Setting up your home office: Ergonomics prevents strain injuries and keeps you on the job!

Ergonomics is the science of designing the job, equipment, and
workspace with the goal of reducing strain injuries, fatigue and
discomfort. Photo source: Ergonomics, Integrated Safety
Management, Berkeley Labs
 

When you work in an office, your employer sets you up with a desk and a keyboard drawer, an adjustable chair with a mat, and more. All the things meant to keep you working longer and off the disability roll. It’s all about ergonomics – the idea that how you position your body while you work can make all the difference. After all, you’re probably sitting in the same spot staring at your computer screen for hours at a time. But when you work at home, no one knows or cares how or where you work, or what your desk is made of. But ergonomics is important – REALLY important! How you set up your workspace can make the difference between working pain free for the rest of your life or the total opposite (and that isn’t fun).

    If you take into account the following, your hands, back, neck, fingers and probably a few other parts I haven’t mentioned will thank you. Every day.

1. Invest in a desk. Not a table, or a corner of the counter, but a desk. It doesn’t have to have drawers, but what it does have to have is a keyboard and mouse shelf. Preferably, the shelf should adjust in height, so that it can accommodate workers of different leg lengths and body heights.

2. A wrist rest is a good idea, too. This will help support your wrists and keep you from flexing or extending them in the wrong way. Don’t lean on your wrists, just have them lightly rest on the wrist rest (hence the name!)

3. Make sure your mouse feels good. I know this sounds funny, but mouses (mice?) come in different sizes and shapes, and you might try several before you find one that fits the size of your hand and is easy to grasp. Position your mouse so that it is next to your keyboard on the keyboard shelf. This will allow you easy access and prevent you from having to lean forward to use the mouse.

4. If you use a laptop daily, you should still consider adding an external monitor (and keyboard too – more on that later) to your setup. This enables you to view a larger surface, but more importantly you can look straight ahead, not up a little, or down a little, but straight. This keeps you from straining your neck. Do not put your monitor on a shelf that raises it up too high, but rather try to keep the top of your monitor at about eye level.

5. And the external keyboard, well, you need a keyboard that fits on the keyboard shelf. One that feels good to type on, with no additional finger strain or sticky keys.

6. An adjustable chair with adjustable arms and an adjustable back is the next item on your list. That’s a lot of adjustment, but trust me, it’s super important. Go to an office store and sit in the chairs. Don’t buy online without trying it first. A good office chair can be costly, but it doesn’t have to be. You just need to make sure that a) it has lumbar support that supports your lower back and feels comfortable, encouraging you to sit up straight; b) it has adjustable arms that can be lifted or lowered to a level that allows you to rest your upper arms and elbows at exactly the height that you would normally have them if you just let them rest at your sides; and c) you can adjust the overall height of the chair so that your feet rest comfortably flat on the ground and your knees are at a 90 degree angle. If you are on the shorter side like me, you may need a footrest to raise up your legs a bit to achieve this.

     Remember, you might not be able to avoid working from the kitchen table at the very beginning, but don’t linger. You want your family to eat together there every evening, anyway! A small desk in a corner of the living room is the better solution for the long term. You’re in this for the long haul, right? You owe it to yourself to invest in your body, the ultimate component in the success of your home-based business.