During the first three months of the COVID pandemic, Lexie Michel, 23, hunkered down in her California apartment with her college roommates and didn’t do much else. After graduating, she moved to Texas and continued the hermit life as a remote employee.
Fast-forward a couple of months, Michel’s back hurt so much she had to visit a chiropractor. The diagnosis: stage 2 spinal degeneration (there are only about three or four stages, depending on who you ask). She blames her work-from-home posture, hunching over her laptop eight hours a day.
“It’s kind of crazy because I’m 23, but my chiropractor said it’s actually much more common than you would think just because of how much we’re looking down at our phones and laptops,” Michel said.
The ability to work or stay at home during the pandemic is a privilege that isn’t available to everyone. However, millions of people spent more time at home either because they lost their jobs or were able to work remotely, a dramatic shift to indoor life.
Now more than two years later, many people still spend more time living and working at home than they did in the past.
