Looking for an ergonomic workplace

For any person working at the computer, sooner or later the question arises of the impact of the working environment on health. Developed recommendations for posture, organization of working space, rest. Developed exercises for the torso, neck, limbs and, of course, the eyes.

Surely everyone who has been working at a computer for a long time, once felt pain somewhere, many began to look for ways to reduce the harmful effects, someone seriously began to delve into the related issues. Unfortunately, it is often limited to finding and buying an expensive chair “with the bells and whistles”, and this ends the matter. I decided to move on.

Since I work as a programmer and do a significant part of my work at home, I created two jobs for myself, the second of which I still work on. Further I will describe them with details and conclusions. I guess it will be interesting to people who work remotely or freelancers.

Standard working posture

We all saw pictures with the correct working posture:
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Right angles in the joints of the arms and legs, the vertical location of the body. But let's be frank: who of us had more than 5 minutes to sit in this position?

The tone of the muscles of the torso of most people is such that maintaining the correct posture while sitting requires the tension of these muscles. Conscious tension every second. And soon the brain is distracted, the body goes into power saving mode and the posture changes: the back is rounded, the nose bulges, the pelvis slides forward, and so on.

Personally, I had problems with the thoracic spine (mostly) and with the sacral spine (to a lesser extent). For some time, the problem was forgotten when buying a chair with a fixed angle between the seat and the backrest and the swing mechanism. During the operation of this chair, I noticed that all the time I strive to take a more horizontal position (deviate back to the stop, as far as the spring allows).

But the dissatisfaction remained, I wanted to continue the search.

In the meantime, we note the shortcomings:

• or shoulders (hereinafter I call part of the arm from the shoulder joint to the elbow) in line with the body, but elbows hang down - this means that the weight of the arms falls either on the front part of the forearm, or even on the wrists
• or elbows on the table, but the shoulders are not aligned with the body (the stomach rests on the table)
• the natural position of the upper limbs is not respected - the brush wants to be injected (deploy to each other)
• loaded with the wrist of the hand working with the mouse
• load on the spine (and in many places)

Comfortable working posture

We optimize the position of the hands

Standing in a relaxed position, bend your elbows - to the right angle. (Many people do this when they move to the music). Pay attention to the position of the hands - palms look at each other. For brushes this is a comfortable position.

Now about the position of the hands on the table. The forearms are completely on the table, from the elbow to the wrist. The weight of the arm is evenly distributed. The muscles of the forearm are not clamped in their middle part.

I repeat: the shoulders are most conveniently placed in line with the body (vertically, if you stand, horizontally, if you lie).

Table top

The main conclusion that was made - the tabletop should have a neckline for the body. Only in this case, the hands will be in a comfortable position: the shoulders are in line with the torso.

Keyboard

The standard keyboard does not fit, I will explain why. I print with the ten-finger method, so the location of the keyboard suggests itself: the middle of the alphabetic part of the keyboard intersects with the sagittal plane of the body. Since I freely use the mouse with two hands (and recommend it to everyone) - the keyboard should be the same to the left and right of its middle of the letter part. The choice fell on a simple A4Tech KLS-5UP Black . Yes, the first time without the digital section is inconvenient, but already used, as well as to the non-trivial arrangement of the keys Del, End, PgUp, etc. The keyboard is attached to the tabletop on double-sided tape.

Mouse

A regular mouse has been replaced with a Logitech Trackman marble stationary trackball. There are no scrolling wheels, but this is solved by programming the buttons. About fatigue in the wrist forgot forever.

Stage 1

We have a room in which repair is scheduled, so it is temporarily under a workshop and a study. You can drill everything and everywhere - go ahead!

Workplace polulezha.

It is collected from a chipboard, upholstered with fabric, inside foam rubber. Adjustable backrest, tilt the seat and the slope of the lower part of that under the legs. The monitor is suspended from the ceiling, slight tilt and height adjustment is allowed. The distance to the eyes is about 90 cm. Sitting at a height of about 50 cm.





I immediately wanted to put a pillow under my head, and later - to make a shelf under something edible.



On this configuration, I stayed no more than a month, and I realized that I had to install the worktop on something. Made a vertical pipe, on it on a rotary bar strengthened the tabletop. There is no original photo, but the presentation will be given by this photo:



Vertical tube, fixed to it a rotary mechanism with a horizontal bar. Mobile connections - three.


Sit down - with one movement you push the tabletop and that's it. And getting up is also convenient. Already on this configuration, I spent exactly a year.

Advantages:

• Conveniently. There are no strains in the trunk and extremities. Pose does not want to change even after several hours of continuous work. Anyone who sat in this chair said: “Aah! how comfortable it is here, ”“ I would sleep here, ”etc.

Disadvantages:

• Very comfortably. It sounds strange, but I attributed this to shortcomings for one reason - I don’t want to get up from such a workplace. Hence the difficulty of blood circulation, obesity due to low mobility. In addition, there are suspicions that this posture still negatively affects the sacral spine (due to the specific angle at which the vertebral discs are compressed).
• It is inconvenient to watch movies together or show something to someone. To see the screen, you had to first sit down.

Stage 2

Mobile workplace.

Health first. Therefore, from the reclining comfortable workplace, I refused. The requirements in the next step were:

• possibility of changing poses
• convenience
• workplace mobility

Under these requirements it was necessary to do something fundamentally different. Some days of work as the Bulgarian \ welding, etc. - in the end we got this mobile workplace. It can be moved around the apartment (office).



Watchable as a cross stereo pair .



A variety of postures for such a workplace - a lot. You can sit on the sofa, chair, chair. You can lie down. If the width of the seat allows - you can sit side by side together, for example, to watch a movie or play.



And, of course, you can just stand.



To avoid stagnation of blood in my legs - I use the disc "Health", and I just dance to the music. Moreover, you can pick up a dumbbell and stretch your legs, not looking up from the monitor.

I used this configuration (and continue) for another year.

Advantages:

• A large number of poses in which you can work - a definite plus. Any pain I forgot.
• In the position for working standing, there was an unobvious advantage: intense thinking has to “walk back and forth,” and the monitor is just at eye level - convenient, if you need to look.

Disadvantages:

• It looks bulky and fits poorly in the interior. Although, if you invest money, you can make it much more beautiful.
• Of course, without a full-fledged table, it became inconvenient to put additional gadgets - for example, a graphics tablet, mobile devices.

Asking questions:
Why not a laptop?
On the table, laptop mobility is lost. When you put it on yourself (or on a special stand) - you have to monitor their stability, location. Carry them with you. To get up once again is difficult. The screen is too close, hands uncomfortable. Well, the performance of the laptop for the same money is less, the screen is smaller. Rotate the screen is also a problem. Dropping is also scary.
Wireless peripherals?
The keyboard and trackball (or mouse), of course, you can take and wireless. But without a table top it’s still uncomfortable with them. Yes, the wires spoil the view, but does not bother me.
Price?
300 rubles gave for the pipe 20 to 20. Vertical pipe - was found in the country. Bag of cement - 180 rubles. Bolts, nuts, washers, tightening for wires - found at home. Chipboard - trim from old furniture. A can of paint - 100 rubles. Furniture shield - 150 rubles. Total no more than a thousand rubles.
Special programs?
I use iRotate . Any monitor with one movement rotates to the desired position. Next, press the hot key and the image is rotated. Matter of three seconds.

Further development

What would like more.
If we talk about the method of input through the keyboard - of course, I would like to split the keyboard in half so that each half can be positioned at an angle to the table top (the base of the palms will be in a more comfortable position). There are a lot of things in Canada, on EBay too. I want to see and feel it in Russia.

I track devices like LeapMotion, Myo, CyberGlove. But while the alphanumeric input in the best way provides the keyboard.

The search continues ...