Is the rise in searches of “back pain” correlated to remote work?

Searches for both “back pain” is at an all time high. According to a Google Trends graph, interest in aching spines around the globe reached peak popularity around January 2022, a time when remote working was still aplenty. 

As many remote professionals have discovered during the past two years, most houses are not equipped for working. Kitchen tables and chairs weren’t designed for lumbar support in an eight-hour shift and not everyone had ergonomic chairs on hand at their home offices.

But, international news organization Quartz said that the rising interest in back pain will not be enough to stop everyone from hoping for a permanent remote work arrangement. 

Google searches for “remote work” are also spiking at levels not seen since the pandemic first hit in March 2020. Despite having no definite answers for the reason behind this, it is easy to speculate why. 

Quartz believe that there is an uptick in people looking for remote jobs as their employers lure or order them to go back to the office. The news mag also suggested that there could be workers who are looking for arguments and evidences to convince their bosses to implement remote work. 

Or — and the saddest reason behind it all — perhaps people are simply Googling “remote work” sadly while they’re stuck at the office.

Whatever the reason, the rise in remote work searches indicates that it is not going away anytime soon, back pain or not.

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