JOIN USProper eating and spending quality time in fitness centres are not the only way to stay healthy and active.
Small things that are part of day-to-day activities also play an important role in keeping us fit.
Everyone today is facing lifestyle health problems – cervical, back pain, migraine, knee pain, sore joints, all sound so normal and familiar in today’s times.
In the last few years some serious problems like carpal tunnel syndrome and slipped disc have also been observed among young working people.
Slipped disc problem may occur due to various reasons, like bending in a wrong position or lifting some heavy objects.
Slipped disc can also hit you while doing some regular and common activities in your daily routine such as changing postures during sleep, driving for long hours and sitting in a wrong position for a prolonged period of time.
But have we ever wondered why we have become prone to these problems?
One of the factors could be the workplace – the place where we spend our maximum hours, days and years of our lives.
According to Dr Satnam Singh Chhabra, Head, Department of Neuro Spine, at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, “One should make sure that they walk every morning. If the weather doesn’t permit then spend some time on the treadmill. Always walk to the nearby Metro station, park your vehicle a little away so that you have to take a short walk towards it. Always take stairs at the work place instead of the lift. In short stop being lazy.”
Driving or travelling in a car is also one of the major causes for backache.
“To avoid this problem always follow the rule of sitting with the knees in level to hips. Use an artificial back support. Keeping wrong distance from steering wheel can also give you trouble in wrist, back, neck, arms, shoulders and spine. So, make sure that along with the right sitting posture the distance from your steering wheel is also right. Your chest should be parallel to your steering wheel,” added Dr Satnam.
Most importantly, a terrible work station can aggravate lot of problems like, knee pain, poor eyesight, constant headache, strain in back and neck and sore arms and wrists.
One can keep a footrest to raise the knee level with the hips.
“Office chairs also should be designed in such a manner that its back pushes the lower back slightly forward. One should always adjust the height of the computer screen. If chair can’t be adjusted then use a stand or books to amend the height of your screen. Few simple exercises are surya namaskar and stretching the full body. Take support of a wall. The head, neck, shoulder, hips and heels should touch the wall. Then slowly stand on the toes and stretch the body upwards. This will help in reducing back pain,” said Dr Rajeev K Sharma, orthopaedic and joint replacement surgeon, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital.
Give rest to the wrist also. Feeling a numb and tingling sensation on the finger tips especially the thumb, index, and middle finger of the hand can signal a growing carpal tunnel syndrome.
This condition is caused due to work involving wrist movement, persistent typing work, or use of mouse and keyboard.
So, avoid bending the wrist in constant position and try to keep the hand and wrist in straight position while working and by keeping your posture right.