If you are experiencing pain in your wrists, fingers, hands, neck, shoulder or back and work at a computer for more than four hours per day there it is time to take a close look at how your computer workstation is designed.

Following are a few of the challenges I have seen in thousands of workstation designs. Does this sound like you?

Chair Armrests Too High Or Low:

In most instances the armrests are adjusted too high. Most keyboards are placed on surfaces too high for them and the computer user will adjust the armrest to the height of the work surface thinking this is supporting them properly.

They are inadvertently raising their shoulders to a tensed position. If the shoulder muscles are tensed for any length of time with repetitive motion in the hands or arms, varying levels of pain or discomfort may develop depending on the length of time in this tensed position.

Solution: Adjust the armrests up or down so that the shoulders muscles are in a relaxed position while resting on the armrests. If your shoulders are shrugged at all then the armrests are too high. If you are leaning into either armrest this could be an indication that the armrests are too low. The best way to do this is to drop your arms down by your side and just let your shoulders relax. It is important that you get a "feel" for this. In this fast paced and competitive world computer users are so focused on their work that they are not aware of the physical comfort changes that are occurring in their bodies on a daily basis.

Improper Sitting Posture:

If you are slouching in your chair you might be reducing your ability to take deep breathes due to collapsing your diaphragm. This can cause fatigue and discomfort because oxygen and nutrients cannot travel efficiently to your lower extremities and your brain.

Solution: Sit all the way back in your chair with the lower part of your back firmly touching the backrest. This will enable you to sit in a neutral posture with ease. Be sure you know how to adjust your chair. The chair is the foundation of the computer work area and if you have a great chair that is not adjusted properly then it will not do you any good. You want you feet to be flat on the floor or on a footrest.

Monitor Too High Or Low:

If the monitor is too low it requires bending the neck forward or down to view the screen. In high position the neck will bend backwards to read the screen.

Solution: Try this exercise. Relax your head and neck. If you do this correctly your head will be in a slight forward tilt. Now relax your eyes by letting your eyes "fall" to their lowest position in your eyes. Notice the lowest line on the screen you can read without raising your eyes or head. Position the monitor height so that the information you are reading is centered in this area.

For 19-21" monitors the top of the viewable screen will be approximately 2" below the line of sight. The line of sight is defined as the imaginary straight line from your eyes to the screen. Let your eyes and body determine what is comfortable.

Monitor and Keyboard Not Centered Together:

The computer user often will have the monitor placed to the side and will twist their neck left or right to view the screen. This added tension in the neck can create varying levels of discomfort.

Solution: Place the keyboard directly in front of the monitor so that you can look at the monitor without turning your neck sideways at all. If you use the mouse frequently and do not use the number pad on your keyboard you may consider an ergonomic keyboard with a 15" footprint. This will balance the keyboard AND mouse with the monitor.

Be on the lookout for Part 2 in the next few days…

Copyright 2006 Wendy Young