posture : Computer Hardware Buyers’ Glossary

posture

I wore the discs in my lower back out completely sitting for long hours at a computer for the last four decades. To avoid following my example, here is what you should do:

Get the best office chair you can afford. Think of it as an investment in productivity as well as prevention of excruciating pain in later life.
Use an Obusforme back pad to give the small of your back extra support.
Adjust your chair height so that your elbows are even with the desktop.
Don’t let your feet dangle. Put a support under them if necessary. (Not a problem for a tall guy like me.).
Arrange your desk surface so that most of the time you are looking straight ahead, not to one side, up or down. Your monitor should be at eye level.
Sit up straight. Don’t slouch or bend over.
Get up every hour and walk around for a minute or two. Even better do an exercise where you lay on your back and pull your knees to your chest for 30 seconds, then each leg alternately to your chest for 30 seconds with the other leg stretched out flat.
Don’t cross your legs.
Use a wrist support.
Exercise, especially swimming, helps strengthen the back and abdominal muscles to hold the spine in the proper position.
To avoid carpal tunnel syndrome, use the DSK keyboard layout.
Try switching hands to use your mouse every once in a while. It can cause just as much trouble as keyboarding.

chair
Comfy Chair Student Project
desk
DSK
Dvorak keyboards
ergonomics
Kinesis keyboard
lighting
Maltron keyboard

	You can get the freshest copy of this page from:	or possibly from your local J: drive (Java virtual drive/mindprod.com website mirror)
	http://mindprod.com/bgloss/posture.html	J:\mindprod\bgloss\posture.html
	Please email your feedback for publication, errors, omissions, typos, formatting errors, ambiguities, unclear wording, broken/redirected link reports, suggestions to improve this page or comments to Roedy Green :
	Canadian Mind Products
	mindprod.com IP:[65.110.21.43]
view	Your face IP:[38.107.191.105]
Feedback	You are visitor number 2,551.