With a goal of preventing injury, Comfort at Your Computer teaches an awareness
of potentially harmful positions and shows how to achieve proper sitting
posture and correct breathing for pain-free computing. Readers will learn
exercises to prevent strain, such as a five-second movement break to do at
a desk or a 20-minute stretching session for home.
Table
of Contents
Part
1 - Your Body
Chapter
1: The Computer Problem
Chapter 2: Body Awareness is the Key
Chapter 3: What is Computer Stress?
Chapter 4: Softening Your Breath and Voice
Chapter 5: Balancing Your Pelvisand Spinal
Column
Chapter 6: Getting to the Heart of it
Chapter 7: Gaining Ease in Your Hands, Arms and Shoulders
Chapter 8: Improving Your Legs
Chapter 9: Relaxing and Balancing Your Head and Neck
Chapter 10: Using Your Eyes Comfortably
Chapter 11: What Good Sitting Posture is and is Not
Chapter 12: Five Second Movement Breaks During Work
Chapter 13: Twenty MinuteMovement Sessions for Home
Chapter 14: Three Minute Movement Breaks for the Office
Part
2 - Your Work Environment
Chapter
15: Making Your Desktop Workstation Comfortable
Chapter 16: Using Laptops
Chapter 17: Standing Workstation
Chapter 18: Changing the Work Environment
Chapter 19: The Beginning
Chapter 1, pages 3-6: The Computer Problem
Spending long hours at a
computer keyboard can hurt. Many people experience pain in their eyes, neck,
arms, hands, back or legs. Many people experience stress and anxiety. At best,
this reduces concentration and productivity. At worst, it leads to serious
physical damage.
People use computers in many different situations. Some people use the computer
for entertainment and others use computers for work. There are individuals who
use computers at home. There are individuals who work alone or in small offices.
There are people who work in schools, universities or large companies. And of
course children and students use computers both at home and at school. Everyone
who uses computers should pay attention to issues of work comfort and safety,
and parents and teachers should make sure that the young people in their care
do not develop computer-related injuries.
Computer stress and repetitive motion injuries lead to a tremendous loss of productivity
and a great deal of money being spent on medical treatment and litigation. People
with serious computer-related injuries may have to stop using computers altogether.
Students may find it very hard to do school work, and people in the workforce
may find themselves unemployed and unemployable.
But life with a computer doesn't have to hurt. It really can be surprisingly
quick and easy to learn how to achieve a safe and comfortable way of working
at your computer. Comfort at Your Computer will show you how to:
- work at your computer in a mentally and physically alert, relaxed and
strain-free manner
- set up your computer workstation so that it enhances your comfort and
productivity
- organize a computer-safety program at your school or workplace. By gaining
a greater understanding of the human body and the computer workstation,
you will be able to: * avoid computer stress and injuries
- choose proper workstation equipment
- save money on equipment
- reduce medical bills and lost work time
- increase job satisfaction and productivity.
Comfort at Your Computer will help you find simple, low-cost solutions that
are easy to put into practice and take very little time.
The book presents the material in a personal, experiential format. Even if
your main objective is to set up a computer safety program for your school
or workplace, going through the body awareness exercises yourself will be the
best way to understand the material and learn to teach it to others.
The best time to deal with computer stress and injuries is before they happen.
Learning about relaxation, postural balance, and proper workstation setup will
help you prevent computer-related problems. But if you are already experiencing
problems, the same techniques for relieving computer stress will be helpful
(along with proper medical treatment) in your recovery and in preventing future
problems.
BODY AWARENESS: A NEW WAY OF THINKING ABOUT THE PROBLEM
Computer-related injuries result from long hours of holding awkward, strained
positions and from the repetitive movements of pounding keys. Before the advent
of computers, office workers did not sit for hours in one fixed posture repeating
the same few movements over and over again. Even using a typewriter, which
is similar to using a computer, involved many different movements. Inserting
paper, erasing mistakes, filing paper copies and so on forced typists to vary
their movements. Computer users can sit for hours doing nothing but punching
keys and staring at a screen.
Working at a computer for long hours is an intense and strenuous athletic event.
Every athletic activity requires proper physical form and good equipment. If,
for example, you jog with bad form and poor shoes, you weaken your performance
and increase your risks of injury. Neither good form nor good equipment by
itself is enough. In the same way, using a computer demands effective movement
technique and good equipment.
Using effective movement technique means knowing what movements are required
for the safest, most effective performance of the specific sport or task you
are undertaking. Effective movement technique starts with knowing your body.
You have to know how to use your pelvis, legs and spinal column for sitting;
your arms for typing; your head and eyes for looking at paper copy and the
monitor; and your voice for dictation software. If you use a computer or video
display terminal while standing up, you also need an awareness of the body
mechanics of proper standing.
Proper equipment selection and workstation setup also start with knowing your
body. Your furniture and workstation should support your body in your unique
individual position of comfort. Your equipment must be able to adapt to your
needs rather than forcing you to adapt to it. To pick out office furniture
that fulfills your body's needs, you must know what your specific needs are.
Recommendations for safe computer-use are often given in terms of statistics
about average body dimensions and general furniture requirements. However,
you can't depend on statistics to tell you what your needs are. You can't depend
on rules about what ought to be comfortable for the average person. You have
to know what your own body actually needs for comfort. Once you can feel, in
your own body and for yourself, when furniture actually does meet your needs,
you will be able to judge when a piece of furniture is right for you.
Good equipment by itself is not enough. A bad chair will make good, comfortable
sitting posture difficult if not impossible. But even a good chair won't help
much if you are abusing your body through muscular tension and awkward posture.
Sitting right on the wrong chair won't work, and sitting wrong on the right
chair won't make you comfortable either. Effective movement technique and proper
equipment are both necessary in order to use a computer in comfort.
In this book, I will concentrate on helping you learn how to think and feel
for yourself. You will learn how to feel what will keep you safe and comfortable
as you work at your computer. Once you can feel your body clearly, you won't
sit and work in awkward, dangerous postures and you won't keep using uncomfortable
and dangerous furniture. You will notice when something is hurtful to your
body, and you will do something about it right away.
Most people have never thought about the need for body awareness training.
Many people feel that if they can walk and talk and do all their other daily
activities, they must already be aware of their bodies and know how to use
them well.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. Many people can cope with ordinary,
non-demanding activities, but hurt themselves as soon as they do something
complicated or strenuous. Even small imbalances that would seem utterly harmless
can, in the long run, add up to significant strain. Since working at a computer
is both complex and strenuous, you need especially good body awareness and
movement. If you don't use your body well, you will hurt yourself.
Computer stress can be prevented, and body awareness is the key.
