How to set up your workplace?

When choosing to set up your workplace ergonomically there is are key factors to pay attention to.

Most often affected areas of the body for the office workers are:

ü  Eyes

ü  Neck

ü  Lower Back

ü  Wrists

Thus, it is important to choose a correct height of the table, chair, monitor and the position of the wrist.

As you see in the pictures below the optimal angle of the hip and knee joints while sitting by the desk is 90-110 degrees. This way the circulation is kept normal and the joint are not overloaded. It is important to keep the lumbar lordosis (natural lower back curve) and avoid unnecessary pressure to the disk. Thus, I highly recommend choosing a chair with the lumbar support. There is such a variety of the product in the market to be chosen. The best is to try them and see which one feel right for you.

The elbow is best kept in the 80-120 degrees angle with the underarms. Some chairs come with the underarms and some do not. There is also a variety of arm support products that can be attached to the desk.

 

You may also try sitting on the ball on the ball chair. Hover, I would recommend doing so no longer than 2 hours at the beginning. It takes a body a while to adjust to the new posture and so the deep muscles are working more while you keep your balance on the ball. Then prolong the sitting time one more hour a day every week.  Sitting on the ball, it’s like sitting on the compressed air, and it takes the load of the spine as well as it engages the deep spinal stabilizers responsible for proper posture.

I will talk more about the wrist injuries and how to avoid them in my other posts. For now, you can see the picture below with the correct position of the wrist while working at the desk. Generally speaking the more neutral position, the better your wrist will feel. I would also rotate the mouse from the right to the left to let your dominating hand rest.

And finally, the screen. The screen should be 20 degrees below your eye level to avoid the neck muscle tension. The distance between your eyes and the screen should be about 18-24 inches (35-60 cm). There are lots and lots of discussions about the screen savers to reduce the radiation to the eyes. Since it is a very broad topic, which also covers the usage of other electronic devices, I will touch it, later on, the separate post. And it is going to be very interesting!

And now, enjoy your day where ever you are and stay safe and healthy!

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Recourses:

1.https://yourdecision.oten.tafensw.edu.au/pluginfile.php/342/mod_page/content/94/Access-to-Work-and-Training-Unit-Sample/p344.htm

2.https://computers101hart.wikispaces.com/Ergonomics