Workplace ergonomics is aimed at eliminating discomfort and risk of injury while at work. People underestimate the effects of a ‘body and muscle’ friendly workspace setup, which is what ergonomics is all about – helping you design a space that can help lessen muscle fatigue, increase productivity, and reduce work-related musculoskeletal disorders like carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, muscle strains, and lower back injuries.
The pandemic forced many people into working from home and when people were looking forward to going out again, another wave began, then another, so people are still working from home with certain complaints about muscle fatigue because of sitting at their workspace for long hours.
This article highlights tips to help you improve your workspace ergonomics and solve your musculoskeletal disorder permanently.
Invest In Comfortability Accessories
Many people experience muscle fatigue within minutes of settling down at their home office workspace, blaming it on the body functions, whereas the major problem is their workspace accessories, mainly the desk and the chair.
When you set up your home workspace, you need to consider your comfortability and height, those are the most important thing. Do not design your home workspace as a little shrine but as a comfortable place tailored for you because you will spend long hours there. It has been advised that to improve the ergonomics of your workspace; it is safe to get a height adjustable desk, and a spine-friendly chair that provides you with lumbar support, and an optional footstool for your feet.
Use Your Keyboard Safely
Getting accessories that make work comfortable like a desk and an ergonomic chair will help you manage how you position your hand to reach your keyboard. You will be safe from overuse injury when your elbows are bent at a 90-degree angle and sit close to your body because you are sitting on the right chair.
Using the right chair places your keyboard at a distance where your forearms are almost horizontal, your wrists are straight on the desk and your hands can easily hunt and peck at the keyboard straining no muscle in your body.
When your arms are not bent on the desk, you can easily use the mouse without bothering about slight pains on your forearm muscles or palms.
Your Screen Should Be At Convenient Level With Your Eyes
We cannot overemphasize this enough, your monitor or laptop should be at a distance that allows you to focus on the screen comfortably. How can you achieve this? Having a height-adjustable desk or chair that you can tweak to get the perfect angle where you don’t have to bend your neck to see your screen.
Also, make sure that your monitor is at a level where the brightness would not strain your eyes. It is important that you can use your monitor HD camera without having to hunch your back, hence you need to invest in accessories that can help you ensure that.
Check Your Posture and Reach Level
Posture is everything when it comes to creating a home workspace. You want to avoid work-related injury, ensure that your feet are flat on the floor–or support with a footstool–while your thigh is parallel.
We should bend the knees and elbow at 90-degrees in their respective locations. You should sit back in your chair with the rest of your body stacked and your shoulders relaxed, to keep your joints in alignment.
The equipment you will use multiple times in a day such as a phone, mouse, file, pen, and paper should be within easy reach, to avoid overstretching your arms and having to deal with muscle pull injury.
Consider Light And Air Position
Your home workspace should be at an angle where the light coming through the window would not glare on your monitor or be too bright for your eyes. Also, ensure that your screen is not too bright, that it will contrast with the light filtering in or affect your eyesight.
Use the 20-20 principle by stepping away from your screen every twenty minutes of your body or look at something else.
The airflow in your home workspace affects your productivity too, ensure that you regulate your thermostat to suit your home office and dress to suit it as it will improve your ergonomics.
Working at a desk for long hours can be nerve-racking, but make sure you set your workspace up to give you comfortability and reduce your chances of having a work-related injury. Here, your comfort is linked to your productivity.