On Monday I got a bit of a backache. On Tuesday I got a worse one. Yesterday it became unbearable. I had to think about what was going on. I do my back exercises every morning, and I use my knees to lift. If I lift anything.
So what changed? I noticed that an hour or so after leaving work, my back felt better.
Lately my eyesight has been getting worse. I’ve used reading glasses for years, but except in one case, I never needed them for working at a computer. But recently my monitor has been getting fuzzier and fuzzier. I left work Monday morning to go over to Walgreens and see if they had some cheap cheaters. I tried several on, and found that +1.00s would work best.
That’s when the back problems started. I think that what happened is that at my normal distance from the monitor, things were still a little blurry, so I leaned in a little to get closer. The act of moving my face an inch closer twisted my back up like a twisted sistah.
I moved my computer a little closer, and that seems to have helped.
It’s weird how little things like that can manifest in big ways. There were two times in the past when I had massive back pain like that. In both cases I solved it by moving my monitor directly in front of me, instead of having it slightly off to the side, which is how I found it when I moved into that office.
Yes, I find that even slight changes to my ergonomics can cause backaches, neck pain, and shoulder and arm pain. I’ve currently got my work computer set up in a good position for me, but if my neck or arm starts hurting, I usually find that something has gotten out of alignment. I need to have my mousing arm at a 90 degree angle to the keyboard and flat from elbow to fingertips to avoid problems. I use an armrest and a mousepad that fits over my keyboard’s number pad to help. If either of those things gets moved, I can find myself in pain fairly quickly.
My gall bladder scar was hurting my neck! Well, it may have been contributing. My physical therapist did a shoulder range of motion test, then worked on the laparoscopy scar just below my ribcage to break up the scar tissue (that was fun), re-did the test and found it had increased my range of motion.
SpoilerVirgin, I had no idea they made mousepads like that! I will have to check it out, since I’ve actually been wondering if I might eventually have to go on disability because my neck problems seem to preclude working on a computer for long.
Yup. I’m shortsighted and a comfortable reading distance to me is about 6 - 12 inches, even with my glasses on. If my monitor is too far away I will instinctively lean in to see it better. When I started my current job the desk was causing me agony. I got myself a new desk that curves to better accommodate my mousing hand and things improved greatly. Then I went on holiday for two weeks and a few days after I came back so did the pain. After a day or so I realised the person covering for me had moved my monitor further away again and I was leaning in to see it.
It’s actually a keyboard tray with a sliding mousepad that can be moved over the number pad on your keyboard. Here’s a link to the current version of the one I have. It’s quite expensive, but it’s the only thing that allows me to work comfortably at a keyboard for 10 hours a day. I have a torn labrum in one shoulder, and a torn rotator cuff in the other, and I know I wouldn’t be able to do my job without it. If my neck or shoulder starts hurting, the first thing I do is to check to see whether the mousepad has been pushed out of alignment.
Why yes, that is quite expensive. I can’t use keyboard trays myself. The best keyboard solution for me is to sit at an L-shaped desk. It puts my arms in a very comfortable position.
