A Physiotherapist, Mrs Tinuade Olarewaju, says many people are likely to develop musculoskeletal disorders due to staying at home and working from home as the coronavirus pandemic ravages on.
Olarewaju made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Monday.
She is also the Founder and Team Lead of a Lagos-based physiotherapy organisation, `Physiocraft Allied Health Services’.
According to a website, www.healthline.com, musculoskeletal disorders are conditions that can affect your muscles, bones, and joints.
“They include tendinitis, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), fibromyalgia, bone fractures, ” the website stated.
Olarewaju said: “People are working from home, working on their laptops, engaging more video calls, because their job requires them to operate virtually.
“We do not know whether they have ergonomic work spaces, where their tables and chairs are appropriate height and are safe.
“Also, whether they are not putting their bodies under undue stress in terms of how they position their laptops or desk tops; how far they are from the screen and how their hands are resting on their keypads.
“All these contribute to the position they take and impact on their musculoskeletal system. ”
According to her, some of the problems people may have include trigger fingers, for those always on the phone and neck pain which are common problems for staying in a position for too long.
She said that there were activities people could do to help them move around to prevent some of these problems.
“People can take breaks after sitting for a while, do some stretches and walk around the house; these help relieve the muscles,” she said.
Olarewaju also said that many people had started engaging in exercise, which was commendable.
She, however, said that there could be negative effect if people were not doing it right, which includes wearing the right foot wear for exercise.
The team lead also said that there could be disadvantages to begin exercising without being equipped with the right knowledge or talking with a physiotherapist to give an advice on the best way to exercise.
“For people who have heart conditions and do not even know diseases like diabetes and may want to be active, there are principles they should follow.
“We also talk about the frequency, intensity, timing and duration of exercise. These are some of the things to look out for when you are exercising,” Olarewaju said.