Caring for yourself often slips through the cracks, especially during the workweek. Most Americans are too busy to pay attention to daily aches and pains. Pause for a few seconds and focus on your body. Notice tight muscles, tension and any strain you might feel. Once you realize how your body feels, start implementing ergonomic self-care strategies immediately. These aches and pains won’t just disappear if you keep doing the same behavior.

Recognizing Early Signs

The key is to stop what you’re doing and listen to your body. It doesn’t have to take a long time. From there, make corrective actions before your daily aches and pains turn into a full-blown injury. Common early signs of injury for computer workers are a stiff neck, lower back pain and numbness in your hands. Consider implementing self-care practices that might just help you avoid chronic musculoskeletal pain.

Musculoskeletal Pain

Usually, the aches you feel as a heavy computer user are musculoskeletal pain. This pain encompasses anything that has to do with your muscles, ligaments, bones, tendons and nerves. It’s common among office workers and often cause employees to stay home from work. Use the following strategies to keep your aches and pains at bay before it interferes with your life.

Ergonomic Self Care Strategies

In addition to re-arranging your office cubicle and using ergonomic workstation accessories, there are personal habits that you can adopt to correct aches and pains before they become injuries.

1. Take a small break throughout the day. Use this time to stand up, do a few quick stretches or simply rest your eyes.
2. Collect all of the information and items you need before you start a project. This can help you avoid an awkward posture that causes injury.
3. Exercise in your free time to strengthen your muscles, gain flexibility and increase blood flow. Not only will regular exercise help you feel more alert and focused, but it can also help you prevent a musculoskeletal injury due to poor flexibility or muscle strain.
4. If you notice a particularly troublesome area, perform self-massage a few times per week. Depending on your aches, you might need a tennis ball or foam roller.
5. Don’t forget about ice and heat. A heating pad can relax and soothe. This releases tension and encourages the area to relax. A frozen gel pack can numb and reduce inflammation.

Ergo Works® in Palo Alto, CA is your ergonomic expert. Our team knows how limiting aches and pains can be. We hope you feel better after using the self-care strategies above. Whether you need ergonomic accessories or one of our services, contact us. We can help you create a safe and healthy work environment. Our team was developed to combat ergonomic concerns among heavy computer users. Schedule any of our three levels of Ergonomic Evaluations to begin your ergonomic health journey.