WEBVTT - Working From Home Is Killing Our Necks and Backs

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<v Speaker 1>It's Wednesday. I'm Oscar Ramirez from the Daily Dive podcast

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<v Speaker 1>in Los Angeles, and this is your daily coronavirus update.

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<v Speaker 1>How's your body holding up or working from home? For

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of people, it's taking a toll on their

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<v Speaker 1>necks and backs for ergonomics, and weeks of bad posture

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<v Speaker 1>has led to back aches, neck pain, and headaches. Aaron Zitner,

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<v Speaker 1>reporter for The Wall Street Journal, joins us for what

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<v Speaker 1>to do to help your body out. Thanks for joining us, Aaron,

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<v Speaker 1>You be glad to be with you. I saw this

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<v Speaker 1>article from you working from home is taking a toll

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<v Speaker 1>on our backs and necks, and right away I threw

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<v Speaker 1>my hands up in there and I was like, that's

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<v Speaker 1>exactly what's happening to me. You know, as a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of people have been working from home, they've had to

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<v Speaker 1>quickly make home office, and you know, not everybody has

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<v Speaker 1>done it the right way. Per se. I can only

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<v Speaker 1>speak for myself. I have no space in my house

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<v Speaker 1>really for an office set up. So what I had

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<v Speaker 1>to do was we have like a little kitchen nook

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<v Speaker 1>and that's where I've set my thing up. And it's

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<v Speaker 1>a hard bench. I have no back support. There and

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<v Speaker 1>sometimes after working a whole day, they're my back is

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<v Speaker 1>killing me. But that's kind of what's happening to a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of people. Aaron tell us a little bit about it. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>your experience is what I heard from a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>ergonomics people and physical therapists and chiropractors. We were all

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<v Speaker 1>sent home, or a lot of us were sent home.

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<v Speaker 1>Those of us who work in office jobs were sent

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<v Speaker 1>to work from home. And the first month was about

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<v Speaker 1>finding a place to work. And if you're fortunate to

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<v Speaker 1>have a home with some space in it, maybe you

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<v Speaker 1>took to the sofa or an armchair. But I was

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<v Speaker 1>also hearing about people in cities who were crying on

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<v Speaker 1>the phone with their doctors, saying, oh, my roommate claimed

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<v Speaker 1>the kitchen table and I'm stuck working all day in

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<v Speaker 1>the bedroom and I'm on the bed and my back

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<v Speaker 1>is killing me. So the first month for a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of us was about finding a place to work. And

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<v Speaker 1>what I found is that the second month, now that

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<v Speaker 1>we're eight weeks into this, is about the pain that's

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<v Speaker 1>come from not quite getting it right. We haven't nailed

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<v Speaker 1>the ergonomics, and the muscle strain has built up. Now

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<v Speaker 1>for two months and is really causing a lot of problems.

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<v Speaker 1>This is a second month problem more than a first

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<v Speaker 1>month work from home problem. And one of the craziest

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<v Speaker 1>things is you think you have this comfy chair that

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<v Speaker 1>you can sit in and you set up, maybe with

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<v Speaker 1>your laptop or something, and do some emails, whatever the

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<v Speaker 1>case may be, a meeting or something, and even that

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<v Speaker 1>comfy chair, just the way you're sitting in it is

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<v Speaker 1>doing you all sorts of wrong. That's right. I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>our homes are set mostly for comfort. Where are we

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<v Speaker 1>going to sit when we watch TV or read a book.

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<v Speaker 1>But now that we're doing those things, we're still watching TV,

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<v Speaker 1>we're still reading a book, We're probably spending more time

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<v Speaker 1>watching TV, and we're also spending the rest of the

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<v Speaker 1>day with our laptops in that same chair or on

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<v Speaker 1>that same sofa without proper posture. It's really building up.

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<v Speaker 1>And you combine this with the fact that a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of people are more sedentary. Now. I know I is

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<v Speaker 1>to go to the gym before work. I don't do

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<v Speaker 1>that now. At the least I would walk to my car,

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<v Speaker 1>go park it, and then walk to my office. There

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<v Speaker 1>are fewer opportunities to change your posture and to stretch

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<v Speaker 1>your legs, and that's compounding problems. Yeah, I'm on the

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<v Speaker 1>kitchen in the kitchen nook on a hard bench. Sometimes

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<v Speaker 1>I'm in that comfy chair writing emails. Sometimes I'm laying

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<v Speaker 1>down in the bed reading and doing some research. I

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<v Speaker 1>was even outside getting attacked by a squirrel on one day.

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<v Speaker 1>It's I've been all over the place with this whole thing.

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<v Speaker 1>And one of the other things that has been bothering

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of people, to beyond the finding a comfy workspace,

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<v Speaker 1>is actually working on the laptops and our cell phones

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<v Speaker 1>and the way our neck is positioned is also beginning

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<v Speaker 1>to bother a lot of people. You know, you're hitting

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<v Speaker 1>something important. A lot of us are creating strain because

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<v Speaker 1>we work on laptops and we look down at the screen,

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<v Speaker 1>and then we look at our phones and spend a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of time on TikTok or or email or whatnot

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<v Speaker 1>on our phones, and we're looking down at our phones.

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<v Speaker 1>And a bull of chiropractors said that your head, depending

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<v Speaker 1>on your male or female or who you are, you

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<v Speaker 1>can weigh twelve pounds or so. But when you're you're

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<v Speaker 1>angled down and your neck is angled so that you're

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<v Speaker 1>looking down at a screen, a laptop or a phone.

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<v Speaker 1>Your neck muscles have to hold up what becomes the

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<v Speaker 1>equivalent of sixty pounds, and over time that creates a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of strain and you can get headaches and back aches.

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<v Speaker 1>So you spoke to a few chiropractors and ergonomic specialists

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<v Speaker 1>for their recommendations and how to reduce stress on the body.

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<v Speaker 1>This is going to be going on for a little

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<v Speaker 1>bit of times, though, So what can people do to

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<v Speaker 1>help themselves? What I was told by a number of

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<v Speaker 1>people is number one, don't look down at that screen

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<v Speaker 1>if you're working on a laptop. Buy a stand for it,

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<v Speaker 1>or put some books under it so that the screen

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<v Speaker 1>is raised and your eyes should be about at the

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<v Speaker 1>level of the monitor, so that you're looking across at

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<v Speaker 1>the screen or slightly up rather than down. To make

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<v Speaker 1>that work, a lot of people are gonna need to

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<v Speaker 1>buy an external keyboard or a mouse because you don't

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<v Speaker 1>want to raise your laptop on some books and then

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<v Speaker 1>have to raise your arms up high to type on

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<v Speaker 1>the laptop. You want your arms to be at kind

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<v Speaker 1>of ninety degree angle at your sides, about the same

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<v Speaker 1>level as your elbows. You want your keyboard and mouse

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<v Speaker 1>to be at about the same level of your elbows.

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<v Speaker 1>So if you can raise the screen and then get

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<v Speaker 1>a detachable keyboard to keep that lower down at elbow height,

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<v Speaker 1>you'll be better off. And that goes for your phone too.

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<v Speaker 1>Don't look down at your phone you're typing on your phone,

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<v Speaker 1>Maybe kind of tuck your elbows on your chest and

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<v Speaker 1>raise your phone so that it's closer to high level

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<v Speaker 1>some of the other ones. Don't slouch, you know, sit

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<v Speaker 1>up straight with a little arch in your back. And

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<v Speaker 1>you know, it's some of these same things that you

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<v Speaker 1>get tips for in the office. You know, move around

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<v Speaker 1>so you're not always in that same spot, just to

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<v Speaker 1>help relieve some of the muscles. But you know, you've

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<v Speaker 1>got to take care of your body and your posture,

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<v Speaker 1>even at home, especially since we're all spending so much

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<v Speaker 1>more time there. Aaron Zittner, reporter at The Wall Street Journal,

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<v Speaker 1>thank you very much for joining us. You got it.

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<v Speaker 1>Glad to be with you. I'm Oscar Ramirez and this

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<v Speaker 1>has been your daily coronavirus update. Don't forget that. For

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<v Speaker 1>today's big news stories, you can check me out on

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<v Speaker 1>the Daily Dive podcast every Monday to Good Friday, so

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<v Speaker 1>follow us on I Heart Radio or wherever you get

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<v Speaker 1>your podcast