Work ergonomics is something you should pay attention. Lots of!
I found myself with cyclic come and go pain in the neck / cervical area. To fight that I started being more active and combined the GIM with outdoor sports in a (somewhat) regular basis.
But the pain would still come around: It wasn't just bad shape...
Then I started noticing my work habits and ergonomics. After some reading - though most is just common sense if you think about it - and since I was using a notebook the view angle,
monitor height and distance were all wrong and forcing me to an odd (unnatural)
position all the time. Instead of a relaxed - as natural as possible - position I was continuously in tension/stress at least in some muscular groups.
This was not good and needed change. Fast!
Also, I choose this link (and picture) because it starts with something interesting: "Ergonomic computer equipment is a multi-million dollar industry". So, I need to improve on the cheap without changing my desk, chair or other expensive apparel. In fact the only thing I needed to buy was a new keyboard (bad choice though).
I've said before that I'm cheap and also environmental conscious. Also, I like to get my hands dirt so... After little research I've come up with a simple solution: built myself a notebook stand out of sturdy cardboard packaging box that was due for recycle - focus on the 3R's policy:
reduce | reuse | recycle.
This was the final result:
It looks fragile but it's incredibly strong!
This fixed the height and view angle in relation to my head. The downside is that you need to buy a new keyboard as you can't use the laptop keyboard anymore... I´ve bought a (crappy) netbook keyboard that starts to fail at some keys (space bar - very annoying!) due to heavy usage I suppose... Don't make this mistake and buy a reputed piece of equipment to ease your wrists and retries/retypes.
I don't really recall in which I based my design so cannot link to it. It's clear this is not a new idea but I did some improvements and adaptations to my needs. I'm releasing the plans for my design - fell free to change it to your needs.
brigdes scan (A3):
sides scan (A3):
Hopefully, if you print in A3 you just have to glue the A3 sheet to the cardboard and cut with and x-acto. You may have to adjust the size due to the usual printer margins cut. (the base of the sides is 300mm; the bridges are 390x40mm)
When thinking about this post I guess it would be nice to have a 3D model that everyone could print or change to suit their needs. So I went the extra mile and made (started making) such model (in sketchup, of course) for you convenience.
(I still need some time to correct some last-minute issues - it'll be uploaded ASAP)
Hopefully I'll update this post also with an print friendly version from the sketchup.
Sure, I could just have bought some sort of laptop support but it wouldn't be as cool as DIY.
FDS
ReplyDeleteAgora é só em inglês, litle boy???