You Suck At Ergonomics

Darcie Jaremey
Jul 10, 2017 · 4 min read

I’m here to help. :)

There is a glimmer of hope. For the majority of people out there, there are some outrageously SIMPLE solutions that can really up your ergonomics game. Simple solutions that you can do yourself, without the need of those expensive consultants. Enough complaining! Check out my simple tips below and you will be happy you did!

In fact, its so simple, every business/startup/organization should have some sort of ergonomic process that should address 90% of ergonomic related complaints. My 4-points below can help you do this.

I’m going to give you some really straightforward points that can up your company’s ergonomics game.

Ready? The 4 Points to NOT SUCK at Ergonomics are:

  1. Eyes slightly higher than your monitor screen’s height. Most people’s monitors are entirely too high for them — if you are looking up to see your monitor, it is too high for you!! Note this is the screen of the monitor, not the monitor itself. The entire monitor should be tilted upwards toward you at approximately 15–20 degrees. You should be looking at your monitor with a ‘straight’ chin aka where your chin is parallel to the ground and not pointed upwards or downwards. Most people’s monitor’s have some sort of height adjustment, but if yours doesn’t a really simple way to address this is either raise your chair (if you monitor is too high) or place something like texts or paper below it (if your monitor is too low). Of course these are simple and fast solutions, if you want more of a long-term solution, purchasing a height and angle monitor arm or stand would be a good way to go. One more thing: if you ended up raising your chair to get a good monitor set-up, make sure you take a close look at the last point in this so you don’t end up causing another problem in your work set-up.
  2. Back comfortably resting in your chair’s backrest. This is probably the best (YET INCREDIBLY SIMPLE) piece of ergonomic advice out there. The lower back (aka lumbar) support is the MOST important thing about a chair. You should be sitting with your back comfortably resting and supported AT ALL TIMES. Add to this: the inward curve of your lower back should have a matching outward curve the the chair’s lumbar support. You can adjust this by either raising/lowering your backrest or adjusting the chair’s lumbar support (for more expensive chairs). Here’s a Pro-Tip: the chair should actually be reclined between 95 and 115 degrees — if you are wondering why, you can check out this blogpost. It’s something that is extremely simple that you should be doing daily to improve your back’s long-term health!
  3. Your hands should be slightly higher than your keyboard/mouse. Here is another simple and straightforward tip. Keep in mind your back should be sitting comfortable on the backrest of your chair to really have the maximum effect. Now, lets move on to this specific tip. Your arms should be bent at about 90 degrees and your shoulders should be relaxed too! Now, just extend your hands and fingers, and keep them straight and in line with your forearms and bam! There you have it! The keyboard and mouse should be slightly lower than this height. I have a full blogpost that goes into detail how to exactly do this.
  4. Your feet should be in full contact with the floor. It seems simple and it is. If after making the above adjustments, your feet are not on the floor you have several options — lower your chair, lower your desk, or get a footrest (or old text books ;)).
Here’s the SIMPLE Set-up we’re aiming for to not SUCK at ergonomics!

That’s all it takes to absolutely ROCK ergonomics at your workplace.

I’m surprised that more people don’t do this, it’s that easy. Of course you can make this a lot more complicated and there can also be scenarios that are really complex. For situations like this, bring in the experts. But like I said earlier, for 90% of the circumstances you can manage ergonomics with an in-house program.

The BIG THING is that all of these tips must ALWAYS be present, if something is just a bit out of place, you might need to get everything organized again. Don’t fret the whole process should take you less than 5 minutes in total.

Darcie Jaremey

Written by

Certified Ergonomist. Fresh perspectives, high value. Free eBook https://ergonomicshelp.com/jumpstart/

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