Why my body hates my mobile office!
One of the compromises you have to make when becoming a digital nomad is not having an ergonomic workplace. Some of the places I have worked at over the 2 years would make a ‘Work Place Healthy and Safety Officer’ scream in frustration. The result of this less than optimal workplace is often a sore neck and shoulders or pain in the lower back.
How should you workplace be set up?
Googling for workplace ergonomics throws up an abundance of choices, but for today’s exercise I have chosen a resource from Swinburne University in Australia. They have all sorts of advice about how an individuals workplace should be set up. You can read the specifics here
Here is a worksheet from Swinburne University which allows you to mark your workplace. You can find the PDF for download from here
So here I go. Let’s take a look!
Workstation – Key Features
Feet flat on floor – FAIL
Well not really. My feet are currently crossed over one another tucked up under the seat I am sitting on.
Backrest supporting lumbar area – FAIL
Nope, the chair I am currently sitting on does not even have a back. It is a bench seat that is surprisingly at a pretty good height for me, but certainly doesn’t win anything in terms of comfort. The bench is hard, but curved for my butt so I guess that is something.
Sufficient leg room under desk – FAIL
Nope, the single leg of the table is directly in the centre of the small table with large feet fanning out from the centre. Certainly not enough space to spread my legs out and have my feet flat on the floor.
Thighs parallel to the floor – PASS
Actually they are. Great… At least I am not doing it all wrong.
Upper arm at right angle to lower arm – FAIL
Nope, the curved seat pushes me back a little which means I am leaning forward and because my laptop is at the edge of the table it means that although my lower arms are horizontal with the table my upper arms are certainly not at right angles with the table.
Neutral wrist position – FAIL
I find typing on a laptop a chore at the best of times but when coupled with everything else it certainly does’t lend itself to keeping your wrists in a neutral position.
Top of monitor at or slightly below eye level – FAIL
The top of my laptop monitor sits at about the height of my chest and the screen is angled up to my face meaning there is pressure through the muscles of my neck and shoulders.
Monitor at arm’s length distance – FAIL
If you mean that the monitor should be under my nose, then yes. Otherwise this is again a big fat fail!
Where to after this dismal failure?
So obviously the ergonomics of your workplace are important so how can you help prevent yourself from injury if you are have a nomadic workplace.
My unscientific advice if you are in Asia or somewhere else equally cheap is to budget in a weekly massage to help relieve your aching muscles, or to simply spend as many hours in front of your laptop as you would if you were working for the man back home. Part of the reason to live this lifestyle was to see and experience things. Don’t spend too many hours in front of your laptop, make sure you regularly get up and stretch and don’t forget to get one of those awesome massages for $10.
In reality though there are certain things you can do to help yourself.
- Don’t work on your laptop while lying in bed or lounging on the couch, get off your lazy butt and head to the dinner table or at the table/desk in the hostel.
- Although it is difficult in some places of the world, try to look for a non-smoking place to work. Even if you are a smoker, you should try to limit your passive smoking as it will only make you die sooner.
- Often shopping mall’s and McDonald’s or other fast food locations are a good place to work as they are smoke free, clean and have toilets nearby.
Laser eye surgery vision correction and Lasik specialists in Australia. They offer safe and up-to-date refractive procedures with over 55,000 successful laser vision correction procedures. This article was possible because of Laser Sight.
