Blog Post

Working from home aches and pains

Lucy Donnelly • 30 November 2021

Is working from home causing you aches and pains?

So many of our patients had ongoing back and neck pain work in an office environment, then home working became our new normal and the aches and pains had a field day. Although not all spinal aches and pains are originally caused by poor posture habits and bad desk set ups, but it certainly doesn’t help.

Most office workers will have an adequate in the office due to compulsory DSE (Display Screen Equipment) checks. However, many of the DSE checks have not carried forward to the home set up and many are working with basic dining chairs and full-time laptop use which is certainly not ideal.

These are my tips for helping your home office space to be kind to your joints:

If you are to be a permanent / semi-permanent home worker you need to ask for a DSE assessment for home set up- ask your HR department at work ( if you have one!). Here is a link for further information: https://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/dse/home-working.htm
Chair is essential! If you have space, please try to have an office chair. If you do not have the space for a bulky office chair, Ikea do some good chairs that do not take up as much space. They are certainly better than a dining chair – I have similar to these at my home for my teenagers and I feel they give good support for size and price https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/flintan-office-chair-with-armrests-black-s49424470/
Add a lumbar Support. We recommend a McKenzie “D” roll and sell them at the clinic for £16 (current price as of 30/11/21)
If using laptop, ensure you have external keyboard and mouse– these can easily be purchased on Amazon as a package. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-Wireless-Keyboard-Windows-Connection/dp/B00CL6353A/ref=sxin_15_trr... or similar. You can also look at ergonomic mouses if you get a lot of upper arm pain but I would recommend seeing a Physio for assessment first.
Invest in a laptop stand (also good to find on Amazon) – these can be small fold up ones that can live in your laptop bag, but it ensures the laptop screen is up at eye level, similar to how a PC screen would be.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kensington-Portable-Ergonomic-Cooling-SmartFit/dp/B0007YB8NM/ref=sr_1_16?ke... or similar
If you spend long periods on phone calls make sure you have a good headset to use.
Ensure your lighting is sufficient - you may need to add a lamp that can clip to your laptop screen to ensure your area is bright enough – you can also find these on Amazon, and they plug into your laptop to charge.
Regular breaks to change your posture – this does not mean a coffee every 20 mins but just stand up and walk around your room, take a phone call standing up. Just moving your joints from sitting to standing position can alleviate tension building up.
At lunchtime do try and take a 5-10 -minute walk around the block – your joints will be missing that walk from car to office so you must substitute it.

If you would like Lucy to fully assess and advise on your work from home set up we can organise a home visit or do via consultation at The Village Clinic using photos. Please call us 01242 673507 for further details

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What is Therapeutic Laser?

by Lucy Donnelly • 15 October 2024

What is therapeutic laser? And how does it work? Therapeutic laser uses the power of light to reduce pain, inflammation and swelling as well as to encourage your body’s own healing mechanisms. It’s great for treating a huge range of problems including tendonitis, plantar fasciitis, wounds, bursitis, muscle tears and injuries. Laser can be used on both chronic (long term) and acute (recent) conditions. My 2 most recent successes that have totally stunned me as to how well they responded were a chronic back pain giving sciatic pain in the leg and an acute knee anterior cruciate ligament rupture. Both very different conditions where we used different layered settings, but both responded incredibly well and only needed up to 3 treatments. We have had our laser machine for 18 months now and I've only had 2 patients wish to stop their treatments due to limited benefits... most are keen to have the full course of 6 treatments or more. Laser therapy involves directing light energy into inflamed or damaged tissue to accelerate the body's natural healing process. The laser is placed in direct contact with the skin which enables specific wavelengths of light to penetrate the tissue and interact with molecules within the cells to cause several biochemical effects. One of the most important effects of laser therapy is encouraging blood flow into the area being treated. This means the cells there have a better supply of oxygen and nutrients and that waste products and swelling can be flushed out. Laser helps to reduce pain by slowing down the speed of the pain messages in nerves and it reduces inflammation by lowering the number of cells promoting the inflammatory process in the area treated. After laser treatment muscles are better able to relax and movement can become easier as a result. The treatment is painless, non-invasive and offers a drug free alternative to anti-inflammatories, pain killers and steroid injections. If you’re interested in how laser treatment could help you, please get in touch for more information 01242 673507 or mail@villageclinic.co.uk