Home Workers

Three things, in order.

The setup. A laptop on a table is either the right height for your hands or the right height for your eyes. It cannot be both. Most people choose hands and spend years looking down.

The stillness. The real loss wasn't the desk, it was the movement. No walk to the station, no wander to someone's desk, no reason to stand up between calls. Bodies handle imperfect positions reasonably well. They handle imperfect positions held for four hours much less well.

The back-to-back calls. Diaries got fuller when the walking between meetings stopped counting as time.

Neck pain, upper back and shoulder tension, lower back pain, headaches that come on in the afternoon and lift at the weekend, and wrist or forearm discomfort on the mouse side.

The weekend pattern is the giveaway. If Monday to Friday is worse and Sunday is fine, it's usually about how you work rather than anything structural.

Treat what’s there, then deal with the cause, which is often quick and cheap. Raising a screen, changing where a mouse sits, moving one habit in the day.

We'll also nag you gently about standing up more often, because that one change does more than the rest combined and everybody ignores it.