Coronavirus – Working from home?

Many of us will be working from home in the coming weeks as a response to the Coronavirus. While this reduces the risks of infection, we also need to think about the risks to your health from working at home. The main concern is likely to be whether you can work comfortably. At WorksOut, we often see people who work from their kitchen table and chair, or sofa. While this might not cause any discomfort for short term use, you may start to feel aches in your shoulders, neck, forearms and back if you are not properly supported or are forced into an awkward posture when working for longer periods.

If you are working from a laptop, you are likely to need to use a separate keyboard and mouse, so that you can position them independently of the screen, and a laptop stand to raise the height of the screen. Ideally you will have an adjustable chair and suitable work surface to work from. If you don’t have these, you should take regular breaks and move around so as to avoid long periods in an awkward posture.  You may also want to do some ‘deskercises‘ to help ease off a stiff neck, shoulders, back or legs.

There’s also a short, simple animation here that might help.

If you are concerned about your comfort when working from home, we are able to provide advice about your home workstation over the phone or by Skype. Do get in touch to discuss this.

Published
Categorized as blog