INSIDE: DEAR ABBY, HOROSCOPE, PUZZLES & FEATURES
C1
B USINESS
THE BULLETIN • SUNDAY, JANUARY 31, 2021
bendbulletin.com/business
COVID-19 | underlying issues
ERGO
IMPACTS
Work and school from home give
physical therapists added work
BY MICHAEL KOHN • The Bulletin
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Dean Guernsey/F
he economic impacts of the pan-
demic are well known, but now a
new problem has emerged — the
ergonomic impacts of the pan-
demic.
Hunched over kitchen tables, sprawled out
on floors and propped up on beds — working
from home can be, quite literally, a pain in the
neck.
Doctors who specialize in orthopedics and
physical therapy have also noticed the anom-
aly. There’s been a surge in patients coming into
places like Living Well Therapy in Bend, where
Dr. Erik Zamboni works as the clinical director.
They are complaining of sore necks and backs
after doing, well, nothing.
“A lot of people are now working from home
but they don’t have the ergonomic desk that
they are used to,” said Zamboni. “They may be
cramped in less than ideal conditions, so we are
seeing more neck and lower back pain related
to ergonomics and posture.”
The pandemic initially delayed surgeries and
kept athletes off the field, which limited work
for physical therapists, but recent months have
shown a new trend — kinks in backs and necks
caused by working at home.
That has been the problem for Doug
Robbins, a patient of Living Well Therapy, who
uses an office chair with lumbar support at his
place of work. But he’s worked from home on-
and-off for much of the past year, and the lack
of a standard office setup has caused musculo-
skeletal strains.
“If I sit too long I get some numbness in my
feet,” said Robbins.
On the recommendations of his physical
therapist, Robbins has a new set up at home
— a stand-up desk on an island in his kitchen.
Phone calls are sometimes shifted to an out-
door “office” so other family members can
work and study in silence.
Dr. Jason Kremer, a chiropractor and sports
medicine doctor, said the physical downsides
of working from home have only been exacer-
bated by winter. The early darkness means even
more time spent indoors, huddled over devices.
In particular, Kremer said, he is seeing in-
creasing numbers of patients coming in with
complaints of migraines.
“We are seeing more people with head-
aches, from looking down at their screens,” said
Kremer, who owns Wellness Doctor in Bend.
“Headaches from posture imbalances.”
He adds that at the workplace, many employ-
ers hire professionals to assess ergonomics ,
something that doesn’t happen at home.
Another anomaly is the number of young
people who are coming in for appointments to
deal with back and neck ailments. In school,
kids sit at a desk, at home they may be laying on
the floor or on their beds.
See Therapy / C2
Getty
Images
‘This mall is going down’
Portland’s Lloyd Center on the brink as businesses depart en masse
BY JAMIE GOLDBERG
The Oregonian
I
shmail Chorduky, the owner of
Stitchworks Custom Embroidery,
has operated two centrally-lo-
cated kiosks at the Lloyd Center mall
for almost a decade. From his post
next to Lloyd Center’s iconic ice skat-
ing rink, Chorduky has witnessed
the Northeast Portland mall’s rapid
decline firsthand.
The mall lost Nordstrom in 2015.
Sears and Marshalls then moved
out in 2018. Lloyd Center’s prob-
lems only intensified last year amid
the coronavirus pandemic as anchor
tenants and signature businesses de-
parted en masse.
Chorduky said he was shocked
when Victoria’s Secret vacated its
long-held spot across from his ki-
osks. Macy’s then announced in
December that it would leave its
298,000-square-foot space and lay off
all 83 of its Lloyd Center employees,
becoming the fourth anchor store to
depart in the last six years. All three
floors the department store occu-
pied on the mall’s south side are now
completely empty, leaving a massive
void.
Chorduky said he has asked mall
management multiple times whether
the center might close for good. He
said he has received no response. But
he no longer sees a future at the mall
for his business. He is planning to
leave and open a store elsewhere.
See Lloyd Center / C2
Jamie Goldberg/The Oregonian
Lloyd Center is facing an existential crisis that has only intensified during the pan-
demic as anchor tenants and signature businesses have departed en masse.