Over the last year and a half, British employers have gotten suddenly very comfortable with the idea of allowing their staff to work remotely. There’s no doubting what triggered this. But while the outbreak of the novel coronavirus might have created a need to embrace home-working, it’s persisted. Even among those who, being fully vaccinated, might be safely allowed to return to work. Home working, it seems, is here to stay. But home working, as revealed in a survey by a popular online personal injury solicitor, is not without its risks. Of the 1,000 people polled, around 48% had suffered an accident or injury while working from home. So what, exactly, are the causes of these injuries? Plus what can be done to prevent them from occurring?

Back Pain

According to the pollsters, back pain is the most common kind of injury for those working from home. It was found that 27% reported suffering symptoms. When you consider only those who are working in the hallway, this rises sharply to 46%. This makes sense, since working in less-than-ideal, or improvised, conditions, is naturally more likely to put your body under strain.

Ideally, if you’re typing at a computer all day, you should be sitting on an office chair, with your elbows at a ninety-degree angle to your desk, and the top of your monitor aligned with your eyeline. Interestingly, around half of those asked indicated that their choice of chair contributed in some way to their injury. The takeaway: invest in a quality office chair if you’re going to be working from home in the long-term.

Eye Strain

Eye strain is another commonly-cited symptom of working from home, with around 18% complaining of it. This is something that tends to result from staring at a screen all day, especially if that screen happens to be too small. This is common among those who’ve had to drag out an old laptop whose dimensions might not be generous enough. This being the case, there’s an easy solution: allow office workers to borrow the screens that they might otherwise have been using in the office.

Eye strain, in the long term, can produce headaches, which in turn can diminish concentration and reduce productivity.

RSI

On in ten respondents complained of RSI. Repetitive Strain Injury is an umbrella terms which describes a whole range of overuse injuries felt in muscles, nerves and tendons. Today, it tends to occur among those who are sitting down and typing all day. We can combat it with the right ergonomic setup at home, and by taking regular breaks to stretch out the effected areas of the body. RSI is something that will worsen if ignored, and in some cases it might prevent you from working altogether: so make sure that you stop it before it worsens!