A new Daily Mirror article offers two sobering facts. First, 7 out of 10 people have lived with chronic back or neck pain for an extended period of time. Secondly, 3 out of 7 chronic neck and back pain sufferers took time off work last year to deal with that particular ailment, making it one of the leading causes of sick days taken in 2014. The paper quoted a chiropractor who explained that because many people spend hours and hours on end in the same position at work and repeat that same pattern once they go home, they are putting a significant amount of strain upon their back and neck muscles.

However, the Mirror also offers a number of suggestions on how to ease the amount of strain that your neck and back experience over the course of your day. Some are fairly common sense practices, such as stretching directly after you get out of bed. Some are less obvious, such correcting your posture while you brush your teeth so that you’re not putting undo stress on your lower back. The entire list is worth looking at because taking simple steps like adjusting the height of your work computer so that you don’t have to bend your neck to look at it can save you a lot of pain later in life.

Read the full article here: Beat back and neck pain with our guide to 24-hour protection from aches