ronen@smoggy.gg.caltech.edu (Ronen Barzel) (06/18/91)
In <1809@crl.LABS.TEK.COM> vernak@cateye.LABS.TEK.COM (Verna Knapp) writes: >One way to help [neck trouble] is to lower your monitor as much as possible so >you can look down at it. On the other hand, for tall people who tend to have lower-back trouble, it is suggested to raise the monitor so that you can look straight across at it. Having to look down encourages one to hunch over, sitting with poor posture; looking straight across (or even a little up) encourages better sitting posture -- upper back vertical, concavity in lower back). You can also in effect raise the monitor by sitting in a low chair. (Though if you sit so low that your knees are up above your hips, it will tend to flatten the lower-back concavity. The "kneeling chairs" can be a good solution, unless you tend to have knee trouble...) -Ronen P.S. It seems you can't win -- there's no single "ergonomic" configuration that's best for everybody, or even best for any one person all the time. It is suggested that perhaps the best solution is to avoid staying staying in the same position for lengths of time: try to vary your position now and then; stretch occasionally; get up and walk up and down the hall occasionally; etc. (in addition to back/neck trouble, you want to aviod circulation trouble in your legs, avoid eye fatigue from focusing at a constant distance, and surely many etc's.) P.P.S. Don't believe anything you read on the net! If you're having trouble, see an orthopedist, physical therapist, or other professional. Shop around, there's a lot of "craft" involved, and some professionals are better than others. Sometimes they can give contradictory advice, too. (e.g. one gave me a pamphlet saying "sit with your knees higher than your hips." another one later said "that's old-fashioned. these days we say keep your lower-back concave.")