Lower-Back Pain
Low back pain is an office health risk that’s extremely common among both men and women. Sitting for hours isn’t doing your posture any favors, and results in slouching that can put strain on the lower back. But constantly pushing your shoulders back into a straight, awkward position can also have negative effects. To prevent this, be aware of your posture while you sit, and don’t forget to stand and stretch every so often to give your back a break.

Other Muscle & Joint Pain
We’ve mentioned this before, but 85 percent of Americans suffer from muscle or joint pain at some point during their lives. Pain doesn’t discriminate, men and women are equally effected, and in more than one place on the body. The most common areas include the knees, neck and joints. These office health risks can be avoided, if you remember to switch from sitting to standing periodically throughout the day. The key is small movements at designated intervals. Once you’re home for the night, take a walk around the block and perform a few stretches before bed. It will help both physical and mental stresses.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
If you’re constantly at a computer, chances are you’re typing the majority of the day. If you’re not, then gripping a pen and scribbling notes can eventually cause carpal tunnel syndrome. Any motion that’s repeated isn’t ideal for the wrists. Before you have to result to prescriptions or surgery, stop and stretch your wrists during the day. If you have a keyboard platform, you can adjust it so the wrists are in the most ergonomic position to prevent any kind of strain.

Eyestrain
Beyond damaging your wrists, eyestrain is another common office health risk experienced among desk workers. After staring at your computer for several hours, you may notice your vision start to blur and your eyes become more sensitive. Headache, neck strain and dry eyes are another symptom of eyestrain. Prevention starts with making sure the computer screen is an adequate distance from your eyes. You can use one (or both) of our monitor arms to help you achieve the best placement. We’ve covered eyestrain prevention extensively in a previous post, so learn more HERE.

Stress
Stress—it’s probably the most common office health risk experienced today. It’s the biggest cause of employee illness and absences, which means productivity loss. Less serious stressful situations can be controlled by breathing and relaxation tools. Another option is to walk away. Leave your desk and take a break, then face the problem head on. In case you missed it last week, check out our post on “How to Cope with Office Stress” to learn more about how to deal with difficult work situations.

The post How to Avoid Office Health Risks appeared first on Xdesk Blog.

Using an adjustable height desk at work has given me a more active lifestyle.

In previous posts we’ve given you a lot of information about the Xdesk adjustable height desk. We’ve told you how they are made, a bit of history on the standing desk, how they can help improve your health, and how the Xdesk adjustable height desk can improve the health of the planet as a whole. But these are just facts—unarguable, to be sure—but still, it is just information. So in today’s post, we thought we’d bring you something a bit closer to home: my very own story about my Xdesk ergonomic workstation.

In our first post I briefly introduced myself, but for those of you who might have missed it, let me give you a quick recap. My name is Natalie and I write this blog, not as a Xdesk employee, but as someone who personally uses a Xdesk ergonomic workstation. Seriously.

I call it an “ergonomic workstation,” because to me it is more than an adjustable height desk. My Xdesk has become something of a second home to me—it is a complete workstation, adjusted perfectly to my height and my preferred keyboard position, whether I am standing or sitting. There is plenty of room on this desk’s surface for me to sprawl out all of my notes, my calendar, and yes, snacks, photo frames, and whatever else I bring into the office that day. (Today my ergonomic workstation features a notepad, a cell phone, an empty Tupperware from lunch, two large bottles of water, and my monitor. All very official stuff, you see.)

Since I’ve started working at this job and using the height adjustable desk, I think I have become somewhat spoiled. The desk adjusts perfectly to my height, no matter what kind of shoes I’m wearing that day, and as I mentioned above there is plenty of surface space for anything and everything I need for work. Like coffee.

And when I get tired of standing and move the desk to a seated position, the transition is so smooth, said coffee won’t even spill.

Like I said, a complete ergonomic workstation.

What did I do as soon as I got home from my first day after working on the Xdesk? I tried to create my own standing desk.

I knew it might take some trial and error to create my own perfectly positioned ergonomic workstation in my living room, but I didn’t think it would be impossible. Turns out, it is.

Now when I work from home I place my laptop atop a box which sits on top of a chair, which is precariously balanced on top of my coffee table. It isn’t the best solution—in fact it’s probably a bit dangerous (it’s easy to trip on the computer cord, which is stretched awkwardly to reach the chair)—but after reading all the facts and figures on how bad for you sitting can be, I just couldn’t stand it. Or rather, sit it, I guess.

But the sad truth of the matter is, I couldn’t recreate the ergonomic workstation that the Xdesk provides me. Not only is there absolutely no “desk” surface with my laptop sitting on top of a box, on top of a chair, on top of a table, but there is no way for me to adjust the keyboard to a different height than the monitor.

See, the whole purpose of an ergonomic workstation is to create a healthier, more comfortable position for people at work. And to do this the keyboard needs to be a bit lower than the monitor so that your arms are parallel to the floor and your wrists are slightly angled down. Clearly with my setup at home I can’t do this.

So until I get a Xdesk for my home as well as office, I guess I will just be resigned to this awkward, box/chair/table setup.

Do you have a “creative” ergonomic workstation at home? How did you make it?

The post My Very Own Ergonomic Workstation appeared first on Xdesk Blog.