Coronavirus – Avoiding Lower Back Pain

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Welcome to the Back Pain Solutions Podcast – Coronavirus – Avoiding Lower Back Pain

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Introducing Coronavirus – Avoiding Lower Back Pain

The UK’s children seem to be working to keep fit with Joe Wicks, and the parks that are open are still full of runners, but for a lot of people the coronavirus lockdown has resulted in greater levels of inactivity, insomnia, alcohol consumptions and back pain according to a recent survey.

Clearly the current lockdown that we’re experiencing globally has seen a big shift in many people’s daily lives and the impact on back health can’t be overlooked. This will be no big surprise to those people that have had to react quickly to create a home office which for many will involve sitting hunched over a laptop!

As a result, we thought it would be a good opportunity to share some tips, and ideas, for looking after your back health during the current coronavirus lockdown. In this episode of the back-pain solutions podcast we discuss the limitations many people will face in setting up a home office with a laptop but how implementing some simple habits, and routines, will ensure your back stays healthy during this uncertain time.

Show Highlights Coronavirus – Avoiding Lower Back Pain

Whilst there’s a lot of uncertainty for many people, which for some is no doubt very worrying, whether that be due to financial concerns, or concerns over the virus itself, looking after your back health IS within your control. Forming some healthy daily routines, and habits, will help to ensure that you remain free from back pain. Not only that but the additional time that many of us have is the ideal opportunity to get fitter, eat healthier, and rest from the normal routine. There are so many exercises that can be done at home that there are no excuses if you have the right advice.

In addition to the benefits you will experience in taking back control of your back health, a healthier routine will make you more productive at work, more focussed and less lethargic so what better time to start making some healthier lifestyle choices!

Interview Transcription for …..

Unknown Speaker 0:00

When we’re young, we move with freedom and confidence with a great resilience to injury. But somewhere along the line we develop poor habits and become more vulnerable to back pain. Back Pain solutions features evidence based and practical advice to help you take back control of your health and get back to the activities you love. This is your guide to better black health through movement. So join us as we demystify some of the commonly held beliefs about back pain and build your confidence to be stronger back the smart way.

Ben James 0:28

Okay, welcome back to the back pain solutions podcast with me Ben James, my co host as always, Jacob stain Hello again, Jacob.

Jacob Steyn 0:34

Hi there, Ben.

Ben James 0:35

So today, we thought we’d do an episode specifically focused around lockdown and the current position that we’re facing globally in terms of changing our working lives and being working from home more and more the potential risks that can create for low back health as well as other aspects of our health. Now I read a report recently that saying that TV time duration of average TV time people are watching television on a daily basis gone up to about three hours, 46 minutes, the incidence of back pain is going up. So clearly the current lockdown that we’re experiencing has seen a big shift in the way that we live in our daily lives and the potential impact and it can’t be overlooked. And this will be no big surprise to those people that have had to react quickly to create new home offices which for many will involve sitting hunched over a laptop, and as a result, we thought you know, it’d be a good opportunity to share some tips and ideas for looking after your back health during the current environment. And the other thing is what’s there’s a lot of uncertainty for people and you know, very worrying, whether it’s financial concerns or concerns over the virus and sound itself there’s there’s the opportunity to at least take control of something you know, forming some daily routines and habits to support your back health as well as your overall health is something that is within your control and taking back some control on something may also be beneficial for our for our mental health. So what we thought we’d do is talk a little bit about the workstation and the potential limitations we have with our workstations from home because it’s been a pretty rapid reaction that we’ve had to take to that new way of working. But then we’re going to talk a little bit around a daily routine and some of the daily things that you can be doing to support better back health and better over better overall health in general. So starting off the workstation, limited to a degree what we can do, some people are going to be set up for it, some people are going to have desktop monitors computers, and they’re going to have a home office that maybe they work from home on a regular basis already. And they’re well set up for it. But there’s going to be an awful lot a big percentage of people that are very much working from the laptop hunched over a table as we said, or I said during the intro, and that is challenging because you could look to try and raise that laptop. to a level, but then your arms are going to be kind of hovering in the air all day. As you, as you’re typing away on that laptop, you’re not going to have any support from a desk or a table, if you do that. So the actual positioning of a laptop or a computer or your workstation, in general may be a challenge and a problem for people. Clearly, if you’ve got something like a high low desk, which we’ve talked about before, that would be ideal. But again, most people are not going to be in that position. And with financial concerns, you’re not going to go out and just suddenly buy one. So we have to acknowledge some of those limitations. But let’s not let that be an excuse to fall into bad habits, and to just make the assumption that our back problems are going to go away once we get out of this current lockdown situation. So there are limitations, but there’s a lot of things that we can do so Jacob any advice from your end, in terms of workstation at this point or do you agree that to some extent, it’s pretty limited what we can do when we’ve reacted so quickly?

Jacob Steyn 4:07

Yeah, I think it’s pretty limited. But I think we should do the necessary especially if we look at a workstation with a laptop. I think that we at least need a keyboard and a mouse. Because having the laptop on a table and just typing on a laptop means that you’re looking right down almost towards your feet. And that’s gonna put a lot of strain on your neck, eventually hunching over, and most likely a low back as well. So if you have to make the best of a laptop situation, I think what you got to do is at least have a keyboard and a mouse. Try to raise your laptop and and reduce the strain in that way.

Ben James 4:49

Yeah, I mean that that is a kind of an ideal if you’ve only got a laptop, you could raise that laptop, closer to eye level. If you have got a mouse and a keyboard. To go with it, but again, there are going to be some people that just don’t have that luxury, even so many people are going to be working from home, there’s going to be a good percentage without even that as a benefit. So, for those guys, it’s even more important that we look at some of these things that we can be doing throughout the day. So we thought what we do is take a bit of a journey throughout the day to give you a bit of an idea of what you could do or how you could structure your day to better support your back healthy musculoskeletal health in general. So, Jacob, let’s start with waking up in the morning. Most people are going to kind of bound out a bed probably and in an unhealthy way we always recommend just being a bit more conscious of the way we’re getting out of bed because of that added vulnerability we have in the morning as our discs really hydrate and we get more stiffness in the morning as a result. We always want to be careful with that first 30 minutes in the morning which we’ve which we’ve talked about before. Any advice from your end with regards to that first few minutes of waking up and getting out of bed.

Jacob Steyn 5:59

So I think the most important thing there is the spinal hygiene that we’ve been discussing so often. And that’s like you said, Just making sure you get out of bed without compromising any structures in your spine. When you get out of bed actually make sure you stand up in a very controlled way where you don’t tax the low back for example, you know, don’t hunched over and get up, just like you said about the hydration of the discs, compromising the structures. And I think the second thing is that if you have the opportunity to, you know, obviously take care of how you put your shoes on, if you are flexion intolerant, but the most important thing if it’s a possibility is going for a walk in the morning as a way to quickly get your back and your spine stabilized and pumping, unnecessary swelling away, and desensitizing and decompressing, so that would be the absolute ideal. You If it’s possible, if not possible, I think then stick to the 30-45 minute rule of trying not to hunched over be a little bit cautious, allow the D hydration of your discs to go its own course you know, so that you will desensitize in that way and eventually have more freedom of movement in your spine after the first 30-45 minutes.

Ben James 7:20

Yeah, so for people that haven’t listened to that advice previously, you wake up in the morning and start to weight pair then naturally, the way the weight of your body gravity on the body is is compressing the spine, so the discs naturally will lose some of the fluid. And when we go to bed at night, we we rehydrate those disks because that pressure is removed. And so that process of osmosis drawing in a fluid into the disks means that they they increase they swell, so we know that that despite a good percentage of that disk we lose throughout the day is lost within the first 30 minutes, which is why they’re so important and so keeping that neutral spine and making sure that we don’t sit or flex the spine for the first 30 minutes in the morning is a really, really valuable approach for everybody. So don’t just get up late, and just jump straight on the laptop or the computer. That is a particularly bad thing to do, and is going to make you more vulnerable is gonna make the, the potential for back pain or problems much greater if you’re doing that. So that’s the first piece of advice is don’t sit and Don’t slouch in the first 30 minutes of the day. If you can get out and do your walk. Great. But there’s gonna be a lot of people that say, Well, I don’t want to waste that one opportunity in the day I’m going to do that at lunchtime or later in the day, that’s fine. Just don’t be sitting for the first 30 minutes. And there’s some exercises that we could consider do it we we often recommend for the the cat camel to three cycles of the cat camel, and we can put some link in the show notes for you. And even relaxation exercises we’ve talked about before We can put a link to the lying prone relaxation exercise that could be a beneficial start to the day for a number of people if you’re not going out walking. So that’s the first bit of advice. And anything like brushing your teeth, getting into the shower, going to the toilet, just keep that back neutral, keep that back straight bend from the hips. That’s going to be a great start to your day to help you avoid back pain and some of the problems that people are starting to experience in this in this current climate. So we’ve talked about workstations, and there’s some limitations, but at some point, you’re going to have to jump onto the laptop and you’re going to have to start start the working day for many people. So what’s the next piece of advice Jacob, we should share in terms of managing that aspect of the day because that, as we’ve said, is, is fairly limited in terms of the ideal workstation we’d be looking for.

Jacob Steyn 9:59

I think Considering that we are already dealing with a non ideal workstation, something like the micro brake, you know, taking a break every 20, maximum 30 minutes is a very good way to unload the tissues from your neck, shoulders, upper back and low back. And I would suggest you do that frequently. maybe find a way of having a an alarm set on your laptop or your computer. And make sure you take those micro breaks, even if it’s a couple of minutes just moving or doing a couple air squats or walking around a table. It’s going to do loads for decompressing and giving you that second breath if you want in your posture. So allowing your body to not go over that tipping point throughout the day. So enabling you to do three or four hours of work as if you have to in the morning in the afternoon.

Ben James 10:55

Yeah, great point. I think the micro bakes is huge and something that hopefully becomes Come become a habit if you’re not doing already, you know we’re working in your normal workplace, should we say that that you take out of this situation is 20 minutes, 30 minutes max, get up stand stretch. It doesn’t have to be very long. But it helps to reset those structures. It helps to take the stress out some of those tissues that the overtime can creep and start to become problematic if we’re not more conscious and aware of it. And I think one good piece of advice is, if you’re doing conference calls, which a lot of people are joining, they’re working from home days. Take that as your opportunity to stand up because there’s nothing stopping you being on a call, and standing up and walking around the room and I see evidence which suggests that our arm our way of communicating becomes far far better if we’re stood up even on the phone. So you may well find that you come across far better your your experience and your input becomes far more efficient on those conference calls if you if you stand up. So maybe take that as your opportunity to take a micro break as well. But clearly if you are sir laptop for a sustained period of time, then 2030 minutes, you’ve got to get up and take a break.

Jacob Steyn 12:18

I want to add there, Ben to the micro breaks. Taking a micro break doesn’t mean getting off the laptop and being on your phone. So taking a micro break actually means no fun. just completely letting your mind go taking your focus off work, not focusing then on something like a small screen held in your hand low, hunched over. So put your phone down, move, let your head go. You know, look straight ahead, look up, like he’s reaching to the air with your arms. Do a couple of exercise if you want. But that’s a very important point is to leave your phone alone when you do microbrew

Ben James 13:00

Yeah, I think that’s it’s a very good point. Because I think for a lot of people, there’s going to be a certain personality that feel a certain element of guilt by being at home and therefore incredibly loyal and working more and I won’t move from the laptop even though they probably could. And from a mental health from a productivity point of view, having a complete break every 2030 minutes, or at least every hour or so, completely removed from work is going to be a really beneficial thing, not just physically musculoskeletal wise and back health, but mentally and productivity wise as well. And during those periods of rest, or certainly some of them another good option. Another good habit to develop is to get up and get a glass of water, really stay hydrated. And this is another habit that we really want to help promote and get people into the habit of out of this lockdown period is really rehydrating and the benefits that can have Jacob on on your on your health in general.

Jacob Steyn 14:00

Absolutely. health in general, I think we would be pointing the arrow towards eating healthily. That’s something we got to really consider these times I find myself actually being more prone to have a snack here have a snack there was I was if I was at work, I would I would eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, you know? Yeah. And so I, I can only encourage people if you can, especially now since your home and you may be moving even less than you would have before. Just make sure you take care of your gut, make sure you don’t go into a low grade type of inflammation of just eating the wrong things and spiking the blood sugar. These things are also like we’ve discussed before in previous podcasts, incredibly important to help help that back, heal and recover or if you do have a back problem. You know, it’s it’s, it’s we’re looking at the big picture here.

Ben James 14:58

Yeah, absolutely. That’s very true. It’s is a kind of a preventative approaches as much as it is resolving or preventing in this case back back issues for sure. And again, back to the productivity back to the focus, you know, eating a better diet during this period is something that’s within our, our control, but also is going to make us far more alert during the afternoon when often people have that, that kind of slump, and they start to get up and feel a bit a bit tired. So definitely making a consideration for diet and certainly hydration is, is going to be hugely valuable during this, this period. So just to kind of re-assert those points initially. First, if minutes of the day, just be really careful and conscious of that. workstation is something that to some degree is out of your control, but you can definitely take those micro breaks. Take those proper breaks mentally as well. Stay hydrated and think of the things that you’re eating throughout the day. And see as a bit of a challenge as well because it This is an opportunity to, to start healthy eating if you’ve not done so already. So maybe the challenge is to come out of this fitter and healthier person, which we can all do to some degree for sure. And I think the final point that that it’s worth talking about Jacob, we talked a bit about micro brakes and some of the things we can be doing such as the burger relief technique, the cat camel in the morning, and we’ll share some links in the Episode Notes for some videos on those. What are some of the exercises that would be beneficial to do maybe throughout the day, or maybe at the end of the day, when he switched off that laptop? For spine hygiene in general for core strength.

Jacob Steyn 16:41

I think the best exercises we would be looking at would be the very simple exercises activating the right muscles and those are to start with the clamshells. So it would be you know especially especially focusing on the glutes since we’re probably not moving as much as we were before, the gluten opposed to chains gonna most likely get a little bit weaker these times. So I think the clamshells glute activation exercises, they’re fantastic. And I think then the second really good exercise would be the bird dog. So these are floor exercises. And the bird dog is just an exercise that’s going to activate your core muscles also activate the muscles around the ball socket joints, shoulders and hips. without actually, in most cases, almost all cases not irritating. A low back injuries. That’s that’s our, probably our number one exercise very safe.

Ben James 17:42

Yeah, and I think that as well. Just do a few Don’t, don’t overload yourself, particularly if you’re not necessarily fit and active in general, but there are definitely some things and again, we’ll share some links to the videos in the show notes that you can be doing at the beginning of the day. At the end of the day, throughout the day, maybe do some of these exercises just to really focus on on that back health. So there’s nothing really new and fundamentally different to the advice that we would give in any normal circumstances to people suffering from back pain or people looking to avoid back pain. But just for those people that maybe haven’t listened to him before, or you’re struggling with back pain during this lockdown, you’re noticing that your workstation is really contributing to your problem, or maybe you haven’t noticed it, but you’ve suddenly got an episode of back pain or discomfort and you’re thinking it’s a coincidence, maybe or is it related to your workstation? No doubt it could be. But there’s an opportunity here to really take some control and develop some habits that are going to contribute to your back health and better back health in general moving forward not just during this current lockdown, so it’s an opportunity to to really develop some habits that are gonna really benefit your spine health over the long So, as we said, First 30 minutes of the day really important. We’re careful during those first 30 minutes, if you can get out and take a walk, then do so with purpose because it’s really therapeutic for our back health. But those first 30 minutes were very, very vulnerable. So just be careful during that period of time. When you’re at the laptop. Don’t feel too frustrated at the lack of postural benefit you can get in that situation or improvement your workstation because a lot of people are going to find that difficult, but you can absolutely take the opportunity to take those micro breaks and give your body that time it needs just to rest up. Because the best posture is always a variable one and taking a break every 2030 minutes is going to help with that. keep hydrated. Think about your diet. Think about that nutrition to keep you will learn as well as anything, but again to contribute to your overall health and see it as a challenge to me Make those improvements. Now while you have more control or you have more time, take that opportunity now, because it’s going to benefit you in the longer term. And finally, just consider some exercises that are going to be beneficial for your core strength for your spine health, back health overall, that again, could be habits that you take forward on a journey to better back to more core strength, and to physically better shape in general. So guys, stay safe, stay positive, the lockdown will end, but the back pain and the back pain issues will go on. So keep listening in. keep taking the advice. And feel free to jump over to the website and send us over any queries questions you have. We’re always happy to jump on and answer those and help out as best we can. And as always, please get over to iTunes, give us a rating there, give us some feedback. It’s always beneficial to help us improve help people to become more aware of the show as we develop. And we put more episodes out there so as always, Jacob Thank you kindly and everyone listening. Thanks for taking the time to listen in and we’ll talk to you all again soon.

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