Ergonomics

[da]

I just got an ergonomic assessment of my office. It was useful, for helping me track what's causing my shoulder to hurt recently. I knew it was mouse-related, since it hurts precisely when I use the mouse. It turns out I'm holding up my arm too much. Way too much. I should be resting it on the arm-rests. All right then.

I need to investigate:

• a footrest. The assessor said when I'm not using my keyboard or mouse, I might want to be tipping my chair slightly back (something about blood-flow in the back being increased). She recommended putting my feet up. I like putting my feet up.
  
• I still need a windows program that will simply go 'ding' every 20 minutes- to remind me to take a break. Options: many.
  
• a split keyboard without a keypad? She doesn't know of any. I'm going to let this one go, it's only to make my mouse closer at hand and I don't really need it.
  
• I need to ask the kinesiology gym people about two exercises which may be OK for my shoulder, since I've been skipping the arm-lifting exercises at the gym. "prone fly" and "shoulder retraction".
  

20 minutes very well spent.

Comments

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

*nods*

My friend and ex-neighbor D. solved that one by connecting a fire-bell to a timer with a pull-cord reset, mounted across the room from his desk.

Every hour, he had to cross the room and pull the cord before the timer ran out, otherwise it would make a hell of a racket.

This was a gradual progression from purely software, to an alarm-clock across the room, to the loud alarm.

I don't remember how long he had to use this. For the sake of his then-workmates, I hope it wasn't long.