How to set up your work station when working from home
We are starting to get a number of people contact us with neck pain, pins and needles into the arm, aching shoulders and headaches etc…. This is not surprising if you are spending over 40 hours a week working from a laptop or sat at your kitchen table.
Make sure your desk top work station is set up correctly with these 3 simple tips:
1. Adjust your seat height so the top of your screen is at eye level. Prop your screen up on books, folders, reams of print paper etc…
2. When you have set your chair up make sure your feet are flat on the ground, your hips are above your knees and your screen is arms length away from your eyes.
3. Set your work top up so that when you are sat typing and using the mouse your elbows are at about 90 degrees.
This is what a desk top work station should look like. The monitor has been elevated on a stand.
Working from home desktop set up
It’s perhaps even more important to set your laptop work station up correctly to protect your neck and back. Use the same principles as for the desk top, however prop the laptop up on even more boxes or folders to raise the top of the screen. Then link an external keyboard to your laptop via Bluetooth.
Working from home laptop set up
Perhaps one of the best things you can do the protect your neck back and shoulders is to set up a standing work station. You can buy special monitor stands or devices that can raise or lower your monitor from sitting to standing height. In fact many of you will probably have these devices at work. But how can you improvise at home if you haven’t got a stand?
Implement these tips to protect your neck, back and shoulders. See the picture below and the effect just raising your screen has on your head position and angle of gaze…
