While “Work from home” is need of the hour, given the current lockdown situation created by the spread of Covid – 19 pandemic but restrictions can lead to bad posture.

Some tips to keep your posture right.Don’t let these work from home sessions ruin your back.

Being stuck with the work-from-home scenario for a little longer than we expected. Do you know what the worst part is? The fact that we don’t have a workstation and mostly end up lounging wherever we find space at home. Apart from contributing to our laziness, it is also going to end up harming our posture and body !

Being in office meant that we could move about a little, be it to visiting the cafeteria or a colleague’s desk or even outdoor meetings. Plus, proper ergonomic chairs and other equipment gave comfort to our posture but this isn’t quite possible when we’re working from our home.

Why maintaining the right posture is such a biggie Allowing yourself to sit in the wrong position won’t just give you a bad backache for a day or two but end up having long-term repercussions.

We’re not the only ones saying this. According to a popular studies, a bad sitting posture for a prolonged time may lead to spinal or musculoskeletal disease. So, big reason to immediately correct your posture.

Know your angles to maintain the right posture, It’s a little tricky because at times we are so engrossed in our work that we forget to check our sitting posture but we have to remind ourselves that we need to correct our posture if we don’t want our spine to be sore.Don’t make a C shape with your spine, but make an S

Hastily to add, “When you slouch, your spine makes a C which puts pressure on your lower back, and hence, soreness bothers you. To make an S, you need to pull your buttocks out towards the back of your chair and keep your upper back straight.”Frankly it’s a tough one especially when engrossed into a power point or an excel sheet, keep reminding yourself and the posture gets corrected.

Know the right angles, The right angles between your arms and keyboard and between your eyes and screen. To maintain a good posture you need to maintain a 90-degree angle between your upper arm and forearm. Also, the centre of your laptop screen should be placed at an angle of 15 to 20 degrees below your eye level.”

Apart from this information, which perhaps most of you are aware but tend to ignore, here are seven simple tips that will help further:

• 1.Avoid sitting on a bed, will put more pressure on your lower back and hence, needs to be avoided. In case you have no other option, investing in a good bed table will help you maintain the angles.
• 2.Don’t cross your leg while you are sitting on a chair, you cross your legs you tend to slouch more and the C formation wrecks your posture, leading to back pain and damage.
• 3.Pull the chair inside your table, pull your chair inside the table will allow you to be more upright, pushing your hips and buttock in the right position of supporting your lower back and spine.
• 4.Keep your feet on the floor, letting your feet hang in the air can lead to cramps and numbness. Thighs and lower leg should maintain an angle of 90-degree with each other. And if you are shorter in height then you can place a box to support your feet.
• 5.Use a laptop stand, a laptop stand can be put to good use. If you don’t wish to buy, one or two books below your laptop to maintain the angle of your eye would do the trick as well.
• 6.Take a small cushion to maintain your posture, if you are unable to maintain the right posture then you should take a small cushion and place it behind your back.
• 7.Prefer a chair with armrest, chairs with an armrest will help maintain the angles for your arms.

Apart from this, several experts suggests that you should take frequent breaks in the middle and stretch to keep back and neck spasms at bay. Stretching your fingers, blinking your eyes, and stretching your neck will also help you in maintaining a better posture, according to her.

Smart Mobile Phones can be cumbersome as we may be on long calls either on phone or on digital platforms. Lengthy calls call for better usage of phone especially keeping phones straight instead of at a lower level. This can lead to a text neck.

The lockdown during this situation has to be complete but these restrictions don’t have to mean that our spines and health suffer. A little care can go a long way for us to come out of this with the right posture.