WFH is here to stay. So sort out your office space, stat

Anisha Joshi is an award-winning osteopath, specialising in treating back and neck pain (thewoodsideclinic.co.uk)

If you’re suffering either back or neck pain, my number one piece of advice would be to make sure you have the correct type of chair. Many people focus on the lumbar support a chair can provide. However, the thing that really makes a difference is having the back of the chair level with your shoulder height. Many chairs aren’t tall enough. It’s also important to sit correctly. Sit with your back against the back of the chair and with your legs uncrossed – crossing the legs for long periods of time can cause the pelvis to go out of sync and result in pain and other issues.

If you start to experience pain while working from home, get someone to take a picture of you side-on at your desk. Or, if you live alone, use a mirror to look at how you sit. From here, make adjustments to the position of your screen, your chair and your arm rests and see if this makes a difference. For many people, adapting their lifestyle and working from home during lockdown may have caused an existing problem with restricted movement or muscle tension – which was previously easy to ignore – to become more exaggerated. Get it checked out if the pain persists.