Working From Home

Reviewed August 2026

As I write today Australia is at stage 2 of lockdown regarding COVID19. Many people have lost their positions, been stood down temporarily or are working from home where they can. Life has become uncertain, the rules are changing each day and it's not a little scary.

The Adelaide Chiropractic Centre is open since, as allied health professionals, we are considered to be providing an essential service. We continue to work hard, following all the instructions from the Australian Government Department of Health and SA Health, to provide you with a safe place to come and receive your chiropractic care. We will continue for as long as we are able and it is safe to do so.

Some of our people are unable to come in to see us at the moment, but I wanted to share with them, and you, a conversation I'm having with nearly every person I'm seeing currently. It's relevant to everyone, as I'm sure increased screen time will feature to some degree in every home bound life in Australia across the coming weeks, but particularly so for those who are working from home.

One of the things we discuss with our people when they first begin care is their work posture and how it could be contributing to their symptoms. For desk workers we always talk about how to tweak the work tools they've been given (e.g. desk, chair, mouse, monitor, laptop, phone headset...) to work with their bodies, rather than against them. It's a huge contributing factor to a person's spinal health. When we get this sorted and the person is using the new setup well (it can take time to shift old habits), we can help to create change in their frame (musculoskeletal system) much faster. Teamwork!

Now I'm seeing all these wonderful people heading home to work in their home office, or on the kitchen table, possibly with a laptop computer [absolute cream re convenience, but No.1 enemy of spines everywhere!!!!], and they're wondering why (beyond the increased stress we're all feeling with the uncertainty of COVID19) their bodies are giving them more pain. We so don't need that on top of all our other worries!

So here are my home office creation tips ~

If someone has a home office - fantastic - you can apply all the regular instructions the Occupational Health and Safety team supply you with at work. However, many people don't, and even more couples are finding one partner has snaffled the office and the other is making do with the dining table, the coffee table, the bed..... So for the purpose of this conversation I'll assume we're working from scratch with a laptop (internal shudder!).

Firstly, if it is at all possible, ask your workplace if you can take your office chair home for the duration of your home office stint. No-one else will be using it while the office sits empty and it will do you a lot of good. Other things that would really help (whether sourced from work or coopted from around the home or snaffled during a quick swing via Officeworks or the like...): a good sized monitor; a Wi-Fi mouse and keyboard; a head set for phone usage if that's relevant to your position.

Starting from a base of the dining table and a dining chair:

1. Set up the chair/table so that if you have your shoulders relaxed and your elbows glued to your ribs, the table is at elbow height and your forearms rest on the table top easily.
   • For shorter people this may require a cushion on the seat of the chair and possibly a box/footstool under your feet to keep the 90˚angle at your knee and your hip.
   • For taller people this may require you to find four bricks (or equivalent), wrap them in hand towels to protect table legs and floor and place them under each of the four table legs to raise the table.
2. Create your lumbar support by taking an old loved towel (i.e. not a big fluffy one), folding it in half, then thirds and rolling it up firmly to create a cylinder about 30 cm long with a diameter of 15-20cm. Put a couple of rubber bands around each end to hold it in place. When you put your bottom to the back of the chair seat place this roll at belt height and sit tall. This should orient your spine so your hip, shoulder and ear are in vertical alignment (which is how they should be with good standing posture and the position the spine is designed to function best in).
3. Set up the monitor (whether laptop screen, free standing monitor or both) so the centre of the screen is at your eye height. So you are looking straight ahead to use it (not down), keeping your ear in line with your shoulder and hip. You may need to put the monitor on top of several reams of paper/ a stack of books or even an upturned bucket...
4. The wireless keyboard and mouse should be used directly in front of you on the table – so with your elbows glued to your ribs, mouse in front of your belly and keyboard just distant to the mouse toward the monitor. This stops you from using the mouse out to the side at a distance which creates a long lever of your arm that will drag on your neck and upper back and cause trouble with time.
5. We need an egg timer...or equivalent. It is very easy to get lost in the computer zone, especially if you don't have mini-me distractions. The quiet at home can be very conducive to staying focused and you can stir to discover you've spent well over the recommended 30 minutes in one posture. A reminder to get up and move is a vital tool for those of us with desk bound jobs.

Remember, it is good to have two work stations allowing you to do some of your role in different positions. A standing station created from a breakfast bar, a wet bar, a credenza or a three draw filing cabinet (a surface that is about elbow height on you) provides a place to stand while you are reading paperwork or on the phone having a meeting and get out of that seated posture.

Another thing to consider when it comes to working from home is the ease with which work can take over the day. You can go from keeping civilized working hours and not taking work home, to working long into the evening because it's just there and there's that last thing that you'd really like to sort before you can switch off for the evening. While I'm sure your boss would be thrilled, don't go there! It will tip your life out of balance, mess with family dynamics and your head space will suffer.

Consider instead:

1. Working only your regular office hours. Keeping to the regular routine (or resetting it to something more civilized since we've got a reset button here) is best.
2. Consider the commute time you've scored by not having to travel into work as a bonus. A definite silver lining! Use it to:
   • Exercise ~ remember we need to be doing a minimum of 30 minutes each day.
   • Spend some time with your kids.
   • Take up a project you always wanted to do, but never quite found the time for. Something just for you ~ like learning a new language, creating something new (try cooking a new dish, hand craft, woodwork, scrapbooking the photos from the last trip) or finally learning how to play the guitar/piano (Youtube lessons abound or many music schools are providing lessons online into the evenings or on the weekend).

One more thing. If you have small people in the house and two parents working from home consider divvying up the day because parenting (or supervising online schooling) and concentrating on work do not dovetail well (!). One possibility is 3 hour shifts: parent (a) takes the kids 8-11am and 2-5pm while parent (b) works, and vice versa for 11-2pm and 5-8pm. Of course, there needs to be some acknowledgement of meetings for work on line that one partner may not control the time for... Juggling, juggling!! Please be mindful of this and design a plan that works for all.

The World Health Organisation defines health as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." Staying home is risky for our health (and yes, I get the irony that we're staying home to protect us from a virus). Risky because it lends itself to a very sedentary and socially isolated lifestyle. To come through this COVID19 crisis we can go into "hibernation" as the government is asking us to do. However, unlike bears and such, we must maintain some kind of social connection for our mental health and we must keep our bodies moving and fit else pain may be an unpleasant part of our enforced hibernation and returning to normal life could be a rough transition. Please take care of yourselves and your families. We will look forward to seeing you at the Adelaide Chiropractic Centre as soon as we can.