Turning Your Office Into a Strain-Free Environment

Using a computer and doing other office tasks can be hazardous to your health. Fortunately, there are things you can do to protect yourself.

I’m no Richard Simmons, so I’ll spare you the calisthenics, but I do know that it’s important to take a break at least once an hour. Stretching your hands, arms and shoulders can relieve stress and help prevent repetitive strain injuries and other upper body ailments.

Stretch Break ($44.95), a Windows software program from Para Technologies ([714] 546-8619 or https://www.paratec.com/), pops up on your screen to remind you to take a stretch break.

The program offers animated instructions on 14 stretches. It’s easy to install and easy to follow. You determine how often it pops up and the number of stretches to do. You can configure the program to avoid any stretch routines that you don’t like. A free 14-day evaluation copy is available at the company’s Web site.

Another way to take care of your hands is to use a wrist rest. There are quite a number on the market, starting at less than $10. The Kensington Wrist Pillow ($9.99) provides a soft, comfortable resting area for your wrists. Kensington’s $22.99 Contour Gel Wrist Pad is made of the same material as those soft bicycle seats and is contoured to match the curve of your wrist. My hand and wrist pain went away several years ago after I started using the Daisy Wrist Rest ($37.90) from Daisy Wheel Ribbon Co. ([800] 266-5585 or https://www.daisyw.com). Unlike some wrist rests, it doesn’t slide out of place, because it has a platform that slips under the keyboard.

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Microsoft and other companies offer radically designed keyboards that, according to some reports, help cut repetitive stress injuries. I don’t know whether they actually do that, but I do know that how you use a keyboard is often more important than what kind you use. Again, take breaks, and make sure your desk surface is the right height.

When it comes to your health, the chair you sit on is more important than whatever expensive electronic equipment you’re using. Don’t just grab a chair from the kitchen and avoid one of those cushy executive chairs. Get one designed for using a computer or whatever other tasks you’re doing. The chair you use at the computer should let you adjust the height of your seat, the armrests and the back and, ideally, should have lumbar support for your back. You don’t have to spend a fortune. Office Depot has a $99.99 Global Pneumatic Task chair that fills the bill.

Your desk should be big enough to hold all your equipment and, most important, it should be the right height. Writing desks and kitchen tables are generally too high for using a keyboard and a mouse. The desk surface for your keyboard should, on average, be about 26 to 28 inches from the floor. Again, you don’t have to spend a lot of money. A door suspended over cinder-blocks or a homemade wooden frame could be an excellent desk.

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If you have a desk or table that’s a bit too high, you can buy an adjustable keyboard-and-mouse drawer that attaches to its underside. Kensington is one of several companies that make keyboard drawers, starting at less than $40.

Just because a store promotes a desk as “computer furniture” doesn’t mean it’s right for you. A lot of computer desks have a monitor stand that raises the monitor to a position that makes you strain your neck to look up at it. Your monitor should be slightly below your direct level of sight.

Talking on the phone while you’re using a PC also can strain your neck and shoulders. If you do it a lot, you should be wearing a headset. Plantronics (https://www.plantronics.com) is the leading supplier of telephone headsets. It offers a number of models that plug into your phone’s handset connector. The company recently introduced the AirSet Cordless headset adapter, which uses infrared technology to provide hands-free communications within your immediate office. The adapters start at about $100 for basic wired headsets. The AirSet starts at about $300 plus an additional $75 to $150 for the headset itself.

But there is a cheaper way to go. Radio Shack makes a number of decent hands-free phone adapters, including an over-the-ear headset for $59.99 that plugs into your regular phone. The company also offers a $39.99 single-line headset phone that you use instead of your regular phone.

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For information about staying healthy at the computer, point your Web browser to https://www.larrysworld.com/articles/health.htm