McCarron Lake Chiropractic in St. Paul is very busy these days.
“Neck pain, upper back pain and lower back pain is what we’re seeing right now,” Dr. Laura Dronen says.
Dronen says they're about 50% busier than they usually are.
She says the clinic started getting busy back in June, when some of the bad habits and bad posture started catching up with people.
"I did have somebody say they were sitting in their bed and working with a computer in their lap and I was just like oh boy, no,” Dr. Dronen says.
Dronen says it's tempting to just set up on the couch or the dining room table, but your body needs more support, especially if you're sitting long hours at a time.
"I would recommend a lumbar support pillow," Dr. Dronen says.
That’s probably your cheapest fix.
Dr. Dronen says the typical support pillow will cost you between $20 and $30 and it will instantly make any chair in your house more comfortable.
But if you want even better results, Dr. Chad Henriksen says you should invest in a better chair and make sure it's at the right height.
"We want our computer monitors to be about the top of the screen, at about the height of our eyes, that's good for maintaining good mechanics in the neck," Dr. Henriksen says.
Henriksen is the director for the WorkSiteRight health clinic at Northwestern Health Sciences University in Bloomington.
He closely with companies and employees to promote better posture.
He says imagine a straight line that extends from your ears down to your hips, that's the way you should be sitting, straight up.
"Many of us today, we're always bending forward, whether we're on our phone or our laptop, or whatever it is. We need to sit more upright,” Dr. Henriksen says.
He also recommends getting up and taking a quick break every 20 to 30 minutes.
Dr. Dronen agrees, getting up is important when working at home, because at the office you do that naturally when you walk over to a coworkers desk, or grab some papers out of the printer, at home you don't have that.
"Just continue making those small changes and it will help long term,” Dr. Dronen says.