BackTpack anyone?

Posted by Nathalie on August 26, 2010

While this backpack might not have won the “Cool Award” just yet, the BackTpack offers a good ergonomic alternative to the standard backpack.

As mentioned in an prior post (Backpack: How much is too much?), the weight you’re carrying and how it’s distributed have a significant impact on your posture and comfort. When holding a bag in one hand or over one shoulder, the tendency is to compensate by leaning towards the opposite side of the load. A similar phenomenon can happen when carrying a backpack. The tendency is to raise the shoulders and lean forward, especially with an ill-fitting bag or when carrying too much weight.

The BackTpack offers a revolutionary design to the standard backpack by dividing and distributing the load on each side of the body. Keeping the load close to the body and more at waist level allows you to maintain a more erect posture when walking.

Leaving your back free, you can comfortably wear this bag when sitting. This can expedite your morning commute and help get the kids in and out of the car more effectively – with their bags strapped on from the moment they leave the house.
This bag design also allows you to squeeze in a packed bus without knocking over all the other passengers. You can wear it on a motorcycle or bicycle — just make sure to adjust it so that it doesn’t impede with your leg motion. And as opposed to your standard backpack, the BackTpack’s compartments are easily accessible while sitting or moving.

The bag comes in various sizes fitting children and adults ranging in height from 4’0” to 6’3”. Well-padded shoulder, chest and waist straps are easy to adjust for your comfort and optimal fit.

Remember that your BackTpack should weigh no more than 15% of your body weight — the less the better — and the weight of your load should be equally distributed to each side.

So wear your BackTpack, “walk tall” and be a trend setter!

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Backpack Selection for Children and Grown Ups

Posted by Nathalie on August 20, 2010

When dealing with young ones, sometimes you have to pick your battles, but here’s a fight that’s definitely worth fighting: While kids may clamor for a backpack that’s a certain color or has a favorite cartoon character on it, parents need to worry about the ergonomics of the bag. UC Riverside Researchers reported that 64% of students between the ages of 11 and 15 had back pain related to their backpack. 64%!!! Don’t let your child suffer just because he wanted Spiderman on his bag.

The size of the backpack is crucial. We all behave the same way — the bigger the bag, the more stuff we pack in. Limit the size of the backpack and it will reduce the load. We already mentioned that 15% of the body weight is the most weight that anyone should carry, with an absolute maximum load of 25 lbs. But obviously, the lighter the load, the better.

The bag should be no wider than the shoulders, and ideally, no wider than the torso. The length of the bag is often problematic for little ones. At most, the bag should extend from the shoulders to a couple of inches below the waist or belly button. That way, when the straps are adjusted properly, the bag will rest on the upper hips region or low back area, which is more stable and stronger. If you can’t see your child’s butt when he/she’s wearing her backpack, the straps are not adjusted properly or the bag is too big.

Well-padded, adjustable shoulder straps are typically standard with well-constructed bags, but try the bag on your child. The shoulder straps should rest on the shoulders pretty much in the middle between the shoulder caps and the neck. By the way, encourage your kids to wear their backpack with both straps at all times; otherwise they look like a crooked mess as their body is fighting with the weight of their bag. That’s one that I always nag Toddy about when he runs out of the house in the morning with his backpack hanging off one shoulder.

Select a bag with adjustable chest and waist straps. These will help to distribute the load on the hips and chest, which improves standing posture and comfort. All straps should be adjusted to keep the bag close to the back and the load close to the hips. But even with a well-fitted bag, you might need to remind your child to stand up straight, as the natural tendency is to fight gravity on the load by leaning forward.

Compartments inside and out are useful to prevent items from shifting around as you move, and it also expedites finding your stuff in there. An additional handle at the top of the bag facilitates moving the bag around and gives the option to hand carry it for a short time.

When packing, heavy items like a laptop or large textbook should be in the rear of the backpack so that it rests close to the back.

The load being carried in children’s backpacks has become a real problem as schools are cutting expenses and sometimes eliminating lockers and storage areas for students. Work with your children, PTA and teachers to reduce the number of books and binders being carried back and forth between home and school. If your school has come up with a good way to reduce book carrying, please share it with us. If you would like some assistance to convey to your school board the importance of this problem, I’ll be happy to help. In the meantime, select a well-fitted backpack and keep the load as light as possible!

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Backpacks: How much is too much?

Posted by Nathalie on August 12, 2010

Once upon a time, I used to commute to Silicon Valley and carried around a bag with my laptop, paperwork, and other items.  I tried various kinds of bags, including a fashion shoulder bag, a messenger bag and finally a backpack.

I’m pleased to report that my little personal experimentation concurs with research on the topic.  It’s easier to carry a messenger bag than a shoulder bag, but even easier to carry a backpack.  Research actually says that the energy needed to carry a shoulder bag is 2.4 times more than for a backpack, and carrying a messenger bag requires 1.8 times more energy than a backpack.  In addition, shoulder and messenger bags force a postural correction to compensate for the asymmetry of the load.  Notice people around you with shoulder or messenger bags. You’ll see the carrying shoulder typically riding higher than the other or people leaning to the opposite side of the load being carried, especially when carrying a handbag or briefcase.

But even after trading my fancy-looking shoulder bag for a backpack, I continued to notice discomfort in my back, shoulders and neck.  That’s when I decided to get on the scale with my backpack.  The number I saw was unbelievable — and no, it wasn’t because of the extra ice cream I’d gulped down that summer.  My backpack was way too heavy for me.

Your backpack should weigh no more than 15% of your body weight, and never more than 25 lbs.  So if you weigh 125 lbs., your backpack should weigh no more than 18 lbs. (which is still feels heavy). If you’re 165 lbs. or 200 lbs., your backpack should weigh no more than 25lbs.  You should also pack heavier items closer to your back.


Weigh yourself with and without your backpack (or purse, as a matter of fact, because some purses out there are way too heavy) and lighten up the load.  You probably don’t really need to carry all those items and your body will thank you.

Now, I don’t have kids (… not yet), but it drives me crazy to see little people carrying big heavy backpacks.  So stay tuned for backpack selection recommendations for both children and grown ups.

Category Categories: Computers & Laptops, Parents & Kids, multi-tasking Tag Tags: , , , Comments 2 Comments »

Multiple monitors…

Posted by Nathalie on August 6, 2010

Multiple monitors?  It may seem cool to have all that screen real estate but the more monitors you have, the trickier it is for your body.

No matter how many monitors you’re using, it is very important to get yourself comfortably situated in your chair first.  Remember, it all starts with you and then we bring the environment to you so make yourself comfortable first.

After figuring out your optimal monitor distance, you want to create a cockpit effect with your monitors.  So that by rotating your head from side to side to look at your various monitors, you maintain the same distance at all time between the eyes and the screens.   So bring your chair close enough to the work station to access your peripheral devices (mouse, keyboard, phone, pen, etc) without reaching beyond one arm’s length or losing contact with your backrest.  Once that is set comfortably, bring your monitor closer or farther for optimal viewing and optimal sitting position.

Now if you’re using two monitors equally and you go back and forth constantly throughout the day between the two,  position them right next to each other –touching—with the seam centered in front of you.  Both monitors should be at a slight angle surrounding you.

If you’re using two monitors but one significantly more than the other, center your primary monitor straight in front of you.  The secondary monitor should be placed to either side and at an angle.  If you can, move your active screen(s) to your primary monitor as much as possible to avoid working with a rotated neck.

As for  monitor height,  if you’re using up to three or four monitors on your desk, they should be at the same level, i.e. the top of each screen should be at the same height.

If you’re having any difficulty trying to figure out your monitor placement, don’t hesitate to contact me and we can discuss what is best for your situation.

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Monitor Height?

Posted by Nathalie on July 20, 2010

There’s no simple, one-size-fits-all rule for how high you should place your monitor, but here are some guidelines that should help you decide.

I discussed in a previous post that the preferred line of sight, which connects the eye to the visual target, varies with the object being viewed and its distance from you.  When looking at a monitor screen, your eye will rest about 15⁰ below the horizon.  That’s your normal resting line of sight.  When your head is still, your eyes can comfortably move up and down and side to side by 15° from the line of sight, forming a 30° visual field cone – this is where you can best see without moving your head or straining your eyes. Your screen should fit entirely within that visual field cone.

Thus, you should position your monitor so that the top of the screen is at eye level (and don’t forget to have it centered in front of you).  As a result, your eyes will normally rest slightly below the horizontal line, allowing you to scan your whole screen with a comfortable eye sweep.

But that simple rule can vary based on the size of your screen and even what’s on the screen. If your work has you looking at the bottom half of your screen most of the time (this is not so frequent for the majority of computer users), you may want to consider raising your monitor up, but be careful!  The eyes don’t like to strain and if your monitor is too high you’ll end up tilting your head up which could cause some cervical strain and a royal pain in the neck.

Monitor height also gets a little more complicated when you start wearing bifocals, trifocals or progressive lenses.  The common denominator with these various types of lenses is that more than likely you’ll be looking through the bottom part of the lens in order to read your screen, resulting in a serious case of forward head/chin up posture creating significant tension in the back of your neck.  Solution?  Bring your monitor lower, often as low as it gets.  What you’re trying to do is look through the reading part of your glasses without having to move your head up and down to scan your screen.  Depending on your vision and your correction, this can be challenging to achieve and you may need the help of an outside observer (preferably an ergonomist) to see what you really do with your head when looking at your monitor.   You may also want to consult with your eye care specialist to get “computer glasses” –  single lenses or bifocals (paper reading and computer reading distance).

One last note: For all of you who will end up moving your monitor lower to accommodate your vision, correction and/or task, you may also want to tilt the screen up slightly so that just like when you read a book, your line of sight is perpendicular to the screen.

… and yes, I still have more to say about monitors, so stay tuned.

Category Categories: Computers & Laptops, Ergonomic Principles, home, office, technology Tag Tags: , , , , Comments No Comments »

Monitor Placement?

Posted by Nathalie on July 13, 2010

My plan was to go through some tips for setting up a comfortable work station one piece at a time, starting with the chair. But even after two posts on the topic of sitting, can you believe that I still have a lot more to say about it? Today, though, I’m going to tear myself away from that topic and discuss monitors, prompted by an email from a friend reporting back pain and wondering about the best way to position multiple screens.

The first thing you have to realize when thinking about monitor placement is that your eyes exert almost complete control over your body.  Notice if someone walks into a room, without thinking, your head turns to see who’s coming in.  When sitting at your work station, your monitor should be right smack in front of you — no exceptions!  Continuously looking over to one side will create muscular asymmetry and tension, not to mention possible nerve impingement.

OK, so you have the middle of the monitor centered with your belly button, but how far away should it be?

Before you position your monitor, get comfortable in your chair.  From there, wheel yourself into your work station while maintaining your optimal sitting posture.  Then adjust your monitor distance so that you can easily see what needs to be seen without moving your body — more specifically, without having your back leave the backrest of the chair.

You may have heard that you should position your monitor at arm’s length, but that is just a very general and inaccurate guideline as the length of your arms has nothing to do with visual acuity.  I recommend pushing your chair away from your monitor far enough so that you cannot read the screen anymore and then slowly moving forward until you can comfortably read the screen without leaning forward or squinting.  Then you can stick your arm out toward the monitor to measure your ideal monitor distance.   Some of you will be at arm’s length, others a few inches closer or beyond.  Be aware that this distance can change with age but also with the time of the day, as your eyes may fatigue.

Stay tuned as I’ll tackle monitor height, angles and multiple monitor placement in future posts.

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In Life is a Beach

Posted by Nathalie on June 23, 2010

Is there anything better than a warm summer day on the beach with a good book?  With the summer officially here, many of us will spend some time lying on the beach or by the pool side.  Of course, there’s always the simple and old-fashioned way to go about it — lying on a towel.  But how comfortable is that?  If you’re ready to invest in a new beach chair, The ErgoLounger is what you want.

The ErgoLounger offers multiple adjustments, allowing you to sit up or lay down comfortably. The backrest adjusts at various angles; the lower leg can be leveled or lowered to the ground’ and the armrest height can be raised to support your arms or lowered and be unnoticeable.

I love the opening at the top of the backrest. It allows for comfortable face-down lying to read or take a nap.  The same hole is also very handy if you have long hair and like to wear it in a pony tail — you know how uncomfortable it can be to have your head be pushed forward by a high back rest.  I always end up with a funny looking bun on top of my head in order to maintain a better head and neck position.  Well, no more funny hairdo for me this summer with The ErgoLounger!

The ErgoLounger also comes with a set of pillows to better support your body and customize your comfort with every position.  The face and neck pillow pads your face when lying face down and supports your cervical spine (your neck)—when lying face up or sitting.  The abdominal and lumbar pillow works to support your lower back in the face-up or sitting position.  The same pillow can be used under your belly when lying face down to reduce lumbar lordosis – the curve of the lower back.  The combination of both pillows can be used when lying face down to provide more space and comfort to those women who are well endowed in the breast department.

I can’t vouch for the manufacturer’s claims that the ErgoLounger “provides gentle stretching action to the back and neck” and “passively stretches the vertebrae to relieve nerve and disk pressure.” But the chair does offer good ergonomic features to allow the user to customize it according to their positions and activities.  The ErgoLounger is sturdy, can support up to 300 lbs., is light (12 lbs. or less) and easy to carry. So if you’re looking for a new beach chair, I recommend it.

Enjoy the summer and don’t forget the sun block!

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Sitting Pretty

Posted by Nathalie on June 17, 2010

There’s a lot of ergonomic advice online about how to sit properly. Most of it promotes the 90-90-90 rule — 90-degree angles at the hips, knees and elbows. Such advice is enough to give ergonomics a bad rap because it’s not so comfortable for most people. My suggestion is to open up the joints a little more to reduce that constricted sensation and the pressure on joints, nerves and muscles. Ultimately, the idea is to be good to your body and also be comfortable.

When talking about sitting posture or habits, being “comfortable” in a position is often just code for being used to it. And we all know that just because we’re used to something, it’s not necessarily good for us. Right?

So how should you sit? There are three basic sitting positions that will work for most people. With each of them, it‘s crucial that your lower back and upper pelvis area are well supported.

Upright Sitting

  • The hips are slightly higher than the knees.
  • The feet are underneath the knees, supported on the floor or slightly forward on a footrest.
  • The seat of the chair is mostly level but can have a slight forward tilt, which will reduce the posterior tilt of the pelvis.
  • The lower back is well supported.
  • This is your basic good ergonomically correct position and comfortable with most people.

Declined Sitting

  • The hips are a few inches higher than the knees.
  • The seat is tilted forward, reducing the posterior tilt of the pelvis which happens with sitting.
  • The feet are underneath the knees and on the floor.
  • The lower back is well supported.
  • The head and spine are upright and nicely aligned.
  • This position opens up the hip and knees joints and promotes a more active sitting engaging the core muscles better.
  • This position is the anti-slouch position.

Reclined Sitting, also known as the “low rider”

  • The hips are level with the knees or slightly lower
  • The seat is level or tilted slightly backwards
  • The backrest is angled back between 95⁰-110⁰
  • The lower back must be well supported
  • The feet must be supported by an angled footrest.

You can take that reclined sitting a step further — not quite the lazy boy position, but still a good one to relax in your office, take a call or read some documents. Just make sure to use a headrest if your backrest is tilted back more than 120⁰.  The headrest is a misnomer.  You actually need to have your neck supported to maintain your cervical spine and not push your head forward.

I must say that I hesitated to present this reclined sitting position as a recommended posture as most people I see do it wrong. It looks more like they’re spineless and have slid off their chair.

They end up with unsupported lower back and thighs, thoracic flexion — upper body and shoulders hunched forward – and a forward head posture. In other words, major slouching and an ergonomic disaster. Does that sound familiar?

But reclined sitting works for some people as long as they’re well supported – I cannot emphasize enough the importance of having your lower back supported. And all the other elements in the work environment need to be ergonomically optimal too, such as the position of the monitor, keyboard, etc.

No matter which position you choose, remember that your body is made for movement, so get off your chair frequently. You should also get acquainted with your chair and all those levers so that you can change your sitting position during the day. Over time, you’ll notice less tension in your neck, shoulders and back, and your body will thank you.

What is your favorite sitting position to work at your computer? Is it good for your body?

Category Categories: Computers & Laptops, Ergonomics, office Tag Tags: , , Comments 2 Comments »

Driving Comfortably

Posted by Nathalie on June 7, 2010

I live in the city and prefer walking everywhere I can, partly because parking is always such a hassle.  Still, I do find myself driving pretty often (and have become a master parker, if I do say so myself), so today, let’s talk about the ergonomics of driving.

A few months ago, I came across The Palm Rest.  As a hand therapist and ergonomist, it was lust at first sight!  When I installed The Palm Rest onto my steering wheel, my hands were extremely comfortable — so comfortable, in fact, that I didn’t want to move them.  Turning at the corner of my street was quite a scene.  I found myself leaning into the passenger side, trying to turn the steering wheel without moving my hands.  That driving technique is not recommended, really!

So what’s the appeal of The Palm Rest?  The first thing I noticed is how well it contours and supports the basal joint of the hand – the joint at the bottom of your thumb by the wrist (also known as the CMC joint or carpo-metacarpal joint).  This joint takes a lot of heat for all the abuse we give our hands.  It’s no surprise that as we age, many of us get osteoarthritis of that joint.  Supporting the basal joint allows the thumb to maintain a better alignment and for the hand to be stronger.

The other good thing about The Palm Rest is that it neutralizes the wrists.  Any time the wrists are straight as opposed to bent, the forearm muscles work less to maintain a position.  Still, a little wrist extension – wrist bent up slightly – is biomechanically desirable to generate more grip strength.  Try it — bend your wrist up and make a fist, compared to keeping your wrist straight and making a fist, or even worse, with the wrist bent down and making a fist.  When driving, despite the traffic and the annoying drivers, you really shouldn’t grip the life out of your steering wheel.  So keeping the wrists straight is a good way of reducing tension in the forearms.

While the design of your steering wheel may somewhat dictate where you’ll be able to install The Palm Rest, there should be room for flexibility.

In general, driving instructors recommend keeping the hands at 2 and 10 o’clock.  While I agree that this is the best position to control the steering wheel — especially with city driving, where multiple sharp turns may be needed — it’s not the best position for your arms, shoulders and neck for a long drive.

Anytime your arms are reaching in front of you, where your elbows are actually in front of your body, there is more stress on your shoulders, arms and neck muscles.   So when driving, it’s preferable to keep the hands at 3 and 9 o’clock or even 4 and 8 o’clock.  Assuming that you’re sitting close enough to your steering wheel, these positions allow you to have the upper arms closer to the body, reducing extraneous effort in the shoulders, upper back and neck.  The forearm will also be in a more neutral position – sideways with the thumb facing up — which reduces the stress on your forearms and hands.

Depending on your driving needs and comfort, position The Palm Rest on your steering wheel at 2 & 10, 3 & 9 or 4 & 8 o’clock.  Feel free to play with the angle of The Palm Rest as it sits on the steering wheel.  I found that having the rests sideways — so that my palms are somewhat facing each other rather than the dash board — gave me a better wrist and forearm position.

Toddy, who gets to try all my new ergonomic gadgets, is not a fan of this one.  I must admit that as I move my hands on the steering wheel, the Palm Rest does get in the way a little, but I still think that this product has good ergonomic attributes.  It can make driving more comfortable for a lot of people, especially if you have hand, wrist, forearm or elbow pain.

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Sausage anyone?

Posted by Nathalie on May 25, 2010

To save your thumbs, I’ve often recommended using the eraser tip of a pencil to click the keys of a Blackberry or other phones.  The pencil technique doesn’t work on touch screens such as the iPad or iPhone, but there are a plethora of styluses on the market — none more unusual than the “meat stylus” used by the South Koreans, as reported by Engadget.

Read the full Engadget post.  The picture alone is worth the extra click!

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