The pains do not disappear with integrity
Pain is common. Especially when a lot of work is done remotely these days. You’ve come to sit by the screen for sure before and a lot, but now there aren’t creepy-mouthed coworkers next door capturing your world of thought in between. Luxury isn't it? For once, you get to work efficiently, or is it a luxury after all. Working alone has its pros and cons, just like that bean steward co-worker who tells her dog for the fourth time about the weekend’s adventures. The web is full of tips and theories on how to work better from your telecommuting, how to catch up on your own well-being, and how to get up from telecommuting as a phoenix than before. The pain is like a memory only. Most of these tips are rubbish and are not based on any factual information being researched.
Forget about thinking about ergonomics and do something sensible in the meantime
Sedentary workers are a work ergonomist at Shangri-La. People sit with their backs round and their mouths dripping drool just to the left as we sit two inches crooked. We have developed strong beliefs regarding work ergonomics and an upright stance. These beliefs include patterns of mind in which “an upright posture reduces pain” and “belching in the back exposes you to pain”. These claims have been diligently researched over the past decade, and the vast majority of research data suggests that that posture doesn’t matter much after all, whether or not they become painful. Those who do not have pain are usually those who sit in such round positions that it arouses envy in cats. Continuous protection of the back by tensioning the middle body is likely to only contribute to the growth of pain.
Our posture and posture can be a problem for us, but only if we own exactly one posture in which we live. This raises the question of whether there is a problem with position or movement. When we receive instructions and advice to correct our posture, we almost always get advice on how to move around as well. Indeed, it is often concluded that our new “better” position has helped us. In reality, the movement and movement to which we have been directed has often been an assisting factor.
Here's a tip for you in your working position. Make that position comfortable for you, move more often and vary that position.
Stop it from constantly stretching in pain. There are better ways to do that too
Another ancient belief that has been created for us is related to stretching. It is as if by some miracle we have a folk tale about the healing powers of stretching in connection with pain. As soon as the first pain occurs between the shoulder blades, we are stretching it or trying to relax that area. That muscle group stays very passive during sitting and our solution is to try to make it even more passive through relaxation and stretching? "But Tatu-Säta, that area of the back feels tight and the tension goes away by stretching." No. Almost always, this tension is due to muscle weakness. If you have to sit in the tube for many hours in front of the display terminal, your muscles need strength to keep them from getting tired.
Highlighted example:
Imagine a bucket of water starting to fill with water. The size of the bucket reflects the musculature of your upper back and how much maximum power they have. Filling the bucket with water describes the amount of load. As you sit at your work station, the bucket begins to fill evenly a little quietly. The larger the bucket of water, the longer it takes for the bucket to fill. When the water flows over the edge, the pain begins. When the bucket is full of water, stretching and other voodoo traps may momentarily mask the pain. The pain will definitely come back and stretching will not affect the size of the bucket in any way. If the size of the bucket does not increase, then the bucket will always fill with water just as quickly. Stretching allows you to shape a rubber duck out of that bucket, but if the size of the bucket doesn’t grow then it won’t help with the pain. Resting properly, like sleeping, empties the bucket of water.
If strength is already being found, then one might wonder if that stretching would be of any help or anything else. What kind of stretching would we benefit then? Adding long stretching to already muscles that are already under-moving sounds disturbed. Are we trying to make our muscles relax or possibly increase mobility in our bodies?
Pause your work. Fixed.
Yes, the last tip is to take a break from work. Simple solutions work. That’s why this has to be said out loud because of a lack of co-workers. As I mentioned in the introduction, that coworker next door sometimes talks to you about everything but work. While this sounds like a minimal factor, these small breaks help our brains a lot in the long run. It takes incredible self-discipline and mental capacity to be able to concentrate for several hours in a tube at full power in that small square in front of you and stay effective all this time. If our efficiency decreases, so will the amount of work done. If the amount of work done decreases and we have to do a certain amount of work per day, the amount of stress starts to increase. When stress is long-term, concentration becomes more difficult. As concentration becomes more difficult, so does our efficiency and quality. A wonderful vicious circle.
So what's the idea of pausing it? You’ll get your brain out of your work for a while and we’ll be able to focus better on the long haul. If you sacrifice five minutes at a time for non-work for half an hour, you will certainly be able to do your job more efficiently for a longer period of time and the quality of the work done will certainly improve as well. Your efficiency and quality will increase, for sure. So put that alarm clock next to it and wake up from there to work in between, even if you move for a while.
Give it a try. Just be embarrassed. Try Feeling more efficient, or did you read a single Seiska-level Latvian again.
Sources:
Slater. D., Korakakis. V., O'Sullivan. P. 2019. “Sit Up Straight”: Time to Re-evaluatehttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31366294/
Maestron. L., Read. P., Bishop. C. 2020. The Benefits of Strength Training in Musculoskeletal System Health: Practical Applications for Interdisciplinary Care. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32564299/
Wendsche. J., Lohmann-Haislah. A. 2016. shorturl.at/pF067