Physiotherapists in the Netherlands see a significant increase in the number of complaints among homeworkers now that people work from home for a long time because of the corona crisis, writes Faithful Saturday. The Royal Netherlands Society for Physiotherapy (KNGF), among others, sees an increase in the number of people with complaints from home work.
A growing number of homeworkers develop complaints in their arms, neck, shoulders or back, because they often sit behind a screen. Although these are complaints that can be remedied quite well, doctors fear that they will get worse the longer people work from home.
“Since May, we have seen a significant increase in the number of complaints from home. Working from home often went well at first. But now that complaints arise that are slowly getting worse, they come to us”, says Boris van der Vorst, owner of a company with 500 physiotherapists and 140 practices in conversation with the newspaper. There are no precise figures on the increase.
According to Van der Vorst, many complaints are caused by people not having their home workplace in order. “People who work for hours at a laptop every day are bothered. Good working posture requires a laptop holder, a separate keyboard and a separate mouse. Just like an ergonomic office chair and a well-adjusted desk”, says the physiotherapist.
Because of the COVID-19 virus, a large part of the Dutch have been working from home much more often since mid-March. The KNGF, the national umbrella organization for physiotherapists, also sees according to Faithful an increase in the number of people with home working complaints.
Work-life balance is disrupted
Erik Havelaar, occupational physiotherapist and practice owner, thinks that many people have an imbalance between work and private life. “Employees have to take care of their children at home or are distracted during work. That causes stress and fatigue,” Havelaar said in the newspaper.
Union FNV said Friday that the lack of colleagues and the associated social interaction is seen by many of their members as the greatest disadvantage of working from home. According to Havelaar, this lack also contributes to complaints. “Complaints often arise from a combination of physical and mental factors.”
Jochum van Brummelen, manual therapist and practice owner, says in conversation with Faithful that there are things that people can do themselves to prevent complaints from working from home. “Take short breaks while working, try not to sit all day, work standing up, move around and go outside during the times when you are not working.”
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