10 Ergonomics Dos and Donts for Those Now Working from Home BU Today Boston University

If more than one person is using the same setup, some monitor adjustability may be needed. Your keyboard and mouse should be about 8cm to 10cm from the edge of your desk, and the top of the monitor should be about one arm’s length away, at eye level to avoid leaning forward or back. Hedge also had some tips for using inexpensive items—like a rolled-up towel for lumbar support and a laptop riser—to make any home office more ergonomically friendly. Paying attention to your home office setup can help prevent physical discomfort and musculoskeletal disorders. 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.

1. Try to take a 1- to 2-minute break every 20 to 30 minutes that you’re at your desk.
2. Don’t store items under your desk, as that can shrink the amount of available space and make it hard to sit correctly.
3. As Colorado State University employees who are able to prepare to work remotely, many of us likely do not have the same workstation setup at home that is available in our typical offices.
4. Personal equipment includes providing equipment, reducing exposure to hazards or risk factors with PPE, swapping out chairs or desks, and updating the equipment.
5. If you spend a lot of time on the phone, or if you often type or write while you’re using the phone, put the phone on speaker or use a headset.
6. Consider that ongoing ergonomic injuries are also very costly, with a carpal tunnel claim costing $30-60k on average and a cumulative trauma injury costing $36-$88k on average.
7. If possible, set the sensitivity of the mouse or pointer so you can use a light touch on it.

How Should I Position My Mouse and Keyboard?

To do so, keep the keyboard close to the front edge of the table. To lower the keyboard, you could mount a keyboard tray under your desk, or try raising your chair higher so your wrists are above the keyboard. If you raise your chair, make sure you can still keep your feet flat on the floor. If not, you’ll need a footrest to give proper support to your legs and feet.

To reduce contact stress and pressure to the wrist, DO NOT rest your wrist on a support. Position yourself directly in front of the keyboard, mouse and monitor. Visit the Office Ergonomics page to learn more about how to set up your computer workstation. These principles also apply to notebook/laptop computing, so do your best to implement them whenever possible. The workplace isn’t the only place to think about when considering ergonomics.

Expert Advice for Treating Back Pain at Home

This allows independent adjustment of both the laptop screen and the external keyboard to obtain a better position for both the arms and wrists as well as the neck. It’s easy to work on your laptop for a few hours on the weekend, but doing so for 40-plus hours a week can lead to back, shoulder, and neck strain. If you can, use an external monitor or laptop stand (with an external keyboard and mouse) to prop up your screen.

1. 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.
2. Here’s how to set up a workspace that fits and supports you the best, based on advice from ergonomics experts as well as on what we’ve found over years of testing home-office furniture and gear.
3. Use the lightest grip possible and consider getting wider-grip pens and pencils if it decreases discomfort.
4. For instance, there are now guitars with beveled-edge bodies to reduce the pressure where the right arm rests on the instrument.
5. Using them for five to 10 minutes at a time would be his maximum recommendation.

As the tissue to these areas gets squeezed, blood flow can slow. To stave off problems like carpal tunnel syndrome, use a wrist rest. You can also pad hard edges of your desk or table with a folded washcloth.

Ergonomic Risk Factors

Focus on making adjustments to these four areas to get a good setup. I’ve been working from home for longer than I’ve ever done before. My work shelled out for really nice curved monitors, but we were told we couldn’t take them (or any computer accessories) home with us. Boston University moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation. Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. Moderators are staffed during regular business hours (EST) and can only accept comments written in English.

Sure, there were some days where you would’ve given anything to work from the comfort of a soft sofa, click-clacking away with your feet up and computer on your lap. But there’s a good reason your office provided a cubicle instead of a couch — and it’s not just because your coworkers didn’t want to see your bare feet. Despite the challenges, the benefits of remote and flexible working are now being proved. Surveys are showing that many employees now want work-from-home setups to continue post-pandemic. Research from Eskenzi found that 91% of the country’s office workers want to work from home ‘at least part of the time’.

Employers enjoy the cost-savings and employees work from home ergonomics enjoy the flexibility. We are not only navigating a historical public health crisis —- we are in the midst of a workplace sea change. As of this writing, almost all employees that can work from home are doing so.

If you spend hours at your desk each day, it’s worth it to invest in a great office chair with that lumbar support. We’ve recommended the Steelcase Gesture for years because it’s highly adjustable to fit a variety of body types and sizes, and it has a supremely comfortable cushion and adjustable lumbar support. You might be able to find one of these chairs at a huge discount at your local office-liquidation store or one of Habitat for Humanity’s ReStores. 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. Either use an external monitor or place your laptop up on a stand or set of coffee table books at eye level. An external keyboard allows the flexibility to raise the laptop monitor to an ideal height for a neutral neck posture.

Everything You Need to Set Up an Ergonomic Home Office

Making a few inexpensive adjustments to your home office setup can help you stay comfortable, productive, and injury-free. For every 20 minutes spent looking at a computer screen, you should spend 20 seconds looking at something else 20 feet away. This gives your eye muscles a break and helps reduce eye strain. Self-screening tools can correct measures and be offer proactive management as part of an ergonomics program. These self-screening assessments can also help identify which employees have discomfort, areas of improvement, pinpointing equipment needs and reporting for next steps.