WORKING FROM HOME: LAPTOP ERGONOMICS
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Ahh… living the dream, working from the comfort of your home with your handy
laptop! You can work, stream, chat, and do everything without leaving the couch.
Unfortunately, with the good, comes the bad.
Notebooks and laptops were designed to give the user the ability to input
information when away from the office. Initially, their purpose was to be used
for small entry tasks requiring short duration of input time. Striving to make
them as portable as possible, designers have continually introduced smaller and
lighter models.
This smaller size, along with the inability to independently position the screen
and keyboard results in the individual compromising their typing and mousing
posture or their head and neck position. Laptop keyboards are also more
compact than regular computer keyboards. This presents wrist problems
especially for men as even a regular sized keyboard often inhibits them due to
their larger hand size and broader builds.
Short‐term, infrequent use of laptops is not problematic (so go ahead, curl up on
the couch with your dog and balance the laptop on a pillow) but if a laptop is
being used in one location for extended periods of time, then it is not the right
tool for the job.
If a laptop needs to be used in one location regularly for any length of time,
consideration should be given to attaching a separate monitor, keyboard and
mouse. This will help you achieving better posture and prevent those nagging
aches and pains from showing up!