Is Working From Home a Pain in Your Neck? We Can Help

During the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, paid working-from-home hours in the United States rose from 5% to 50%. Many companies have continued to use a remote or hybrid work model to this day, allowing millions of workers to enjoy no work commute and a more comfortable, customizable work environment. 

If you’re one of the lucky people still working from home, then you’re no stranger to the benefits. You get to adjust the temperature to your liking and spend more time with your furry friends. You might even miss less work during the year due to illness. But remote work doesn’t come without drawbacks for everyone. While you might use fewer sick days because you can care for yourself at home and avoid catching contagious illnesses in a shared office environment, you might experience new unexpected health concerns like back or neck pain. 

Medical director Haddis Hagos, MD, and pain management physician Brent Earls, MD, understand that remote work setups aren’t always easy on the neck. At Pain Management Associates LLC in Greenbelt, Maryland, they can treat your neck pain and offer helpful tips for improving the ergonomics of your home office. 

Why you might get neck pain while working from home

You might not think much about it, but the position in which you sit to work matters. While it might seem easy to transfer to the couch, work at the kitchen counter, or slouch down in your desk chair, behaviors like these aren’t easy on your neck or back. Sitting in an unbalanced position for hours at a time can tighten or strain muscles in your neck. You might experience similar issues from:

• A computer screen that’s too low or too high
• Mismatched desk and chair heights
• A lack of breaks from sitting during your workday
• A chair or stool without any lumbar support 
• Overexerting your eyes by concentrating on a screen for hours

Working from your bed or another unideal location might be okay from time to time, but you should take steps to create a workstation that’s friendly for your back and neck. 

Building an ergonomic workstation

Even if you don’t have a full-fledged office in your home, you can still take steps to create a workstation that aligns with your body’s needs. You should also practice habits that give your neck muscles a break regularly throughout the day. At Pain Management Associates LLC, we recommend:

• Take breaks from sitting throughout the day or use a standing desk
• Prop up your monitor on a stack of books if it’s too low
• Avoid sitting too far forward or too far back in your chair
• Avoid slouching or working while lying down
• Nod and rotate your neck from time to time
• Invest in an ergonomic chair
• Enlarge the text on your screen so you don’t strain your eyes and neck muscles
• Practice stress management techniques, like deep breathing, to alleviate tension and strain

Your home workstation may not be perfect, but taking steps like these can ease current pain and prevent future pain in your neck from working at home. 

Care when you need it

We at Pain Management Associates LLC are here to provide you with advanced, evidence-based neck pain management if your neck pain is persistent and difficult to manage at home. We offer a variety of treatments to complement your home care strategies and workspace alterations so you can continue to work at home comfortably. 

Based on your symptoms and their severity, Dr. Hagos and Dr. Earls might recommend:

• Massage therapy
• Physical therapy
• Epidural steroid injections
• Oral medications
• Nerve root blocks
• Radiofrequency ablation

Starting with an exam and evaluation, our experts can select interventional procedures and other medical strategies to minimize your neck pain and keep your neck flexible. 

For more information on the connections between chronic neck pain and working from home, call us today. You can also schedule an appointment online at Pain Management Associates LLC using our convenient online booking tool.