Aching back? Is it sitting posture? Or is it something else?

Aching Back? Sitting Up Straight Could Be The Culprit offers an interesting light on the problem of our aching backs. Some doctors in Scotland use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) equipment to study the biomechanics of sitting posture to see if they could determine the optimal posture. They showed that sitting in an upright position places unnecessary strain on your back, leading to potentially chronic pain problems if you spend long hours sitting.

Their observation is that our bodies did not evolve in with a 90 degree body-thigh angle in mind. Instead the optimal body-thigh angle was found to be 130 degrees. In other words those kneeler chairs are pretty close to an optimal body-thigh angle. Another kind of chair that would be beneficial is one whose back reclines easily.

I'm having a hard time imagining a desk and chair arrangement where you can easily work while sitting in a chair that reclines to give you a 130 degree body-thigh angle. The kneeler chairs seem more feasible in this regard.

However let me offer a different consideration, which my chiropractor constantly is drumming into me. Stretching, walking, exercise, etc.

The problem, she says, is probably more to do with sitting for a long time. Modern life has most of us in work situations where we sit for long periods, perhaps in front of a computer. These force us to take body positions that are unnatural and leads to back pain and wrist problems like the carpal tunnel syndrome.

There's a simple solution, she says. Get up every 40 minutes or so, take a break, and walk around a bit. And, she recommends, stretch your muscles.

What I'm learning is, our bodies evolved through millennia to be physically active. Most of our ancestors did not work for long hours in unnatural sitting positions, like we do. Hence our bodies work better if they move around regularly and do strenuous things. So, why not incorporate some of that into your daily regimine?

There are some simple stretching exercises, or Yoga if you prefer, that can help you build strength in your muscles. And these stretching exercises act to loosen the muscles that may be learning to stay tight because you're sitting for long periods.

Office ergonomics, monitor stands and keyboard trays

We shouldn't have to damage our health in order to use computer systems. Wait, let me try and rephrase that in a positive wording. Computer use should be a healthy experience. Computer designers might do well to remember the Hippocratic Oath which starts with "First, do no harm...". Unfortunately computer usage requires confining yourself to a fixed position, that's very bad for ones health. Besides remembering to get up and walk around a little every so often, there's a few things you can do to have your workspace more ergonomically correct.

At the moment I'm looking at "Monitor arms" and "keyboard trays".

Monitor Arms

LCD monitors are light enough you can easily mount them on a flexible arm, giving you the freedom to position the monitor "anywhere". At least that's what the makers say you can do. Certainly the old style CRT monitors had far too much weight to do anything like this.

Unfortunately the reality doesn't quite match up with the flexibility implied by the picture. To explain I want to run down a few of them, but first I should explain my experience with one of them.

I bought an Ergotron Neo-Flex LCD arm. I didn't bother reading the fine print, unfortunately. I have a 20 inch Dell LCD monitor that's really nice. I installed the monitor arm, attached it to the Dell LCD monitor, and all that went together very easily. The VESA standard LCD mounting specification sure makes it easy. Unfortunately, the monitor drooped. No matter the amount of tweaking I did, tightening of screws, etc, the monitor drooped a bit. Then I read the fine print and saw, right on the box, it was rated to hold monitors up to 18 lbs weight. Finding the fine print for the Dell monitor, it weighs 18.76 lbs.

Kensington 60106 Desk-Mount Arm for Flat Panel Monitor It has nice strong arms, etc. But it holds monitors up to 20 lbs weight.

GMP STANDARD LCD ARM No picture so I can't judge it from that. The description says it's got a fully articulated arm, but its rating is for monitors up to 14 lbs weight.

Ergotron LX Desk Mount Arm - mounting kit This is a variant on the Neo-Flex I bought. The arm is very flexible and nice. I suppose if your monitor is light enough then it won't droop.

DualSwing Arm Desk Mount Judging from the picture it's clearly going to have a lot of freedom in positioning the monitor "wherever".

The attraction I have to these is not just the flexibility and freedom, but the possibility of decluttering the desktop. By holding the monitor above the desk, the space which would have held the monitor stand can be used for other things. But, knowing my habits, it would just collect random sheets of paper and other stuff. Maybe it's just as well.

On the other hand this really interesting 19 inch monitor, ViewSonic VA1912WB 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor, only weighs 9 lbs. Hmmm....

Keyboard Trays

One of the rules of ergonomics is to keep the keyboard fairly low, only slightly above your legs. This probably has to do with the natural resting position of your arms.

Yet another rule of ergonomics is to keep your screen at eye level. Seeing as there's quite a difference between the low level recommended for the keyboard, and the high level recommended for the screen, one wonders how to bring harmony.

One way would be to keep the desktop itself fairly low. But I find that not to be the best, as my knees tend to bump into the desk. Plus theres this dream I have of less clutter on the desktop allowing for more room for other items.

With that in mind I found at Office Depot a keyboard drawer that fits under the desk. It's relatively nice and does the job relatively well. But, it's made from injection plastic and isn't the sturdiest thing. As I use it the thing shimmys around and I'm sure it's going to break some day, and I'm really displeased with the whole experience.

Studying it carefully, what appears to be the problem is leverage. The part holding the keyboard is sturdy enough. Where it really shimmies around is the tray on which the mouse sits. That tray is waaaay over on the side, so when I rest my hand on it there's a lot of leverage to pull the tray around.

This gives an attribute that's desired in searching for a replacement. Namely, tray should be supported on both ends rather than just in the middle.

MASTER PRODUCTS DRAWER Looks to be the ticket. The size is wide enough for my preferred keyboard and has ample room to the side for mousing. Plus it's steel construction should be sturdy. Unfortunately the dinky picture amazon shows isn't clear enough to give me confidence in this thing.

WAVETECH Underdesk Keyboard Drawer with Wrist Rest Also looks good. Again the drawer is wide enough for a large keyboard plus mousing. Unfortunately the construction isn't described, and again it suffers from a dinky image.

Kensington Fully Articulating & Adjustable Underdesk Keyboard Drawer Certainly is very flexible. Unfortunately at 26 inches wide the drawer isn't going to offer enough room for convenient mousing alongside a keyboard.

Under Desk Keyboard Drawer - Pewter Metal Art Looks to be very nice, and is made from metal which ought to be sturdy. However the drawer doesn't even attempt to provide a space to mouse. What rock has the designer of this been hiding under? Mousing is a very important part of computing, and has been so for 20 years or more.

Select System Wing Platform, Keyboard & Mouse Platform, Memory Foam Wristrest Looks promising. At least it's wide enough for convenient mousing.

Premium Under Desk Kybrd Drawer Looks promising, especially as it has support at both ends of the drawer which should help the stability. Unfortunately at 25 inches wide it's too narrow for convenient mousing.

Other resources

The Human Solution offers a wide range of ergonomical products. Unfortunately their choices in the two product categories discussed on this page are pretty slim.

Ergo Works offers a wide range of ergonomical products. They have done a pretty good job in selecting good products. They have some monitor arms with relatively heavy duty weight capacity. Their choice in keyboard trays are pretty good. And more, such as nice chairs and desks whose height adjusts.

Hergo Offers a wide range of interesting monitor arms.

Flexrest Specializes in keyboard trays.

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Ergonomical office chairs

Office Chair Ergonomics may seem like a mystical subject, what with the dizzying array of levers and knobs appearing on office chairs nowadays. Yet this subject promises to relieve us from back pain, carpal-tunnel, and other stress symptoms. The basic idea is this: there are zillions of us office dwellers, sitting in chairs all day long while our bodies were designed by evolution for running, jumping, digging in the dirt, climbing trees, and much more. We've found through study that proper posture is a good thing, and that improper posture damages the back or arms.

A good ergonomic office chair helps you keep good posture through proper support that guides your body into a good position. In the resources section are pointers to several articles that explain this in more detail. The adjustability discussed are up-down, lumbar support, adjustable armrests, and more.

One thing to learn is that a "mesh" chair doesn't automatically mean its ergonomically correct. Using a mesh fabric for the seating surface was a design choice by Herman-Miller in the Aeron chair, and the ergonomic features (lumbar support, etc) were a separate issue from the choice in seating surface.

Another chair frequently said to be "ergonomic" are the kneeling chairs. These have two cushions, one for your legs to kneel on, and the other for your buttocks, and neither of these cushions are horizontal. Often these have no back support, and the idea is that the sitter forces themselves into proper posture or else they quickly are very uncomfortable.

Chairs

Herman-Miller Aeron: (hermanmiller.com/CDA/SSA/Product/0,1592,a10-c440-p8,00.html): I've sat in this chair for a short stint in a Design Within Reach store. It is a cool looking chair, no doubt about it. It has all the adjustability one would want for ergonomics and proper back support. My only qualm is that the seating surface felt very hard. The seating surface is a cloth-mesh that stretches to match your body, but once it stretches it has no cushioning. Otherwise it is a very good chair, very well built, it does a great job of being ergonomically correct, and it looks great.

Herman-Miller Mirra: (hermanmiller.com/CDA/SSA/Product/0,1592,a10-c440-p205,00.html) Very similar in shape and appearance to the Aeron, also from Herman-Miller. It has the same sort of ergonomic controls. Rather than a mesh surface, the seat is a cushion, and the back is a plastic mesh. One interesting feature of this chair is that every part is recyclable, and marked for recyclability, and the chair can easily be taken apart.

Herman-Miller is the "Apple" of the furniture industry, by which I mean they start first with stylistic artistry and then work to make sure the functionality is great.

Freedom: (humanscale.com/products/freedom_index.cfm) This is an interesting chair with unique features that set it apart from other office chairs. The concept is that bodies like to move, so the chair should take that into account. For example the back does not lock into place, but lets you lean back freely and easily. Now, if it simply let you lean back that wouldn't be so good, but as you lean back the chair automatically adjusts itself to still provide proper ergonomic support, so that the chair supports you no matter what you do. Also if your Freedom chair has a headrest, the headrest also automatically adjusts as you lean back to properly support your head. Another feature is that structural arms in the chair do not "cut" across your body, but instead they are situated lengthwise along your body. They claim this improves, or rather does not impede, blood flow in your body.

Relax the Back: (relaxtheback.com/) This company specializes in ergonomics and products that support the healing of conditions such as back pain. Among their products are a line of office chairs. I recently went to their store in San Jose (CA) and tried a couple chairs. The most interesting of them looked like a typical boring office chair, unlike the fancy and stylish chairs from Herman-Miller and Humanscale. All of the ergonomic adjustability features were present in this chair, plus the cushioning material was "memory foam". If you've tried a Tempur-pedic bed, then you know what memory foam is. The basic idea of memory foam is it is a rubber foam that compresses to shape itself to your body, then returns to its original shape, and when someone else sits on the foam it compresses to their body shape, and for each person that sits on the foam it shapes itself to each unique body shape. The memory foam made the Relax the Back chair feel like it was embracing me in comfort.

Haworth TAS (haworth.com/furncat_new2000/index2.cfm?cid=7&misc=cover): Another unique chair in the same vein as the Freedom chair. In addition to embracing the fact that we humans like to move around, the TAS is structured to assist you in side-side movements.

BodyBilt (bodybilt.com/): They offer a line of chairs that are said to provide "zero gravity" seating. What this means is the seat cushions are preshaped to cradle your legs, presumably to provide more complete support.

Equipoise: (kneelsit.com/index.html) A kneeling chair that includes a backrest.

Ergopro (ergopro.com/): Offers both products and information on their web site. They offer several chairs.

Kinesis (kinesis-ergo.com/products.htm): Offers several ergonomic products, including office chairs.

First Ergo (1stergo.com/): Another merchant of ergonomic products, including several office chairs.

Butt Pillow (http://www.buttpillow.com/): A seating cushion you can add to any chair that does good things for your butt.

References

Choosing the right ergonomic office chair (spine-health.com/topics/conserv/chair/chair01.html) Recommendations on the characteristics of a good and ergonomical office chair.

Office chair setup and use (healthycomputing.com/office/setup/chair/) Recommendations on setting up whatever chair you have for the best ergonomics. They also have a buyers guide.

DeMystifying all those chair adjustability options (office-ergo.com/ergonomic_seating.htm): Explains the features of ergonomic chairs, and why they exist. The office-ergo.com web site is full of good general ergonomics information.

Sitting postures and seating (humanics-es.com/etc.htm#Sitting): Several articles covering ergonomic seating, and part of an extensive website published by an ergonomics consulting practice.

Office Chairs reviews (consumersearch.com/www/office/office_chairs/fullstory.html): This is a summary of office chair reviews collated by Consumer Search on several ergonomic office chairs.

Ergonomics Resources

Ergoworld - Office Ergonomics (interface-analysis.com/ergoworld/office.htm): A links directory listing sites discussing office ergonomics.

Ergonomics.org links (http://ergonomics.org/links/)

U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Ergonomics Task Force (apgea.army.mil/ergowg/product.htm): Yup, the U.S. Military is the last people you'd expect to see studying ergonomics. On the other hand they have a lot of people in various office jobs, and probably have seen the benefit of studying the workplace and reducing the damage to bodies done by poor ergonomics. In any case, what's there is a bunch of research papers. Similarly there is the Department of Defense Human Factors Engineering Technical Advisory Group.

Office Ergonomics Training (http://office-ergo.com/) - Information resource covering ergonomics in offices.

The Ergonomics Society (http://www.ergonomics.org.uk/) - an international organisation for professionals using knowledge of human abilities and limitations to design and build for comfort, efficiency, productivity and safety.

Occupational Safety & Health Administration - Ergonomics (http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/ergonomics/) -

the campaign for better seating (http://www.betterseating.org/) - has been organised to bring information about the importance of chair design to the attention of everyone.

Driving Ergonomics (http://www.drivingergonomics.com/) - your guide to being comfortable, safe and healthy, in and around your car.

The Posture Page (http://www.posturepage.com/) - Better Ways to Sit, Stand, Move & Present Yourself to the World

The International Ergonomics Association (http://www.iea.cc/) is the federation of ergonomics and human factors societies from around the world.

Healthy Computing (http://www.healthycomputing.com/) - providing unbiased information on ergonomics.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) (http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/homepage.html) is the federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness. See Ergonomics and Musculoskeletal Disorders (http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/ergonomics/)

Medline Plus: Ergonomics (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ergonomics.html)