Back and Neck Pain - is it Your Workstation?

Written by Bernitta Willoughby M.Ost DO PGD WHO, Principal Osteopath & Desk Assessor:

Today I write this throughout my journey home from Madrid, having spent the day delivering one of my ergonomics workshops to an investment company, jumping from plug to plug outlet to continue writing this piece!

As an Osteopath, I spend a large part of my working week treating people with neck, shoulder and back pain, and quite often the way they work forms part of that conversation. Alongside this, through my workplace wellbeing work, I have the opportunity to take what I see in the treatment room and use it proactively, teaching people how to make better use of their working environment.

Ergonomics is probably my favourite workshop to deliver for exactly this reason. People come along with photographs of their workstations on their phones, questions about their office chairs and plenty of examples of the less-than-ideal places they sometimes find themselves working. We can look at these together and make changes that are actually realistic.

And that is really the point of ergonomics. It isn't about finding one 'perfect' position and sitting in it for eight hours. It is about making your environment work better for you and, importantly, changing position throughout the day.

Your workstation doesn't have to be perfect

One of the topics we covered in Madrid was the reality of modern working. Some people are predominantly office based, others work between home and the office, and many regularly travel with work.

That might mean a well set-up desk one day, a kitchen table the next and a laptop at an airport or on a train later in the week.

Rather than pretending we can make every one of those environments ergonomically perfect, I teach people how to make the best of the environment they have.

If you're working at a proper desk for several hours, it makes sense to spend some time setting it up well. Your chair, screen, keyboard and mouse should work together so that you aren't unnecessarily reaching, twisting or looking down for prolonged periods.

If you're working while travelling, however, the advice has to be realistic. You probably aren't going to travel with an ergonomic office chair in your hand luggage. Instead, think about how long you're working in that position, make the best adjustments you can and change position regularly.

A patient this week was a good example

Just before travelling to Madrid, I saw a patient in clinic who works at a desk within a funeral home.

When we started talking about her working day, she already knew her desk set-up wasn't particularly good. Her keyboard was too far away, so she was regularly reaching forwards to type, and her chair wasn't providing the positioning and support she needed. These weren't new problems with her workstation; they were simply habits that had been there for a long time and had never really been addressed.

We discussed bringing her keyboard closer so that she could work with her elbows comfortably bent at around 90 degrees rather than constantly reaching forwards. We also looked at the height of her chair in relation to the desk.

She is relatively short, and this highlighted a really common problem. To get her high enough in relation to the desk, she needed to raise her chair, but doing that meant her feet would no longer be properly supported on the floor. As a result, she had been keeping the chair too low.

The solution was surprisingly simple: a footrest.

A basic footrest can cost around £20–£40 and would allow her to raise the chair to a more appropriate working height whilst still keeping her feet supported.

This is something I see repeatedly in clinic. People often know that something about their workstation isn't quite right, but because they have managed with it for months or even years, it becomes their normal. They adapt themselves to the workstation rather than adjusting the workstation to them.

Sometimes it isn't an expensive new chair or desk that's needed. Moving a keyboard closer, adjusting a chair properly or adding something as simple as a footrest can make a significant difference to the way someone sits and works.

Sit, stand, but most importantly, move

We also spent time in today's workshop looking at sit-stand desks.

A standing desk isn't automatically better simply because you're standing. Standing in one position for hours isn't the goal either. What a sit-stand desk gives you is another working position and another opportunity to move.

Sit for a while. Stand for a while. Walk to speak to a colleague. Get up to make a drink. Change where and how you are working when the task allows it.

Our bodies aren't designed to remain completely still for an entire working day, and this is probably one of the biggest messages I try to get across in my workshops. Don't become too focused on achieving the 'perfect posture'. A good workstation should allow you to work comfortably, but movement and variation still matter.

One good question asked during the workshop, was that being a taller than average woman herself, she finds the desk uncomfortable as with the standard desk height. Meaning she couldn’t actually sit with her knees at a 90 degree angle, and thus her hips were less than 90 degrees in positioning too. In these circumstances a higher than standard desk, or even better - a sit stand desk is better for the taller than average user to allow for the raising of the desk and accommodate good posture.

Hybrid working needs a little more thought

Hybrid working has brought its own challenges. Someone may have an excellent workstation in the office but spend two days a week working from a laptop at home without a separate keyboard, mouse or suitable chair.

If you regularly work from home, that space deserves some consideration too.

That doesn't necessarily mean spending hundreds of pounds. A laptop stand, separate keyboard and mouse or a simple footrest can make it much easier to arrange your workstation appropriately.

The important thing is to look at the person using the equipment rather than simply buying equipment. The best chair in the world is of limited value if it hasn't been adjusted properly for the person sitting in it.

What about working while travelling?

This felt particularly relevant today as I travelled to and from Madrid myself.

Airport lounges, trains, planes and hotel rooms aren't designed to be permanent workstations. Sometimes we need to send an email, finish a document or join a meeting while travelling, and that's simply part of modern working life.

My advice is to recognise these environments for what they are: temporary workstations.

Make the best of the position available, avoid spending unnecessarily long periods working hunched over a laptop and, where possible, get up and move. If you travel regularly for work, even small habits such as changing where you sit, taking movement breaks and thinking about how you position your laptop can help reduce the amount of time you spend in one sustained position.

Why I enjoy teaching ergonomics

The part I particularly enjoy about delivering these workshops is watching people start to assess their own habits.

Someone realises their screen is off to one side. Someone else notices they always perch on the front of their chair. Another person suddenly understands why their shoulders are working so hard when their keyboard is halfway across the desk.

These are often very simple observations, but once somebody understands why they are making a change, they're much more likely to actually do it.

For me, this is where my two roles fit together particularly well. As an Osteopath, I see the musculoskeletal problems people bring into the clinic. As a desk station health and safety assessor and workplace wellbeing workshop provider, I can take those clinical observations into businesses and help people think differently about how they work.

Coming home from Madrid today, my biggest takeaway isn't a particular chair adjustment or piece of equipment. It is the importance of change.

Change your position. Move your keyboard. Adjust your chair. Stand for a while. Sit again. Get up and move. And if something about your workstation doesn't feel right, don't simply accept it because that's how you've always worked.

Sometimes the smallest adjustments are the ones that actually stick. And if there’s on thing to remember from this article, its that “your next posture is your best posture”.