Like a lot of people, I find myself working from home these days. Between the needs for social distancing and for preserving medical supplies, my “day job” as a spay neuter vet has been sidelined, so I find myself dreaming up new projects and spending more time in front of a screen.
As we find ourselves building office spaces at home, we may be faced with combining computers, chairs, and desks that were not designed for use together or that don’t fit well with our physical needs or proportions.
But what does a good ergonomic setup look like? Are there ways to improve a home office to make it more comfortable for more hours of use?
My home office setup
In order to explain some of the fundamentals of office ergonomics, I will use my own home office setup as an illustration. This is the space that I’ve used for various writing and editing projects, so I have been tinkering with the setup for a while to make the space comfortable for long periods of use. But you’ll also see that I have improvised a few solutions for items that just weren’t sized for me.
Computer Equipment
I have a laptop computer and I love the flexibility and portability. When I am using the computer for reading (for example, reading an article or editing a book chapter), I’m usually on the sofa or a recliner rather than in a desk-and-chair setup. But when I really want to get down to work and do a lot of typing or visual design (for example, writing this post, writing a book, editing photos) I use my laptop with an external monitor and wireless keyboard, essentially turning it into a desktop computer.
Laptop ergonomics
The problem with laptops is that they are built for portability rather than good ergonomics. When the keyboard is at a comfortable height (say, on a pillow on your lap on the couch), the screen is too low so you end up with your neck bent at something like a 30 degree angle. This may be especially problematic for people (like surgeons) who already have jobs that necessitate a forward-bent neck.
Conversely, when the laptop screen is elevated to a height that allows the user to look at the screen with minimal neck bending, the attached keyboard is much too high for comfortable use.
It is possible to have good ergonomics with a laptop and either an external monitor or a separate keyboard. To use a laptop with a separate keyboard, the laptop should be placed on a laptop stand or an elevated platform (a box, a stack of books) that places the top edge of the laptop screen at or slightly above eye level, and the keyboard should be placed at or just below elbow level. To use a laptop keyboard with a separate monitor, the monitor should be placed so that the top edge of the monitor is 2-3 inches above eye level, and the laptop placed so that the keyboard is at or below elbow level.
I chose to have both an external monitor and external keyboard because I want a large monitor (for giant spreadsheets or side-by-side editing) and also a larger, more supportive keyboard compared to the built-in laptop keyboard. So in my setup, the laptop sits closed on the monitor base and provides the processing and computing power, but I don’t use the laptop screen or keyboard when I’m working at a desk.
Keyboard
The computer keyboard should be placed at or below elbow level. Most keyboards are level or slope slightly towards the user, but some research has shown that it’s actually better for hand and wrist posture if the keyboard is tilted slightly “downhill”away from the user.
For regular typing (words, sentences, paragraphs), the keyboard should be centered in front of you. However, if your keyboard has an attached number pad and you are doing a lot of number entries, you will have the least strain if the number pad is located in easy reach of your dominant hand, which may mean that the keyboard is placed off center from your body.
The keyboard that I use has a separate number pad. The main reason that I like this is so that the keyboard itself is more compact, which means my mouse can be placed closer to my hands. With my previous long keyboard with attached number pad, I found myself constantly leaning, straining, or twisting to reach the mouse, especially at times when I was alternating between mousing and typing.
Seating
(I used this reference to help write this section)
The best type of chair for home office work will vary with the type of computer work being done, and also depends on the person or people using that seating. Most of the time, an office chair with adjustable height, adjustable back rests including lumbar support, and adjustable arm rests is recommended. Unless the chair back is reclined to 120 degrees or greater, a headrest is not necessary (although some may find it comfortable to have one).
The chair should fit the user: the width of the seat pan should support your thighs but not be so long that it contacts the backs of your knees, as this may be uncomfortable and may also obstruct blood circulation. The width of the seat pan should allow an inch or so between the outside of the thighs and the armrests. Armrests that are mounted to the chair back rather than on pillars attached to the seat pan will allow a bit more thigh clearance for those that would benefit from this. For users who can not find a chair whose arm rests are placed far enough apart to fit their thigh width comfortably, an armless chair may be most suitable. Similarly, in circumstances where the job demands getting up and down often, chair arms may get in the way and an armless chair (or a chair whose arms swing out of the way) may be better for these jobs.
Adjusting the chair
The height of the chair should be adjusted so that the user’s feet can be placed flat on the floor. While this seems simple enough, if you are working with a fixed height desk and adjustable height chair, you may find that when the chair height is adjusted properly for the length of your lower legs, the desk height is all wrong for the height of your keyboard (see the previous section on keyboards).
If your legs are short and/or your desk is high and fixed height, a footrest can help fix the geometry of your office space. There are commercially made footrests for office workers for just this reason. In my case, I improvised, using a textbook as a footrest, and have been content with this solution.
If your legs are long, once you have adjusted your chair you may find that your desk is too low and not adjustable. Elevating the desk using wood blocks or bed risers would get the geometry back in sync.
If you are working with a chair without height adjustments, you may have to improvise a bit on your office configuration in order to get the geometry of your office as low-stress (ergonomically) as possible.
Armrests
Armrests should be adjusted to the height of the user’s elbows while seated. Most of the time while using the computer, you don’t actually use the armrests: as I am typing in the picture below, my arms are not on the armrests at all. However, in the next picture I use both armrests as I sit back and use the mouse and not the keyboard
Desk
The ideal desk would be adjustable in height and would have a separate keyboard tray that was also adjustable. My own desk has one out of two: it has the keyboard tray, but the desk and tray are at a fixed height from the ground. This fixed height is the reason I have to raise my chair enough that I require a footrest. If my desk (or even just the keyboard tray) was adjustable, I would be able to lower the keyboard by a couple of inches, lower my seat, and not need the footrest.
Positioning and posture
Once you have the computer equipment and you have adjusted the chair and desk (and optional footrest and any other MacGyver ergonomic devices), the next task is figuring out how to positioning use them.
The monitor or screen should be about arm’s length away. Most of the time, the monitor should be straight ahead of the user. For tasks where you will be using one side of the monitor more than the other (left-justified word processing on a wide screen), it may be best to center yourself on the working part of the screen.
If you will be using more than one monitor, centering can be more difficult. If both monitors are used equally then you can place the dividing line between the two straight ahead so that you don’t have to look very far to either side to see either screen. If one of the two monitors is used much more frequently, then that one should be straight ahead and the secondary monitor placed nearby in the field of view (beside or perhaps above or below the main monitor)
posture
Your body posture should be relaxed and supported by your chair, just as your lower legs are supported by the floor or footrest. Your chair is the anti-gravity device that keeps you from having to expend muscular effort to keep yourself upright. Sit in your chair in a way that lets you take advantage of this.
And remember, just like when doing surgery, it’s important to take breaks to rest and stretch. Much of the early research on micropauses took place in an office environment, and the data supporting break-taking as a way to decrease fatigue and pain and increase performance is impressive. Micropauses can be just a minute or so every twenty or thirty minutes and should consist of changing position and stretching or moving. Try set a timer for microbreaks or, failing that, try to hydrate enough that trips to the bathroom are inevitable reminders to pause and stretch.
What about standing desks?
Standing desks are a great idea for encouraging movement and offering a change in position through the day. As someone who stands for work most of the time, I haven’t set up a standing desk for myself. Ergonomists don’t necessarily find that standing desks are better than sitting, but what they do find is that being able to change position through the work day is important.
Some workplaces have adjustable height desks and chairs so that workers can remain at the same workstation and, with the press of a button, convert that workstation from sitting to standing and then back again. People working from home (especially on a short term, emergency basis such as during a pandemic) are much less likely to have these adjustable desks and so must improvise. One worthwhile option is to configure both a standing desk and a sitting desk, and perhaps have each of these spaces set up for different tasks, so that desk height switching is enforced whenever task switching is necessary.
For standing desks, the relative configuration of the keyboard and monitor with respect to the user’s eyes, shoulders, and elbows should be the same as for sitting desks. The top of the monitor should be slightly above eye level. The keyboard should be at about elbow height or slightly below when the shoulders are relaxed and the upper arms hang slightly in front of vertical beside the body. Flooring and footwear should be comfortable, and consider using a floor mat, especially if standing for several hours.
Meanwhile…
As for me, I’ve been healthy but find myself on an enforced vacation of unknown length. Unlike other jobs where you can work from home, spay-neuter doesn’t work well from a distance. I made myself a surgery mask in hopes that I could donate my my disposable masks but still return to work sometime soon, but for the short (and medium?) term, it looks like self-isolation is key.
So what is a spay neuter vet and book editor to do? I’m seriously toying with writing the next textbook, the one I’ve known for years was needed but never had the time to work on: Ergonomics in Veterinary Medicine. Will I or won’t I? I’ll let you know as soon as I know…