You’re Working From Home Now, What Should Your Desk Look Like? Northbook Chiropractor

Northbrook Desk Ergonomics

Hey, it’s Dr. Gregg, chiropractor at Align Wellness Center in Northbrook. I wanted to take a moment to go over with you a proper ergonomic setup for your workstation. Very few people are still working at the same desk that they worked at two months ago. Everybody right now has changed their workplace so if you’re at home, a friend’s house, or just bunked up with neighbors this will work and help keep you injury free.

Now staying injury free is important but getting health is even more right now. So I want to go through the best ergonomic setup you can do at home so you can get into the activates you love and develop your health way beyond managing pain.

If you want to see this on video, check it out on my YouTube page here. While you there go ahead and subscribe to get our most up to date tips and strategies on how to stay health.

When you’re working on your laptop, you’ve really got to be concerned about a couple of things.

The primary thing you’ve got to be concerned about is monitor height, then keyboard height, then chair, style, position and configuration to get the right ergonomic set-up for your body.

Your Monitor

Most people are working on a laptop, so let’s start with how the monitor should be placed. The top of the monitor should be at eye level. So that you don’t lean forward but are slightly looking down. If we leave the laptop on a table or desk we will bend our head forward and flattening out lower back. When you do this for about 4 hours or get just past mid workday your ergonomics will strain your upper back and can cause you have to headaches, neck pain, shoulder pain or strain your lower back.

So what I recommend for you to do is grab some tools that they might have. Who’s getting Amazon stuff? I know I am. So you’ve got tons of Amazon boxes at home and they come in all sizes. Find the boxes that match to get your monitor raise it to eye level. Now when you’re elevating your monitor, you may notice you keyboard is elevated as well. If you work on this for an extended period of time you will put stress on your wrist, arms and shoulder and end up back in pain as well.

So while you’re ordering on Amazon, I’m going to tell you to get an external keyboard. You can get these pretty affordably. I like a Bluetooth one. This is the one that I actually use with my iPad and I wind up just putting it right in front of me. The keyboard should be on the edge of the table, lined up between the chair and monitor.

Now, the monitor is elevated to eye level, so I slightly tilt my head down, the keyboard is at the edge of the desk between me and the monitor. Next up, the chair.

The Chair at Your New Ergonomic Desk

Then you are looking at your desk chair. I like one on wheels, that you can slid right up to your desk. I like one that has a seat that can rise and lower, has a great lumbar support that is movable, so I can use it and so can my wife who is a little smaller than me, and arm rests that go up and down as well. If the chair you use does not have a movable lumbar support I would suggest one like this to add to your chair. Once again this rest does not go at your bottom. It goes at the curve of your lower back to support this lumbar spine.

Now that we have the right chair, let’s get it set to the right height. First off we want our feet to rest on the floor or a stool. Next, we want to sit all the way back in the chair. We want the lumbar support at the top of your hip or the middle of your lower back. We next want the arm rests elevated so your elbows rest right on them. We don’t want it so high your shoulders are at your ears, but not so low your elbows have a hard time hitting them. You want them just in the middle.

The chair should slide right under the desk and your wrists will rest on the edge of your desk with the keyboard right in front of it.

Find your best chiropractor in Northbrook:

You are now set up with the best ergonomic workspace you can take with you anywhere you need to get down to business. If this still doesn’t feel right or you’re still having problems, give our office a call at 847-564-9500 and we will find a time for you to meet with us at Align Wellness Center, 900 Skokie Blvd, Unit 113, Northbrook, IL 60062. That way we can figure out the cause of the problem and help your move forward and get back to and focused on your work and life and not your desk or ergonomics.

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