translated from Spanish: Deliver recommendations to avoid bad postures in telecom work

If you’re one of those who changed the office to your home and had to improvise a desk at the dining room table, on an armchair or even on your bed, then you’ve noticed that annoying back, neck and even wrist pains appear. The Home Office is being considered one of the ways to prevent coronavirus contagion, but this brings with it other associated problems such as generating bad postures caused by long hours of teleworking. According to kinesiologist Gabriela Fica Henríquez, “the main affected area is the spine, where pathologies such as lumbalgia, dorsalgia, torticollis, etc. may appear. If you already have an alteration, such as scoliosis or kyphosis, the symptoms of these may worsen.” While the conditions of each home vary according to our spaces and situation, the quilpué professional gives us very simple data on what not to do. “The main thing is to avoid working lying on the bed or sitting on an armchair, because in addition to forcing the cervical musculature among others, it is a posture that our body associates with rest, so it decreases the level of tension, and therefore the efficiency at work,” he says. Three key recommendationsThe ergonomics specialist advises us on three fundamental points to maintain a better and correct posture, starting by “looking for an environment suitable for telework, a room that has natural light and good ventilation. Also, you must not smoke in this space.” Secondly, you have to ensure good support for the back, so the chair to be used must have backrest. “A pillow can be placed on the lower back and the surface of the sole of the feet should be fully resting on the ground,” he adds. Finally, it advises to avoid keeping the forearms in suspension when we are using the mouse or keyboard so as not to strain the muscles excessively and not generate fatigue in the cervical area, wrists, shoulders, etc. On the other hand, it is of the utmost importance to make active breaks every hour and change position to lower stress levels and thus avoid muscle contracture. It is advisable to take short walks inside the home and do simple exercises to minimize harmful health effects. The kinesiologist teaches us that the muscles of the cervical area should be stretched, but “circular head and neck movements should never be performed as they are harmful. The right way is to perform bending, extension and tilt movements to the left and right, and rotate left and right and keep each of them for 25 to 30 seconds.” Another simple and effective exercise for the dorsal area of the back is to stand, fread both elbows as much as possible and the palms of the hand will look to the front, and in this position put together both scapulae and then relax. This is repeated five times every hour of work,” he concludes. Gabriela Fica lives in Quilpué and currently works at the ‘Quinta Salud’ comprehensive health center in Viña del Mar. If you want to contact her you can do it through her email kine.gfh@gmail.com or her Instagram kinesiologa.gf.

Original source in Spanish