I have been typing professionally for a living for almost 40 years, and along the way I’ve learned a thing or two about ergonomics (enough to realize I have a lot more to learn).
Today I got a message from an ailing friend looking for advice for purchasing a better working chair, and this is how I replied:
- It’s as much about the software as the hardware. In my experience, $500 on a chair + $500 on an ergonomics expert to advise (and show you how to use the chair) is a better long-term investment than $1000 on a chair.
- There is no better antidote than not working so much. No chair has been invented that will make working a 12 hour day with no breaks possible.
- It might not be the chair: the keyboard, the monitor, your mousing device, and their relative positions, can all contribute to unexpected pain in unexpected places.
- You need to spend the $500 on the ergonomics expert every year because you will forget everything they tell you.
I’ve be using my current desk chair since 2010; it comes from Chairs Limited in Dartmouth, a firm that has the advantage of being able to customize extensively.
