If you're like most people, you spend a significant portion of your day sitting at a desk.

Because of your sedentary lifestyle, you're more likely to spend time in poor posture, which can lead to pain and discomfort.

Because of the COVID pandemic, many people have been forced to work from home.

However, while the job travelled home with the employee, the workstation did not, requiring many employees to work on less-than-ideal workstations such as sofas, couches, and even beds.

These sitting places contribute to poor posture which can eventually lead to cervical spondylitis, which aggravates degenerative changes and wear and strain.

As more organisations expand and embrace remote working, a huge drawback has emerged: telecommuters are experiencing new or worsening neck, leg, shoulder, and back discomfort.

Spondylosis, also known as spinal osteoarthritis, is a non-inflammatory condition caused by normal, "wear and tear" or the ageing process. Spondylosis is a common condition that gets worse with age.

Wear & tear is a typical and common occurrence.

The body's soft tissue healing or repair frequently goes unnoticed because it happens at the same time.

However, as the wear and tear outpace the soft tissue's ability to repair, symptoms emerge.

These degenerative changes may be exacerbated or accelerated by previous injuries or poor posture.

The degree and location of the spondylitis influence the symptoms.

It can put pressure on the surrounding neurological structures, resulting in symptoms including numbness, tingling, discomfort that travels down the arm or leg, and muscle weakness.

While working from home at improperly arranged workstations, you put too much strain on your body's tissues, which can lead to persistent neck and back pain, as well as cause spondylitis.

To make it easier on your neck and spine, you can adapt the following changes to your home workspace:

• Take a 2-to-5-minute rest every 60 minutes

Break free from the current situation. During these pauses, do leg stretching exercises.

Though sitting in the wrong position for long periods of time is damaging the joints and muscles, there is no proper posture for sitting all day.

• A pillow can be placed beneath the seat to make sitting more pleasant

You may also add more comfort to the conventional chair by wrapping a fluffy and plush towel across the back of it.

• Don't slouch

Your spine and neck are put under a lot of strain when you slouch. If left untreated over an extended period of time, it can lead to chronic pain.

To keep the hollow arch in the lower back, use a pillow or even roll up a towel horizontally.

There are more therapy alternatives available if your back pain creates substantial trouble on a regular basis and cannot be handled with the preceding strategies.

Just be cautious—if physical activity is causing you more discomfort, consult your doctor. Anything that causes discomfort is undesirable. Pain is the body's natural, built-in warning system that something we're doing is bothering it.

It is never a good idea to do something that causes you pain.

• Ensure consumption of enough important nutrients

Calcium, vitamin D, protein, and multivitamins (if recommended) as they are essential for physically active people who may suffer from poor diet and posture.

(Dr Arun Bhanot, is the Chief of Spine Surgery at Columbia Asia Hospital, Palam Vihar, Delhi)