Over a summer break a couple of years back, I took a position for a small company based in the Melbourne CBD. My level of responsibility would best be described as somewhere below pencil-pushing, and I spent long hours at the desk doing repetitive work on a computer. My salary and benefits were quite generous, and included a large eyewear allowance for anyone whose vision started to suffer as a result of long days staring at a computer screen.

Amazingly, during my induction there was no mention of the sort of things that could prevent eye strain in the first place. Beyond a yellowing sheet of paper in the tea room, there was no information about office ergonomics at all. I couldn’t help but wonder at the time: surely if my boss dished out for fifteen minutes of training, he’d be saving himself a lot of money down the track?

From what I hear, my experience is hardly unique. Even with a wealth of information about the slow-burning health risks of working in an office, employees often suffer from a lack of information. If they’ve been in the workforce for a long time, their employer tends to think that teaching ergonomics is redundant. Younger employees tend to think that because their work doesn’t involve industrial labour like heavy lifting, things like posture and positioning are unimportant. The eventual health effects have such a slow onset that people rarely notice them until all of a sudden they’ve been incapacitated by back pain.

Learning about office ergonomics is important for everyone. It can reduce the sickness absence burden on employers, prolong the working life of employees and help injured workers make a durable return to the workforce without exacerbating their original injury. Below is a quick and handy guide to help you learn the basics of a healthy office workstation.

Seating and Posture

• It is absolutely essential to have an adjustable chair that is appropriate for your physical dimensions. Your arms should be able to comfortably sit on the armrests during periods of inactivity. The lumbar support should be raised from the base of the chair to fit comfortably in the small of your back.
   
• Your hips should be slightly higher than your knees when seated, and there should be a gap of 3-9 centimetres between the end of the chair and the back of your knees.
   
• Your head should be held up so that your chin is perpendicular to the ground.
   
• As much of your back as possible, from your shoulders down to your sternum, should be touching the back of the chair. The backrest should be completely upright. If you’ve suffered from chronic lower back pain in the past, tilting the chair slightly forwards towards your workstation can reduce the pain in your lumbar region. If at all possible, use a high-backed chair that supports the back of your shoulder blades.
   
• Your seat should be raised to the point where your feet are able to rest comfortably on the floor. Your knees should be bent so that the angle between the back of your thighs and your calves is between roughly 100 and 130 degrees. Make sure you don’t keep your feet static and move them around often. If your feet don’t reach the floor comfortably in this position, consider using a footrest.
   
• Take breaks and stretch regularly. Be sure to change your posture in subtle ways every so often to keep your muscles moving.

Monitor

• The top of the monitor should be 5-10 centimetres below eye level. This will keep you in the optimum posture and reduce strain on your neck.
   
• To prevent eye strain, your monitor should be at least an arm’s length away from the monitor. If you have trouble reading text on the screen, you can lower your monitor’s resolution to increase text size. On Windows PCs, this can be done by right-clicking on the desktop, selecting “Properties”, and then changing the resolution on the “Settings” tab. On Mac operating systems, this can be done by selecting “System Preferences” icon in the applications folder, and then clicking on the “Displays” icon.
   
• Correct positioning of the monitor in relation to an office’s light sources is also important. Glare from overhead lighting or windows can lead to headaches, eye strain and long-term vision damage. Ideally, your monitor should not be facing a window or directly under overhead fluorescent lights. If the floor plan of your office does not allow you to move your monitor from one of these light sources, tilting your monitor forwards can reduce glare from overhead lights. You could also consider asking your manager for an anti-glare filter to mount over the monitor.

Desktop

• Your keyboard should be positioned in a way that allows your forearms to rest horizontally on your desk and your shoulders to be relaxed. Your wrists should not be bent up or down in an uncomfortable position and your keyboard should be lying flat on the desk.
   
• Don’t keep your wrists in a static position, as this will cause strain on your hand muscles. Allow your hands to glide over the keyboard instead. Do not use wrist rests while you are typing: these are designed to give your wrists a place to sit during periods of inactivity.
   
• The computer mouse is a common cause of shoulder and elbow injury, because it keeps one arm away from the body for extended periods of time. Try positioning your mouse closer to your body, and using it without leaning to one side or unduly stretching out your upper arm.
   
• Ideally, everything you need to conduct your work should be in easy reach. Documents, phones and the like should be positioned in an arc within easy reach of your seat without the need to shift your back muscles.