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Doctors See Uptick In People Working From Home Complaining Of Neck, Back Pain

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – COVID-19 has caused all sorts of health problems but there's one you might not have connected to the pandemic.

Doctors are seeing a lot of people who are working from home complaining of neck and back pain.

"I was having pain between my shoulder blades, primarily from hunching over at the dining room table," said Tierra Oliver. "My shoulders were getting too hunched and I was having pain in my neck."

Spine Surgeon Dr. Gbolahahan Okubadejo has dubbed the problem COVID posture and pandemic pain.

"Your activity levels have changed. So the stresses that different muscles are seeing different now than they did at baseline. So the pain patterns have changed as well," said Dr. Okubadejo.

Probably the simplest fix is to set an alarm to remind you to get up and walk around once every hour or so.

Then take on your work-from-home setup.

"Try to get a chair that's similar to what you have at work that gives you nice support, nice cushioning, a rolling chair that has some movement and dynamism," said Dr. Okubadejo. "With your laptop, try to have books on anything a laptop to raise it up. So the level changes relative to what you have at your kitchen table."

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