As physios we are in a funny situation. Completely hands off – not unheard of but we humans like the contact and interaction. So now it’s video assessments only. They are working well and we are certainly seeing the benefit of them. like you though I am used to moving as part of my day. Seeing all your posts online about being stiff and sore and in pain, it struck me that I should share how my day has changed as we are all in the same boat.

Here’s how last Thursday worked out for me:

So today I was awake early and in the office before six. I’ve had a good productive day today with a webinar this morning and a staff meeting and catch up along with some good solid productive work squashed in between. I’ve stopped for a bit to catch up with the family and see what they’re up to and appreciate the lovely sunny day that was outside today before going back to doing a bit more in the office. By the end of all of that I reckon I probably won’t have walked more than 1000 steps today. And that’s if I’m lucky.

That’s my reality in this Covid-19 culture. I don’t need to go anywhere, I can’t go anywhere anyway. I suspect many of you are in the same situation. Now I knew I was in trouble by about 2 o’clock when my leg went dead. I’m lucky because I have a standing desk at home, so I was able to change position and work standing up for a couple of hours and do something different. I know a lot of you don’t have that luxury and arehaving to work from some pretty awful workstations because that’s all you have.

We can’t change this reality but we can remind ourselves to move more regularly. Normally, I would use an app called i– QI clock which I can set to remind me to change position on a regular basis. Unfortunately I couldn’t do that today because I was in back to back  facetime meetings on my phone.

The best thing you can do is to change your position regularly. It doesn’t really matter that you might not be in the best of positions all the time or even any other time. What matters more is that we vary our postures so that our muscles and tissues get the chance to stretch and move and pump blood around them.

Mini breaks of 30 seconds also are far better than one big break and that fidgeting tends to minimise muscle stiffness and soreness. So, in this period of relative inactivity, it’s important to remind yourself to stand up occasionally and work from the kitchen worktop. Or try sitting on the sofa to read a report. Could you tell people that you are going to stand up and move around and stand up when you’re in a zoom meeting so that it’s expected and it doesn’t cause offence?

If you need an excuse for a break try my two minute stretch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0ACa7Y6n5g&t=19s

These are just a few things that you can do to alleviate aches and pains remember movement is magical when it comes to keeping us going.

Keep Safe everyone and click below to keep up to date with our latest news

Nigel