A few years back, I suffered a whiplash related accident, and ever since then have had sporadic spells of dizzyness and neck pain. I'm not the shortest of people either, and unforunately fall well outside the 95th percentile for ergonomic design. So the computer workstation setup is vitally important- despite breaking every rule in the book by using a stupid laptop for my work.

Does anyone else here suffer from CAD operators back syndrome, or have you got a decent work setup? How do you have your workstations set up, and how much did you spend on furniture and what did you look for when purchasing?

Isn't CAD an expensive game? :eek:

Thanks for the input Tem. The standing to the workstation part was interesting , and I've also been considering this idea. This iPhone seems to be the only thing I can touch at the moment, without feeling sick :(

Anyone else have any input? Tim, I'd be interested in your input too, considering how much programming you are putting in.

Tom.

Tom,

I have had issues with my mousing wrist and shoulder over the years and am now very focused on making sure some basic ergonomic positions are always met the relationship of keyboard height, wrist angle and seat height. Once I found the right settings for these a lot of my problems went away.

I also agree with the the other suggestions, a good chair is well worth the money, and changing your position often will go a long way.

Good luck.

Gary

Jol, could you create a CAD rocking chair for us.
With an integretad oak mouse pad...
Thanks in advance.
JL

Tom,
I am 5-7 with shortish legs and find that most chairs just dont go down far enough. Like a lot of people I have an Aeron - size small (they come in three sizes) and have the seat all the way at the bottom. This allows me to have my legs and feet flat on the ground. My desk is of my own design is is very low by conventional standards with the top at about 26 inches. Suspended below this low top is my keyboard, and my mousing surface is level with the zero point of the keys (bottom row top of key). The most important thing is to make sure that your arms are supported by the rests on the chair, and the rests need to be adjusted so that your shoulders are neither hunched up, or dropped down to far. The mousing surface then needs to be adjusted so that it is level with the armrest. Your arm and shoulder are then both fully supported which means no muscle strain anywhere. I have had this setup for over ten years and never had any of the problems that I had when working with sub-optimal setups.

I will try and do a diagram that explains all this, but I think you will find that you will have to invest time, money and energy to get things right. My advice is to start with a chair that goes low enough and then build out from there.

hehe- I'm 6'5".

It's a pig being tall :(

I'm off to look at a decent chair tomorrow- but I fear that is only half (but very important) of the journey.

I'm also starting to figure out that eye-strain is a contributing factor too.

Bottom line, Laptops are REALLY BAD for your posture, well being!! :mad:

Hi,

I don't know the individual physical difficulties people have, but i would like to suggest that some isometrics and "trunk twists" (while standing, do 3-count repetitions left-right-left-right (1), left-right-left-right (20) for 20 to 40 times), along with various other mild exercises to strengthen the back muscles. A whole fitness regimen is not necessary.

As a kid (aroun 10 or so) i was diagnosed with scoliosis. My X-rays were scary. Later, Ii wanted to join the navy, but at around age 16, my scoliosis checkups led to my doctor suggesting fusing a titanium rod to my spine to lessen the curvature. There was NO WAY IN HELL i was going to take a metal rod on my spine. The thoughts of slipping on stairs and hitting my back (which happened once before) were scary. I only imagined a rod breaking my back.

I told the doc i WAS going to the navy, and that kind of surgery would disqualify me for life. I told him i was able to run at least a mile, (tho i hated running), i had been doing military-style exercises in JROTC and other activities, and then he relented and suggested i do more of them and more often and come back months later. Sure enough, i was in much better shape, and the Navy accepted me (well, they accepted people in worse conditions... one guy was so haunched over that in my brother's unit, they called the guy "Centaur". I asked why the hell was he named "Centaur". He said, "Well, you know.. half man, half horse..."....

But, anyway, i'd like to hope that mild (and per-person-safe) exercises can alleviate *some* (maybe not all, but some) of the aggravation of working at a desk.