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Apr 3, 2022
The ergonomic home office
Francesca Carleo | Physiotherapist
Ergonomics is the study of people's efficiency in their working environment. Increasingly, that environment happens to be our own home. According to research, we spend most of our working hours without any physical activity, we sit to eat our meals, sit to drive, sit to work at our desk, and then sit on the couch for TV in the evenings.
Yes, technology really helps people achieve more work in less time but sitting leads to poor physical conditioning and related problems such as poor posture, neck pain, and back pain. More worryingly, excessive time spent sitting is strongly associated with diseases such as obesity, heart problems, and diabetes.
Follow these 6 tips to ensure that your home office is primed for productivity and isn’t wrecking your health:
Location, location, location
Make sure that you select a dedicated work area in your home.
Be sure your workspace is quiet so you can focus on the task at hand.
Set up desk space with a clear foot-room and a well-organised surface.
Don’t skimp on your chair
Find a comfortable, office-specific chair that will provide you with back support in an upright and slightly reclined position.
Make sure the chair is high enough for the desk space which you have chosen.
Hips should be all the way back in the chair and the bottom tips of the shoulder blades should contact the backrest.
Arms, elbows, and hands
Position your work surface and yourself so that your keyboard and mouse are at elbow height.
Your elbows should be relaxed and ideally on a desk surface/armrest of the chair and the forearms should be horizontal/parallel to the ground.
Make sure your keyboard is squarely in front of your naval. No twisting or rotation of the body should be used.
You should be using a peripheral keyboard and mouse and not typing directly from your laptop.
Position the keyboard and mouse so that you are not having to lean or reach in an awkward way to use them.
Monitor your monitor
Ideally, we should all be working off a large size monitor at eye level. However, modern work patterns see one working solely on a small laptop screen for most of our workday. Laptops can cause several repetitive strain injuries as the screen is simply too low.
Consider investing in a larger monitor as a second display.
Adjust your monitor setting to reduce eye fatigue (contrast, brightness, colour)
Light the way
One study suggested that nearly three-quarters of migraine attacks within the workplace were triggered by light.
Position yourself and equipment perpendicular to a window or adjust your blinds to help reduce any glare.
Move it, move it!
Regular movement is key for healthy bodies as well as reducing musculoskeletal risks that arise from static work postures and repetition.
Look to incorporate movement as often as possible throughout the day. You should move every 20 mins even if it is for brief periods.
Over and above each 20-minute break, you should stand at least hourly.
Now go and crush those work goals!
