Working from home during the pandemic can be a pain in the neck, literally.
Dr. Grant Garrigues has had people show up in his examining room since March with emergency shoulder issues, and it appeared to be related to people having a new work environment: their home.
"And then they’d say, ‘You know, doc, could it be because of my new situation? My wife is at our kitchen table and I’m sitting cross-legged on my bed with a laptop.’”
The shoulder specialist at Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush University Medical Center said work-from-homers are not only reporting shoulder pain but neck and back strains, too.
"Most are treated with physical therapy and occasional injections," he said.
Allie Noble, 26, started working from home in March.
"I just borrowed a table from someone, a card table and a folding chair to work at for a while, not knowing how long this would last,” she says.
Now, months later, she said: ”I’ve never had any real strain in my back or shoulders before, but I’ve noticed significantly that increase."
Noble said nothing seems to be getting rid of the pain.
"I found myself Youtube searching 10-minute stretch yoga in the middle of the day, just to stop from feeling tight."
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Dr. Garrigues said poor posture, sitting hunched over a laptop, neck down, can cause those back, neck and shoulder issues.
"If your shoulders are kind of rolled forward and down, then the bony roof of the shoulder sort of digs in to the rotator cuff, to the bursa, to these delicate structures in the shoulder that get inflamed,” he said.
Stretching helps, he said. So can better positioning of laptop screens so that a worker's head is straight, not bent over.
He also says more ergonomic furniture can help alleviate muscle strain issues.
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