LOW BACK PAIN AND THE PANDEMIC…

Low Back Pain has increased by a massive amount during the pandemic. Wales Online wrote that is the physical health danger of working from home. People have been working on their sofas, beds and kitchen surfaces.

Apparently, nearly a third (29%) of millennials admit that their living room couch is the most common ‘desk’ they’ve used since working from home during the pandemic, according to a UK study carried out by Logitech.

A quarter of people surveyed (25%) have adapted the kitchen counter into a make-shift desk, of which a participant has even gone so far as to say “The breakfast bar is my adapted work-from-home set up, I even use a saucepan as my laptop stand.”

One in six (17%) prefer the comfort of their bed for home working, “I’ve been working from my bed as it’s the only room in the house which will always be quiet,” commented another survey participant. Lower back pain was voted in as the most common WFH strain, with around 1 in 4 respondents experiencing the pain regularly.

On average 60% of UK employees expect their employer to contribute towards a professional working from home set-up. To help prevent pandemic postures and aches, as well increasing productivity and a better work-life balance.

Those from London had spent the most ‘upgrading’ their set-up – averaging at £538 vs the national average of £419. Chairs, desk, headset, headphones and computer mouse, are the most common pieces of equipment bought by employees.

“After a year of predominantly virtual living, not only are we spending more hours than ever on our computers, but the nation has been forced to unexpectedly adapt their homes into working environments leaving many of us huddled on beds, couches and kitchen stools for hours at a time. This research clearly shows we are a nation in decline when it comes to bad postures, productivity and body pain,” said Clara Torvisco Marquez, UK Category and Marketing Manager at Logitech.

The Logitech Ergo Lab uses a study of working environments to design ergonomic computer tools to improve posture, effectiveness, and comfort.

Dr Shireen, GP, said: “Together with Logitech ErgoLab, we are designing product experiences that help people work more comfortably. The ergonomic setup of your workspace, be it a pop up desk or a dedicated home office, is important, especially now that many of us work from home and spend hours glued to our computer screens and chairs.

“Making your workspace configuration better, improves posture, relieves muscle strain, and simply helps you feel better.

“Our mental health and our physical health are closely interlinked. An unsuitable working environment, such as working on the sofa, using inappropriate equipment and increased screen time has resulted in many people suffering with joint pain, stiffness and repetitive strain injury (RSI).

This, coupled with social isolation and a loss of routine, has in turn affected their ability and motivation to exercise, ultimately affecting their mental wellbeing.”

Some great posts I have written on this subject include ‘A chat with Nichola Adams on Back Pain and Posture’, ‘Top Ten Self-Help Tips for Back Pain‘, and Acupressure Mat to Ease Back Pain, Fibromyalgia, Headaches and Insomnia.

The AI Global Media wrote that new research, conducted by OTTY Sleep, reveals our biggest back pain queries and where in the UK people suffer the most from a bad back.

The data comes just two months after it was announced a number of patients are still waiting upwards of a year for help for chronic back pain. Understandably, the pandemic has put more pressure on NHS services than ever, so it’s important to understand how our back pain is being caused and how we can alleviate the pain.

The research compared Google searches across the 20 most populated cities in the UK. Each city was probed for how often they searched for back pain-related terms. In total, 116 search terms were analysed for their search frequency, identifying our biggest back-breaking problems, our growing pains, and which city was most likely to feel the effect of spinal aches and back-busting agony.

The study found that people in Belfast were the most likely to suffer from back pain. For every 100,000 people in the Northern Irish capital, 742 people searched for a back pain-related term every month. This is 36 per cent above the average city. Of the back pain search terms, people in Belfast were most likely to search for ‘back pain middle’, perhaps indicating where the main issue with their back pain lies.

Belfast was followed by Newcastle upon Tyne and Glasgow as the next most back pain suffering cities. They searched for back pain related terms 27 per cent and 20 per cent more than the average city respectively. People in Newcastle sought out ‘exercises for lower back pain’ while Glaswegians searched for ‘back stretches’ over any other back pain related terms.

For other cities, back pain was less of a sore issue. People in London only searched for back pain 353 times for every 100 thousand people – 35 per cent below average. Cardiff and Bradford also suffered less than average back pain; their back pain searches were 35 per cent and 16 per cent below the average UK city. Searches for back pain-related terms increased in 14 of the top 20 most populated cities in the UK.