…or rather, is your posture during computer use doing damage that will need to be repaired later?
Nobody uses the buzzwords carpal tunnel and RSI (repetitive strain injury) anymore. It wasn’t that long ago that everyone was scrambling to make ergonomic keyboards and mouse pads.
There are real dangers when using a computer as much as some of us do, but I think we’ve all gotten away from 8 straight at the keyboard, and we get up and stretch and go kill time somewhere else several times a day when we’re jockeying the keyboard for long stretches.
I was reminded of this just this week, twice. First, when I experienced carpal tunnel three mornings straight after discovering PopCap’s excellent Plants vs. Zombies. My mouse hand is still numb. So is my wife’s. My two boys are probably experiencing carpal tunnel for the first time, because they’re both addicted to the game too.
On a more serious note, the second thing that brought all this to mind was my trip to the chiropractor this Tuesday. I’ve been having a hell of a time with my neck this summer. In fact, I’ve been to the chiropractor this summer the most I’ve been in about 8 years or so. When I was asking my chiropractor if there was anything I could do with my posture or sleep position that would help prevent my neck from going out like it has been, it must have made some gears mesh in his head, and he began a pretty good monologue about the problem I had been experiencing.
From his observations, the type of malalignment and injury that I have been incurring comes from sustained computer usage, and the bad posture typically associated with long stints at a desk staring at a monitor. It seems that craning one’s neck forward while reading a monitor is a pretty common postural deficiency we exhibit during computer use.
All I know is that it’s painful, and he’s giving me this deep tissue massage that is anything but pleasant, and telling me I should seek out a massage therapist to do this with on a weekly basis.
Wait just a minute here…first, I don’t want weekly torture sessions, thank you very much, and two, that sounds like it could be expensive.
So I focus on something he talked about while digging an elbow into my spine, which was an idea he had for a computer workstation that put the body in a natural, non-stressful position. His description kind of made it sound like how the astronauts sat in the Mercury and Apollo capsules, laying on their backs with the equipment kind of above and in front of them.
I didn’t think such a contraption would fly at my work place, but I was now interested in seeing if I could find an ergonomic chair that would keep me from waking up in agony, or facing agony at the hands of someone applying deep tissue massage to me.
Here are some of the more interesting solutions I found:
- Zero-Gee Ergonomic Workstation I don’t want to guess what this costs, but I’m guessing it falls within the realm of possibility for normal people as there isn’t anything motorized and it’s actually a pretty straightforward design. Needs a better mouse surface, and the keyboard manipulation doesn’t look like it has a satisfactory range of motion.
Zero-Gee Ergonomic Workstation
- Novelquest Emperor A motorized workstation with built-in sound, lighting and air filtration. This is cool, but if I am going to take out a second mortgage on a $40,000 computer chair, I think it needs to do a little more than this thing does. I want really nice drivers for the sound system, like Aerial Acoustics or something comparable, Tempur-pedic memory foam in the seating surface and headrest, Shiatsu massage, just off the top of my head. While it’s at it, it could warm up my hot pockets and maybe give me a blow j** too. I’m just saying, $40k is a lot of money for a computer chair.
Novelquest Emperor Workstation
- The Surf Chair I love this thing. I can’t find out if this is something you can buy or just a one-off. It sure is cool. Needs to have a better thought out solution for the mouse and keyboard, but it sure looks sexy.
Surf Chair
- Gravitonus iClubby Man, I would so get one of these if I thought I could get away with it. Not available yet, but word is they will sell somewhere in the $7-9k range.
Gravitonus iClubby
Ok, so none of the above are likely to make their way into my home office or my workplace. In the meantime, I am a little more aware of my posture at the computer. I have my seat slanted toward the desk now, instead of the slight backward tilt I have always favored, and I’m thinking about ditching the stock stand and putting my monitor on a mount that allows me some articulation of it’s position relative to mine.
I am seriously considering this chair, the RFM Verte, which sells for around $1100.
RFM Verte
Should I chalk this up to encroaching age, or does any of this sound familiar to you? Are doctors and chiropractors seeing a lot of the same injuries, due to the amount of time that we spend parked in front of a computer?
I can’t get away from the computer, but I am going to be more conscious of my position while using it. I may even invest in some better equipment to help in that regard. I am definitely going to take more breaks away from the desk during the day from now on. I do not want to get a deep tissue massage every week. No sir.
