After working all day on your PC, do you have a bad back? By dint of tapping keys on your computer keyboard, are your arms all sore? The diagnosis is simple, my friend. You don’t adopt a proper posture when working at the PC.
Sitting properly when you put yourself in front of a computer screen is essential, for your comfort but especially for your health. That’s why with today’s guide I’ve decided to give you a few tips on how to sit in front of the PC without encountering back pain, stiff neck and other common annoyances. Follow them all and you’ll see that you’ll be able to work much better.
In order to sit in front of the PC correctly and avoid the problems typically encountered by those who work at the computer for many hours at a time, you must first use an ergonomic office chair. There are various prices and types, the important thing is to buy one that fits your body well, even better if with adjustable height. The most famous is the Aeron Chair, but it costs a lot.
Once you’ve purchased the right chair, you’ll find it much easier to follow the general rules for proper posture in front of a PC. According to the most accredited studies, the correct posture for sitting in front of a computer requires that a 90-degree angle be created between the upper body and the thighs, as well as the knees should be bent at 90 degrees and the soles of the feet should be placed completely on the ground.
As for your arms, you need to slide them to the level of your hips so that your elbows while writing on the keyboard also form a 90 degree angle. Believe me, when said like that it sounds complicated but it really isn’t. Once you find the right posture, it comes naturally to maintain it afterwards.
Now you know, by and large, how to sit in front of the PC, but what should be the distance between your eyes and the computer screen? The answer to this very important question can be easily given by Ergotron, a free online service in which, by entering your height, you can get the right distances to maintain between you and the PC and between the various elements of the workstation.
To better understand what I’m talking about, go to Ergotron’s main page and use the ruler located under Select Height to indicate your height in centimeters (e.g. 175 if you are 5’9″ tall). At this point, the system will automatically calculate the right distances for you and report them in the graph below.
Starting from the standard distance of 50-75 centimeters between the user’s eyes and the PC screen, Ergotron has a lot of useful information, such as the distance between the chair and the eyes (Sitting Eye Height), the height at which the chair should be set (Seat Height) and the distance between the floor and the elbows (Sitting Elbow Height). On the right there is also a chart with the right distances to adopt when working on the PC while standing. Better than that?