How to Fight Work-From-Home Back Pain

By Adam

For the office crew at S.W. Basics, we’re lucky to be able to work from home during this pandemic. But if you’re like us, even if you came into your Safer-At-Home situation with a well-lit, ergonomic work station, one of the nice things about WFH is that you tend to work from wherever you want (or can). Meaning, like us, you’re probably doing a lot of sitting cross-legged on a couch or perching on a stool at the kitchen counter, hunched over your laptop, while you wait for the pasta to finish boiling or the baby to finish nursing.

And if that’s the case then you’re probably also dealing with some work-from-home back pain. Here are some of the S.W. Basics team's favorite exercises for stretching, strengthening, and unscrewing our screwed-up backs:

For gentle back strengthening and stretching:

This one is specifically for herniated discs, but it's great for general back pain and tightness too:

Same with this one, it's for sciatic nerve pain, but good for loosening lower-back tightness in general.

Here are two on using foam rollers for loosening up tight back muscles:

(If you can't find the fancy foam roller from the video, here is a basic version and here's an eco-friendlier model:

Yoga for opening up the front body, hip flexors, and psoas:

The Yoga With Adriene channel is great in general for beginners and for finding routines for specific needs.

It's easy to forget that tight hip flexors can play a big part in lower-back pain.

This one does double duty, stretching out the front body and giving your stressed-out mood a break too:

Workouts for building a stronger core:

If you're not obsessed with FitnessBlender yet, you're about to be. This husband-and-wife team creates workouts of all types, for all fitness levels, without the gross vibe of most other fitness instruction. If this vid isn't what you're looking for, just browse a bit and you'll find another that is.