Last month, I bought a big new computer screen, thinking that if I stopped crouching over my laptop like a turtle, my lower back would stop hurting. It worked great — for about 48 hours. Then I started getting searing pains in my neck, which prevented me from turning my head to the right, which then almost got me into a car accident. All because, I eventually figured out, I had positioned my new screen about two inches too high.
About $1 billion a week is spent in the United States to deal with entirely preventable work-related musculoskeletal injuries, many of which are caused by small flaws in body positioning. You can do a surprising amount of damage to your body if you hold parts of it in strange positions for hours at a time, five days a week. But some research suggests that you can also prevent and even reverse damage by engineering your office work environment properly. I talked to experts to find out how.
If possible, invest in ergonomically sound office furniture.
A healthy workstation is one that allows you to work in a neutral, relaxed position. That setup “requires the least force, the least strength, the least effort,” said Alan Hedge, director of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Research Group at Cornell University, “and that means you’re putting the least amount of strain on your body.”
To get there, you will want furniture that can be adjusted to your body size and shape — basically, “the more adjustability, the better,” said Justin Young, an industrial and operations engineer at Kettering University in Michigan.
Your chair is especially important. Ideally, you want one with adjustable height and lumbar support, that easily reclines and that also supports the upper and middle back. The seat pan should be at least one inch wider than your hips and thighs on either side, and not so long that you can’t sit all the way back without the edge hitting you behind the knees.
Very few people sit back when they work, but they should, Dr. Hedge said, because when you recline, more of your body weight is supported by your chair, rather than supported by (and also compressing) your spine. Chair arms are not essential, but they can support you as you stand up and sit down. If you need a great office chair, check out this guide from Wirecutter, the New York Times company that tests and reviews products.
Desks can be tricky for a computer user, because most desks are built at the correct height for writing, not typing. You don’t want to have to hunch up your shoulders to type, for example, nor do you want your wrists bending up or down — an ideal keyboard height is about two inches above your knees.
If your desk is too high, one solution is to get a keyboard tray that slides out from under the desk and slopes downward, or has what is called a “negative slope,” because that slope keeps your wrists in a vertically neutral position. A split keyboard, like one of these ergonomic models, can keep wrists in a horizontally neutral position as well.
As for sitting versus standing desks: The research is mixed on terms of what is better, so it really depends on what feels good to you, Dr. Young said. Sit-stand desks, on the other hand, have the distinct advantage of encouraging you to change positions regularly, which is good for your body.