Healthy Home Office: Do You Think About Your Back Problem?

What are your experiences with the home office? Somehow – besides many disadvantages – it also has its nice sides. How do you find it that no colleague at home disturbs you in your most compelling work phase? The free or at least more free time management, lunch with your partner or family… Has something.

Nevertheless: The workplace in the office offers more than just the familiar environment. Well-thought-out furnishings, generous space and – at least that’s how it should be – ergonomically and technically tailored to your needs. This will become clear, sooner or later. Earlier, when the laptop doesn’t have enough power for remote access at home. Later, when the back, shoulders and neck pinch, hurt, shut up.

Before It Tweaks

This, of course, assumes that you feel comfortable at home, which we initially think. Also, a back-friendly seating solution is essential. A kitchen chair, a couch or the New Work-hyped beanbag are not suitable for permanently (back) healthy and concentrated work.

Movement and Sitting – 650 Muscles as the Engines of your Body

More than 650 large and small muscles always exercise and train the “perfect interaction” in your body. Over 400 of them are involved in supporting motor skills. Around 150 small and tiny muscles take over the stabilization and movement in the back. With enough natural movement, thanks to this division of labour between the back muscles involved, there are usually no problems. But if movement – as with rigid sitting – is slowed down and “stunted” into the posture , the ingenious system of mother nature is overwhelmed.

Smarter Thanks to a Smartphone? Not for Back, Neck and Co.

PC, tablet, smartphone – without them, neither private nor work world would be imaginable. However, when working in front of and with monitors, we tense our muscles isometrically, i.e. without moving. Over time, this leads to a lack of blood flow in the muscles. With the result that metabolic end products are no longer adequately removed. The effect: tension and pain up to chronic clinical pictures, because the human body is not intended for mere posture. Only regular exercise can help.

Tilting or Commuting?

Even the sporadic walk in the lunch break or the way to the printer via the office corridor is usually unnecessary. Move? Nothing! So there is no getting around a good “moving seat”. When looking for the right office chair, you will soon be overwhelmed by the incredible selection. A central question that you will very soon encounter with the many seated motion solutions on the market: “Tilting or commuting? “It is about the deflection of the seat. From a biomechanical point of view, tilting the pelvis to the side while sitting is problematic. Commuting should be limited to small and horizontal deflections of the seat. The objective of a pendulous tail: Small movements only activate the muscle system that stabilizes the depth, if possible, while large muscles experience relief in the opposite direction.

Correct Sitting for More Mental Performance

Finely dosed deflections can activate the reporting organs in the soft tissues and joints and thus provoke a motor response from the central nervous system. Subconsciously and automatically – this is important so that you are not distracted from your work while you are sitting. Movements that are too large or unphysiological always harbour the risk of distraction from work tasks. As a direct consequence, your robust performance decreases.

Neck Support – for the Neck and Eyes

When choosing your office chair, pay attention to neck support, ideally three-dimensionally adjustable. The highlight: It not only relieves the often tense upper area of ​​the spinal muscles but also protects your eyes during urgently recommended screen breaks. It doesn’t take a lot of time, is very easy and helps you through even the most work-intensive day: Lean back, rest your head on the neck rest. Relieves the strained and gives the eyes a well-deserved break – and not only in the (home) office.

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