Computer Ergonomics

As a practicing San Diego Chiropractor who has concerns for my patients’ well being, I get out of my office frequently in order to check up on my patients, ergonomic situations.

Poor computer ergonomics account for a substantial percentage of the conditions that my patients complain of.

The typical patient that presents to my office with neck pain, shoulder pain, back pain, elbow pain or carpal tunnel syndrome has a poor ergonomic set up that is fueling their symptoms. Often times, there are easy or inexpensive “fixes” for these ergonomic issues.

If your monitor is too low for example, you have the option of very inexpensive fixes as well as very expensive fixes. For a cheap fix that is actually free, you could raise your monitor on a stack of phone books. On the other hand, you could purchase a wall or desk mounted monitor arm and spend hundreds of dollars.

The same is true for keyboard tray solutions. I bought my keyboard tray from Fry’s for about $20.00. It works great for my application. There are keyboard trays, however, that cost hundreds of dollars. Some inexpensive computer desks with keyboard trays only cost a few hundred dollars.

Another example of ergonomic solutions is my Ergo Nav mouse pad. A regular mouse pad that sits on your desk and is not ergonomic may cost $5 to $20. My Ergo Nav, that mounts to your computer chairs armrest retails between $40 and $70 while some mouse platforms sell for well over $100.

Ergonomic solutions are not always expensive but can save you a great deal in future medical costs if implemented sooner rather than later.

Here’s To Your Health

Dr. Jones

Economical Adjustable Mouse Platform

San Diego Chiropractic

Pain Relief San Diego Chiropractor

Ergonomic Forum Ergonomic Mouse Pad

By nature, I am a do-it-yourselfer. I like to think that I have the ability to examine a set of circumstances - especially my own - evaluate them and make any necessary changes or improvements.

Back during the late 90s, I was applying everything I knew about treatment for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome that was within my scope of practice as a chiropractor in order to heal my patients. This was a frustrating experience. Along with the classic symptoms of wrist pain and hand pain, many CTS patients get neck pain, shoulder pain and upper back pain. My treatment was partially successful on each of these symptoms.

The sticking point of my care was the fact that I was trying to unravel symptoms that were being generated / exacerbated during the course of a 40 + hour work week with treatments that were only being delivered three times weekly in half hour sessions. I am not implying that my care wasn’t helpful, what I am saying is that I knew that in order for my patients to recover that they needed more help. In this case, the help had to come from them. Somehow they needed to help minimize the stresses that they were subjected to during the day.

Part of this exercise involved my patients keeping pain diaries. Basically, over the course of one month, I asked them to write down everything that they could identify as a source of their pain.

A quick examination of my patients’ pain diaries revealed that there were three basic aggravating work duties that 90% of them shared. Reaching for the mouse, reaching for the phone and having to rotate their heads in order to see their monitor were the most common aggravating work duties.

Obviously it doesn’t take a degree in ergonomics to solve these kind of issues. Many of us go through our days numb to the factors that affect our well being. The conscious application of situational awareness can provide us with obvious problems and simple solutions to many work place ergonomic issues.

Look at your work environment today. If your body does not feel centered and balanced as you perform your work duties, chances are that you can make some modifications or at least identify some modifications that could be made to improve your ergonomics.

Here’s To Your Health

Dr. Jones
(619) 280-0554 San Diego
Economical Adjustable Mouse Platform

San Diego Chiropractic

Pain Relief San Diego Chiropractor

Ergonomic Forum Ergonomic Mouse Pad