Where do you spend most of your working hours? Many of us in front of computers, typing away at a desk. Sitting is a great posture for being productive for long hours without getting tired, but contrary to popular belief, sitting can put a lot of stress on the body. It is not the same stress as running or lifting weights, but it is stress nonetheless. A poor desk set up can lead to something called repetitive stress injuries. These injuries occur over a long duration of time, slowly adding the stresses from sitting onto of each other until one day sitting becomes painful. In this post, I will outline some of the more basic and fixable desk set up tips that can greatly reduce the risk for these repetitive injuries.
First we need to look at the desk height. For most people, the top of the desk surface should sit somewhere between the mid thigh and just below the hip bone. This will allow the body to rest at an optimum sitting height while allowing the other parts of the set up to be easily adjusted.
NO MORE SITTING ON THE COUCH FOR WORK!
If your desk is too tall, it may be worthwhile to look at a different surface to accommodate you, but if it is too short, and easy fix would be desk risers, or simply putting some extra pieces of wood or even books to raise the surface. The proper desk height will make a world of difference over the long term.
Next, we will look at the sitting surface. It is not necessary to get a hugely expensive desk chair but some adjustability is great to have. An ideal chair will have some amount of adjustability in seat height, back rest tilt, and moveable arm rests. Seat height should allow the feet to be placed on the ground and the knees to be at around 90 degrees bend.
The back rest tilt should allow the hips to be at around 100-110 degrees at full tilt back to allow for decreased pressure on the spinal joints. The arm rests are often overlooked but are critical in allowing the shoulders and neck to relax while sitting at a computer. Arm rests should be close to level with the typing surface and the forearms should comfortably rest on them while typing. If using and computer mouse, it should be on the same level as the keyboard and placed more or less in front of you. Do not let the mouse be off to the side or too far out of reach as this will cause unnecessary strain on the shoulder and neck to use it. If your chair does not have armrests, support to the forearms can be achieved by pushing the keyboard farther in on the desk and resting the forearms on the desk itself. Setting up an ergonomically oriented desk will allow you to sit with better posture for longer periods of time. If it takes too much energy or thinking to maintain good upright posture with your current desk, it may be time to change things up for the better.
Your body is designed to follow where your eyes are pointed. As visual creatures, we depend on our eyes in many cases, especially with computer work. A common mistake is having the monitor out of align with the rest of how the body is sitting, creating tension and stress on the neck and upper back.
Forward Head posture from Laptop Work
Ideally the top of your monitor should be at eye level and centered directly in front of you. This will allow the eyes to be focused forward and decreased the amount of forward head posture that occurs with lower monitor height (I’m looking at you laptops). If you have multiple monitors, the one that is used most often should be lined up in front of you, and the others should be placed at an angle so they are easily viewed from a single sitting position.
If you only have a laptop, then this can be difficult to achieve. One of the best things that you can do to improve working on a laptop is to get an external keyboard and mouse. This will allow you to elevate the screen of the laptop up to the appropriate height while keeping the hands and shoulders at the proper height for working.
More neutral neck posture from a raised screen
This is a great example of how elevating a laptop screen can improve a set up
This ideal posture can be achieved with little to no extra equipment, though it will likely require some adjustment. Using old books, stacks of paper, or blocks of wood can be used to level the monitor, raise the desk height, and act as foot rests. However, there are products that can help clean up the look of a desk and are designed specifically for this purpose. If you would like me to go over some of the best picks for ergonomic products you can find online leave a comment below!
Comments