Got That Back Pain? Here’s How to Set Up Your Home Workstation

It’s important to be comfortable.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, many businesses have encouraged employees to work from home, with students being asked by their schools and universities to study remotely. Pretty quickly, we’ve had to get used to chatting over video calls, taking online classes and missing our colleagues and classmates.

Of course, this also leads to a new challenge: setting up a workstation at home.

It’s all too easy to stay in bed while completing tasks on your laptop, but it’s not ideal for efficiency, or for your body (cue the aches and pains).

Instead, it’s vital that you establish an ergonomic workspace, especially considering we're probably going to be working and studying from home for the foreseeable future.

Here are some tips you should keep in mind.

Make sure you have a comfortable chair.

Firstly, if you don’t have a comfortable chair, you’re going to want to borrow one that’s adjustable and supports your back. If you don’t, you’ll find yourself getting sore very quickly.

If you can’t get your hands on one, that’s okay. As Edith Cowan University Occupational Therapist and Ergonomics lecturer Gregory Ho suggests in the video below, you can use household items like a yoga mat or a towel for lumbar support. It’s all about ensuring you can sit up straight and maintain good posture throughout the day.

Adjust your chair so it’s the ideal height.

Once you have got your chair sorted, it’s crucial to adjust it so it’s the right height for you. That means that your forearms should be at the same level as the desk you’re using, whether it’s an actual desk, a benchtop or your kitchen table.

Your feet should still be flat on the floor, but if you find them dangling a bit once you’ve raised the height, you can use a ream of paper, a book or a shoe box to create a footrest.

Raise your screen to avoid hunching.

We’ve all found ourselves hunching our shoulders while working on our laptops before. However, there are some things you can do to save yourself from the headache that poor posture can cause.

One of those is to raise your screen so it’s at eye level. You could do this using tissue boxes or books, as long as your screen is completely stable. On the other hand, if you're using a laptop, it's a better idea to use a proper screen elevation device to avoid any potential hazards.

Ideally, your eyes should be level with the top of your screen. This way you won’t be bending your neck or straining your eyes to read small text.

Use an external keyboard and mouse.

If the main device you’re using is a laptop, you’ll want to have both an external keyboard and mouse. While it may not seem like a necessity, it will stop you from putting tension on your shoulders through extensive reaching.

A good rule of thumb is to have the screen about an arm’s length away, and make sure you check for glare while you’re at it. Close any blinds that are allowing too much light to shine on your screen. You don’t want your eyes to get fatigued!

Don’t sit for too long.

Even if your home workstation is super ergonomic, it’s not healthy for anyone to sit for long periods of time. Dr Jodi Oakman, who leads the Centre for Ergonomics and Human Factors at La Trobe University told ABC that you should alternate between sitting and standing.

"Both sitting and standing for long periods of time is problematic," she said.

Keep an eye on the time, and if you’ve been sitting for 30 minutes, take a five-minute break and move around. Do some stretches or grab a glass of water. This way, you’re taking care of both your physical and mental health as well.

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