Home Office Ergonomics

Home office ergonomics is about making sure your home work station is set up in a healthy way that doesn’t create pain and discomfort. There are ideal configurations and better positions, but there is no one perfect way. Even the perfect position will start to create pain in the body if we stay like that for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Here are some tips for improving your home office to create a healthier happy body:

Home Office Ergonomics Tips

Variety

Look to change your position as often as possible (every 45-minutes would be ideal). Remember it’s being in one position for extended periods that create pain and strain over time (or for some of us pretty quickly). You can make a quality work station out of a couch, a kitchen table, a counter, and even a bed.

You can sit on a pillow on the floor, facing the couch, using the couch as a desk. You can flip around and have the base of the couch give you back support and use a chair as a desk. Think outside the box about how pieces of furniture can be utilized differently. If it’s okay on your knees you can use a pillow and kneel tall (like you are praying in church) using your bed as a desk. And, of course you can sit at a table or stand at a counter top. Even at a table or counter you can alter positions by changing your leg placement or the height of your computer.

Use What You Have

You can purchase plenty of expensive ergonomic furniture (some of which is great), but you don’t have to. Look around your house for what you already have. Many people have been making more purchases online. Do you have empty Amazon boxes lying around? Use pillows to prop yourself up, give you support, or on your lap as a small desk (for short periods). Stack up a couple cereal boxes to get your computer higher or to elevate your mouse to just the right height.

Breaks

Breaks are not only good for your body, they are vital for you mind. Stuck on a problem? Get up and take a walk. Let the idea come to you. Try to stop and stretch or walk every 45-minute to an hour when the work allows. Take your eyes of the screen and look outside. Gaze into the distance as far as you can or do some eye exercises. Or try this video for some good eye exercises:

Eye exercises to improve balance – YouTube

Angles

Try to set your body up with good angles. Ideally your feet are supported, never dandling (again short bursts of anything should be okay). Your hips will be better off higher than your knees with a least a 90-degree angle at your hips and 90-degrees at your knees. Back support is good, but not necessary if you can sit comfortably for a time propped up on pillows or on a stability ball or chair that is the right size for you. It’s good to have your hands lower than your elbows, but this is often tough to create. If you’re hands are higher than your elbows, make sure your wrists are neutral—they shouldn’t need to bend back or forward to type on your keyboard. Notice if your elbows flare out to the sides. Too much of that can aggravate the shoulders over time. Finally, the monitor should be at eye level. You shouldn’t need to look down at it. That will create a kink in the neck.

Remember, don’t strive for perfection, strive for variety. You’ll see in all the pictures I posted, my position isn’t perfect. I’m pretty sure I could get my monitor higher in all of them. But the more positions you get in throughout the day, the less chance your body will get stuck and tight and the more flexibility you’ll maintain. Remember, as a child, when your mom told you, “Don’t make that face you’ll get stuck like that!”? She was a little right. If we assume the same positions too long, we get a little stuck like that.

See Maggie giving Home Office Ergonomic tips on NBC CT Live:

So KEEP MOVING for the best home office ergonomics.

Keep Reading

For more tips to to improve balance, click here.

If you are working from home and spending more time at home, set your home up to make it easy to move. Here are a few tips.

In need of a good story? Here is one of my favorites about my Grandfather boxing Ezzard Charles in WWII.

Home Office Ergonomics