INDIANA
UNIVERSITY-PURDUE UNIVERSITY at INDIANAPOLIS
IUPUI
• Department of Environmental Health and
Safety •
620 Union Drive, Room 043, Indianapolis, Indiana
46202
|
Laptops are designed to be as useful and as small as possible. Unfortunately, this means that using them can put your body into awkward positions, and long-term use can cause pain and injury. Small changes can prevent these issues and still allow you to use your laptop.
|
 |
| If you frequently use your laptop in the same position, this is the ideal setup. The laptop is connected to an external keyboard, mouse, and monitor. Notice how the elbows are bent at a 90° angle and the wrists are at 180°, while the arms are hanging straight down from the shoulder. This reduces stress and strain on the muscles, tendons, and skeleton system. No strain means no pain. Also, the monitor is set at a height where the top of the screen is at eye level, which helps keep the neck in a neutral position. Even if you don’t have a docking station, you can still hook up external devices. |
|
| If you don’t have a ergonomically designed desk handy, you can still take steps to prevent stress and strain. In this case, the table is at a good height to keep the elbows at a greater than 90° angle—greater is good, less is painful—so the screen should be raised to prevent the user from having to bend their neck and back to see it. The laptop is placed on the paper reams, which constitute a stable platform—you want to keep the laptop safe, too! There are laptop stands available that achieve the same purpose. Notice that the chair is at a height that allows the user to have her knees at that magic 90° angle and the keyboard is located directly above the lap. |
|
| If you do not have a surface that allows you to have the laptop at a appropriate ergonomic position, improvisation while holding true to the rules detailed above is just as good. The elbows and knees are bent at right angles, the wrists are straight, and though the screen is not at eye level, it is tilted to allow the user to look fairly straight. |
|
|
| We have all used a laptop in positions like the ones shown below, but as these other images show, it does not take much to use them in a position that will not hurt your body. Do not use your laptop like shown below. |
Having seen the correct way, what is wrong with how she is using her laptop in these settings?
Are her wrists straight?
Are her back and neck straight?
Is the laptop in a stable position?
Does a bicycle make a good improvised laptop stand? |
|
|
|
|
Special thanks to UC Berkeley’s Ergonomics@Work for being a source of information and for letting us use their images. |
|
