here.
Ok, so what can I do?
Wherever you decide is the best for you to work, it’s hugely beneficial for you to spend some time having a look at your desk set-up and ask yourself a few key questions:
- How am I sitting? Am I sitting twisted at an angle or sitting straight on?
- Is the height of my screen or monitor comfortable for me to view, or am I straining my neck up or down?
- If there are two monitors or screens to be viewed, am I positioned to view both comfortably or am I more facing one screen?
- Does my lower back feel rounded? Or am I maintaining the natural curvature of the lumbar spine, with my pelvis sitting straight?
The body, and the spine specifically, always like to be in “neutral posture“. Aiming to keep the body in neutral when sitting will be really beneficial for helping to limit back and neck pain. See if there are any tips you could take from the image below when you’re next sitting at your desk (not your sofa or bed!).
So, after reshuffling things around and setting your computer, chair and desk to a comfortable layout, you now feel that you have your desk setup nailed and things are already starting to feel better physically. However, tightness in your back, neck and shoulders is still felt occasionally…
Whilst aiming to keep a “neutral posture” will help significantly, it is a big ask to expect us to be able to maintain this posture at all times. Sitting anywhere for long periods of time, day after day, will eventually take it’s toll on the body. The human body hasn’t adapted and evolved quick enough for our repetitive working lifestyles. Relatively speaking; desk-based work is a very recent phenomenon that we are all still trying to get used to.
Massages for maintenance
A great way to combat some of this muscle tightness further is to make time for yourself to have regular maintenance massages. It’s really advantageous in limiting muscle tightness building up, and potentially leading to pain or injury further down the line. Scheduling in regular maintenance massages once a month, or once every other month, will go a long way to help to combat this and “reset” your muscle tightness.
Conclusion
So to conclude this blog and help to answer the original question of “where should I work more – at home or at the office?” the answer is, rather boringly, whichever allows you the more comfortable working position, and the other factors should be assessed after answering this question.