Ergonomics for home computer users

The focus of ergonomics has traditionally been on how we interact with our PCs at work. That’s hardly surprising given that injuries caused by the repetitive actions of using a keyboard or mouse are estimated to cost UK businesses five million days a year, with up to half a million people estimated to be sufferers.

Research conducted by private health firm Bupa suggested that, at some point in their lives, one in 30 people will suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome, a wrist injury related to repetitive strain injury (RSI).

Of course, PC use has never been just limited to the workplace; and these days the ubiquity of PCs means that we can often spend almost as much time in front of our home PC as our corporate box.

Whether you use your PC or notebook to pursue a hobby, access the internet, or communicate on the move, an awareness of basic ergonomics has as much of a role to play preventing injury away from the office as it does at your nine-to-five job.

How, when and for how long you use your home PC will determine the kinds of strains that you will be most at risk from. Applying some common-sense thinking such as taking regular breaks and using ergonomically designed peripherals and furniture will help in the prevention of unfortunate aches and pains or worse.

In this feature we’ll explore some of the basic concepts of ergonomics and help you get started setting up your home workstation so it’s a pleasure rather than a pain to use.

Designing ergonomically
RSI refers to damage caused from repeating an action so often that the part(s) of the body used can end up suffering from nerve compression, tendon damage, muscle strain or joint damage, or a combination of these.

Eventually, depending on the amount of activity, the occurrence of such damage will start to overtake the body’s ability to heal itself ­ leading to something more serious and painful. If you suffer from any of these symptoms or variations thereof, the first thing you should do is consult your GP who will advise how to alleviate and treat your symptoms.

The best way to avoid making an RSI-related injury worse is to identify what is causing the problem and to stop doing it. Despite the emergence of touchscreen interfaces, clicking on a mouse or typing at a keyboard are still the most common ways of interacting with your PC or laptop, so we will be concentrating on ergonomics in these areas.

Fortunately there are a variety of proven ergonomic peripherals out there to help prevent and aid in the healing of an injury.

The Ergonomics Society defines ergonomic design as “the application of scientific information concerning humans to the design of objects, systems and environment for human use”.

This principle is incorporated into household devices such as your PC by taking into account your capabilities as well as limitations and designing them to fit you, rather than the other way around.

Keyboards
As a manufacturer of one of the world’s best-selling ergonomically designed keyboards, Microsoft’s initial approach was to split the traditional straight keyboard layout into two angled sections. This better suits the posture of resting the arms, as straight, conventional keyboards, require the wrist to turn and adjust itself accordingly.

Subsequent models incorporated a number of new features, such as increasing the gable angle (or the ‘hump’ of the keyboard). This feature helps untwist the arms when typing. To avoid putting pressure on one point, padded palm rests have also been incorporated, a feature that stops the wrists from extending too far and from dropping down too low and therefore avoiding strain.

The split keyboard is not the only solution, with other designs featuring curved keybeds and individual keys set at an angle, so reaching fingers can aim at them much more easily.

With traditional straight keyboards, certain keys will end up being struck at an odd angle, which, apart from encourage poor typing and increasing the number of mistakes, requires more force than is necessary. So by arching the most commonly used keys towards the centre of the board; the curved design makes allowances for the fact that our fingers are different lengths. This also encourages a shorter reach for commonly used keys as opposed to those that are required rarely.

The Logitech Wave Keyboard shares a number of similar features but, rather than being split into two areas, keys curve towards you to better fit the resting position of the forearms and wrists.

Although similar in principle to the Microsoft range, UK ergonomic peripherals manufacturer Maltron produces the rather exotic-looking L Type USB Two-handed keyboard.

Characteristics such as a split keypad and angled keys are present. The number pad is placed in the centre of the board with commonly used keys sitting in two concave recesses ­ accompanying this is a raised palm support area as you can see in the picture on the previous page.

Of course there is no one-size-fits-all device, so experiment to see what suits you the best.