Back Pain At Work
By Dr. Joshua Kiely
Whether you work a job up on your feet all day or sit in a chair at a desk (or perhaps your sofa or dining table), you’ve likely had a run-in or two with back pain.
Just because back pain at work is common, doesn’t mean we have to simply grin and bear it. We can problem-solve, improve our workplaces, improve our habits, and put together the right team to help us manage our pain as efficiently as possible.
Basically, back pain doesn’t have to get in the way of your favourite activities after work, and being achy doesn’t have to lead to being miserable. Read on to find some strategies you can start using today!
Back pain can be a puzzle - so we problem solve
When we lift something that is super heavy, it makes sense when we wake up sore the next day. However, most of the time when we have back pain, we can’t point to a specific event as an obvious cause.
Back pain can be influenced by stress, mood, workplace satisfaction, posture, and many other factors. Part of effectively managing back pain, involves problem-solving and addressing the specific factors affecting your pain. Continue reading, and consider checking out my Instagram page (@spine.ottawa) for simple tips to help you gain control of aches and pains.
Unfortunately, there simply is no cookie-cutter program or medication for back pain. Back pain is complex and unique to every individual. It’s helpful to find a professional willing to take the time to listen to you so you can put together the clues that may explain and solve your pain.
We can improve our workplace to reduce back pain
If we make some tweaks to our posture and set up our workplace more comfortably, we can often erase some achiness. This is great, and usually a perfect place to start when addressing pain without a specific cause.
Three workplace modifications that can have a profound impact on comfort:
Get an adjustable chair.
You should be able to lean back, twist around, go up & down… the works. There is no perfect posture, but most folks definitely notice improvement when they move frequently through different sitting positions and an adjustable chair can make that possible.
If you’re working from home, keep a yoga mat near your desk.
Spend some time kneeling on one knee, or on both knees. Squat once in a while. Get down on the mat and stretch for a couple of minutes. Try to spend at least 5 minutes every hour doing something other than sitting.
Try to get your computer screen up in line with your eyeballs.
It’s no fun spending the whole day craning your neck up or down or sideways just because your laptop screen is in the wrong position. Try tucking a big book or a box underneath your work laptop to bring the screen up so you don’t have to stare down all day.
BONUS TIP: a detachable mouse and keypad go a long way for better positioning and variety throughout the day!
Working on our habits can help with back pain
The key to building better habits is to gently our nudge behaviour in the right direction with manageable changes. Our habits don’t need to be perfect, but if we can make incremental changes toward better health, we can reap enormous benefits over time.
The blueprint to building better habits
Pick a goal. Then make that goal 10x more achievable by breaking it all the way down to the easiest thing you can think of.
If you currently spend 8 hours sitting every day, it’s pretty much guaranteed that you can’t cut that in half starting tomorrow.
You’re more likely to take a minute in the day to get up and walk around the living room or office. Try that for a week.
Next, try stepping out the door and walking to the end of the street and back. Now you’re moving!
Just a quick walk to the end of the street can do the trick - modify as needed!
When you’re feeling up to it (and already starting to see the benefits of moving around!) try getting up and taking two short walks during the day.
By gently nudging yourself toward better behaviour, you broke up 8 hours of sitting without even breaking a sweat… and that’s awesome.
Find the right team to get you feeling better
Get yourself a pro who’s going to take the time to listen to you, understand your unique situation and provide a custom plan to get you better.
I saw a patient just the other day who told me they’ve been dealing with back pain since they were 16, and they’ve been told by multiple practitioners that it’s just in their head. They’ve had over 10 years of back pain and it was just brushed off because the provider they saw needed to move on and see the next person so couldn’t take the time to listen. That’s simply unacceptable.
Over the course of their initial appointment, we discovered several potential factors influencing their pain and we’re able to problem-solve together to have an impact on these.
The most recent visit when they checked in, they noticed significant improvement and had been using some of the exercises and habits we discussed to effectively manage their pain at work!
Don’t settle for a practitioner who’s happy to take your money but in a hurry to get your out the door. Find someone who’s going to listen and understand you, so you can save your time and money for the fun things in life!
If you have any questions, please shoot me an email. I’m always happy to help out and do my best to point you in the right direction.