Ergonomics is about fitting the tasks being performed to the capabilities of the human performing them. To this end, key ergonomic concepts can be summed up with one word ‘N-E-W’. Remembering this acronym will help people working at an office or home maintain productivity and more importantly, reduce injury risk. Regular screen breaks are very important to remember when you work from home as well as incorporating movement into your day.
- Additionally, Hedge cautions to make sure the seat is not hitting the back of your knees because it can reduce blood flow and cause your feet and ankles to swell.
- Hedge also suggests looking into orthopedic seats (for an example of this, see BackJoy’s line of posture seats).
- Using an external keyboard with your laptop will allow you to type close to yourself – arms at a 90 degree angle – but have the screen an arm’s length away and up at eye-level.
- And, if you don’t have a home office, you’re not exactly set up for success.
- You’ll not only feel a greater sense of well-being with the right setup, but you’ll also feel less tired and achy at the end of the day.
The Right Equipment for Your Ergonomic Home Office
An abundance of natural lighting in the workspace is ideal because it can boost your energy and sense of well-being while reducing eye strain. Daylight and access to outdoor views both give your eyes the opportunity to relax and recover from the strain of staring at a monitor all day. Ergonomics experts recommend having good lighting, to reduce eye strain and help you avoid craning your neck at an unnatural angle. When you work from home, it’s easy to get caught up in a project and forget to rest, but breaks are incredibly important for your health. When we ask our patients that work from home to describe their workstation setup, very few report having a separate office and desk.
Avoid cradling a handset or mobile phone between your shoulder and head. Whether you work from home occasionally or exclusively, it’s worth taking a little time to set up your space in a way that allows you to be safe working from home and have a comfortable work set-up. If there really are limited options for achieving the ideal work position, Oakman says you should do your best to change positions and move between sitting and standing frequently. Careful planning, for instance, getting up earlier to get through tasks before the rest of the household stirs, can reduce the likelihood of injury and improve productivity Oakman suggests. “Back pain is caused by work-related stress as well as work-related physical factors,” she explains. To learn how to set up an ergonomic home office, I spoke with Alan Hedge, a professor emeritus at Cornell University in the Department of Design and Environmental Analysis.
Get Support on Your Couch
Two years into the pandemic, too many of us are still improvising our workspaces even though working from home has become the new norm. Even those of us with home offices might not have the most ergonomic setup for our health. Designate a workstation devoted just to work.Laptops are amazing inventions but they don’t have the best features for ergonomic comfort. Their keyboard spacing, screen size, screen position relative to eye-level, and pointing devices are all poorly designed for ergonomics. It’s a work space designed for efficiency and comfort in the working environment.
Ergonomic Tips That Won’t Cost Them A Fortune:
With your back pressed against your chair’s backrest, see whether your lower back and mid-back feel cushioned, or if there are gaps between your spine and the chair. The best office chairs support the natural “S” curve of your back. Sitting in a poorly designed chair feels more like you’re seated on a log against a hard wall.
Many hobbies and other everyday activities performed outside of the workplace can be sources of ergonomic stressors. Use the resources below to learn more about how to mitigate these stressors in your everyday life. You’ll also want to scoot all the way back in your chair so that your butt is reaching the backrest. In order to minimize external noise, use a headphone with a microphone for teleconference calls or to reduce outside noise while working. When possible, use the time during the calls to stand up, walk, and stretch.
Find a pack with wide, padded straps and perhaps a waist belt. Plan your day to try to split your load into smaller pieces with frequent trips to a locker or other storage location. Position the backpack so that it hangs just below the shoulders and rests on the hips and pelvis. Backpacks with several compartments can help distribute the load better. Heavier items should be packed closer to the back, with pointy and bulky items toward the outside of the pack. The use of a neck strap or support post is possible with several woodwind instruments.
A mouse that fits your hand
“I highly recommend wearing supportive shoes and possibly standing on a softer surface than a hardwood floor,” notes Geisel. Otherwise, it can put unnecessary strain on the muscles in your feet and even mess with your posture. Oh, and the same stuff applies here when it comes to the positioning of your elbows and monitor, she adds. You can place it on top of a book or two to help raise it up for optimal eye position, says Geisel. If you have an office-style chair, move the height until your thighs are parallel to the ground and your knees are bent at 90 degrees, recommends Geisel. So if your feet don’t reach the floor, go ahead and grab a footstool or rest (or even a stack of oversized books) to prop up your feet so that the soles lay flat against the surface.
Control measures can help shift the risk of injury and provide more comfort to employees. Engineering controls include modifying the work, changing the area layout, production quotas, workstation dimensions, and proper equipment and tools. Administrative controls include modifying the organization of the work itself, task rotation, break schedules, shift work, education and stretching. Personal equipment includes providing equipment, reducing exposure to hazards or risk factors with PPE, swapping out chairs or desks, and updating the equipment. If using a mouse causes pain or fatigue in your wrists, consider another type of input device, one that reduces fine wrist movements, such as a stylus with a graphics tablet or a trackball.
Your computer screen should be brighter than the sun outside, so adjust your blinds or pull down your shades on sunny days. It’s easy to snack throughout the day instead of eating like you did in the office. Making a meal and staying hydrated gives you the opportunity to stand up, walk around, and let your eyes have a rest from the computer screen. If you can have an external second screen, do so; if not, place your laptop on a few books so that you don’t need to crane your neck. Create space at a desk or table that can be dedicated to computer use. I know that there can be a lot of options when considering a chair.
- At the minimum, most people should look for a mouse that is comfortable to grip and smooth to maneuver.
- Your hands and wrists should be in a neutral posture, similar to your head.
- The Homeworker publishes articles that are designed to keep you healthy, happy, fulfilled, and more productive in work and life.
- If you don’t have that option, then switching between a chair and standing position throughout the day can really help.
- When combined with monitoring your physical and mental health, some of the possible negative effects of this unprecedented work-at-home experience can be avoided.
- If you wear bifocals, lower the monitor an additional 1 to 2 inches (about 2 to 5 centimeters) for more comfortable viewing.
Here’s how to set up a workspace that fits and supports you the best, based work from home ergonomics on advice from ergonomics experts as well as on what we’ve found over years of testing home-office furniture and gear. The top of the monitor should be at or below the eye level and the elbows are in line with the home row keys of the keyboard. “When setting up your monitor or laptop, you want it to be at an arms-length distance away and elevated so your eyes are in line with the top of the screen,” says Geisel. A footrest might be needed if the feet do not rest completely on the floor once the chair height has been properly adjusted. The footrest should be adjustable in height and inclination and provide sufficient area for the feet on the face surface of the nonskid bearing surface so that the feet do not slip off the footrest.
Cornell University ergonomics professor Alan Hedge told us that if your lower back isn’t supported by the chair, you need lumbar support. Put your computer keyboard in front of you so your wrists and forearms are in line and your shoulders are relaxed. If you use a mouse or another type of pointer connected to a computer, place it within easy reach, on the same surface as your keyboard. While you are typing, using a computer touchpad, or using a mouse or pointer, keep your wrists straight, your upper arms close to your body, and your hands at or slightly below the level of your elbows. If possible, set the sensitivity of the mouse or pointer so you can use a light touch on it.
As far as fit balls go, Davis has no problem with using them for their intended purpose – which is exercise. But they’re not designed to be used as a chair and cause similar problems to sitting and standing, if you end up in a static posture for prolonged periods. Using them for five to 10 minutes at a time would be his maximum recommendation. Standup desks are great, Davis says, mostly for facilitating frequent postural change without having to move away from the desk.
When sitting in an office chair, most joints of the human body – including the elbows, hips, knees, and even the ankles – should be resting at 90-degree angles. Some people may prefer to have a slanted board available to rest their feet on so that it allows them to sit with their knees a little bit straighter. Adjust the height of the chair so that your feet rest flat on the floor. If the chair has armrests, position them so your arms sit gently on the armrests with your elbows close to your body and your shoulders relaxed. If your wrists or lower arms press against the edge of your work surface too much, you may start to feel pain or tingling.