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How to Combat Bad Posture While Working From Home

8 Simple Ways to Improve Your Posture Whilst Working From Home

Don’t Only Sit (or Stand) the Entire Day

Regardless if you're a fan of working from home, it's the norm for many for the foreseeable future, and we've all started to adjust to new routines. That means sleeping in a few extra minutes because your commute is gone, only planning Zoom outfits from the waist up, and creating makeshift desks in whatever room has the fewest number of distractions. But unlike the ergonomically designed workspaces in an office, home workstations can be less-than-optimal for your posture.

"Poor posture creates excessive pressure and stress on your spinal joints and muscles, which leads to tension, fatigue, and pain," Wilson Wang, DC, a chiropractor in Seattle, told POPSUGAR. And because working from home blurs the line between work and living spaces, it's easier to work longer hours. "That is diminishing our opportunities for movement, which is healthy for our joints and muscles and relieves stress," Wang explained.

Added Nora St. John, MS, NCPT, education program director for Balanced Body: "For many of us, working from home may mean using a laptop on the dining room table or the couch, which often puts our body out of alignment for extended periods of time. This can lead to pain in the neck, shoulders, hips, or lower back."

If your back is feeling especially achy these days, there are ways to relieve some of that pressure and save yourself long-term discomfort. Ahead are eight ways to combat bad posture while working from home, all from the comfort of — where else? — your home.

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