What's the correct desk posture?

MrRockliffe · 1 May 2018 at 15:12

For the last 2 years I've been at university, I've always had the crappy desks you get with student accommodation - fixed height and quite high. I bought a proper desk chair at the beginning of this year, and I've managed to get my posture in line with what you see online - arms at 90 degrees etc, but I get tremendous pain down my forearm, wrist and hand from using the mouse. It's now at the point where I don't ever go on my computer - I sold my GPU a month ago or so, and haven't missed it at all.

It's only getting worse too. The pain distracts me from being able to work; I spend most of my time trying to get comfy.

This is quite confusing for me, as it goes against everything I've learned about desk posture - I've got a humanscale desk chair which cost me a fair bit of money, have corrected my posture, and yet my pain is getting progressively worse.

Is there much I can do? Getting a new desk is out of the question, as there's no room for one (the current one is build into the room).

platinum87 · 1 May 2018 at 20:08

Remove the arm rests

Your forearm should never touch the desk.

Ayahuasca · 1 May 2018 at 20:37

Lying face down with your head hanging off and your laptop on the floor facing upwards.

MatsyLR · 1 May 2018 at 20:51

I tend to sit with my legs criss crossed but with my right leg on top of the left (so they are not crossed really) and they go under the desk or I put them on the top of the desk and scooch forward so my knees are touching the top of my chest.

Dunno why but its comfortable and no pain lol, I actually start to ache alittle if I sit in the "proper way" for a long period.
Can sit like that for hours with no issues....

MrRockliffe · 1 May 2018 at 21:30

platinum87 said:
Remove the arm rests

Your forearm should never touch the desk.

That's the problem - because the desk is so high, even at the highest setting, my arm rests on the desk :/

platinum87 · 1 May 2018 at 21:47

MrRockliffe said:
That's the problem - because the desk is so high, even at the highest setting, my arm rests on the desk :/

Then i dont know, put something under the chair?

Sit on a pillow?

DIY on the desk?

Just how high is the top from the floor?

neil_g · 1 May 2018 at 21:55

MatsyLR said:
I Dunno why but its comfortable and no pain lol, I actually start to ache alittle if I sit in the "proper way" for a long period.
Can sit like that for hours with no issues....

Basically your muscles/ligaments etc are used to that position, sitting "correctly" is stretching them into a place they don't often go. Comfortable doesn't necessarily mean good for you.

RockLobster · 1 May 2018 at 22:53

Alternative is buy a standing desk.

MrRockliffe · 2 May 2018 at 08:36

platinum87 said:
Then i dont know, put something under the chair?

Sit on a pillow?

DIY on the desk?

Just how high is the top from the floor?

Tried sitting on a pillow - annoyingly the arm rests are too low down, and it didn't elevate me quite enough.

Looking at the desk, it didn't seem that high. Perhaps the height of my chair isn't great

IronWarrior · 2 May 2018 at 08:43

Sounds more like a bigger underline problem then just bad posture.

Begbie · 2 May 2018 at 09:02

It might be desk posture that's behind the issue.

But it can most likely be fixed, concentrate on fixing the issue rather than worry too much about desk posture. Google wrist/forearm pain exercises.

Glanza · 2 May 2018 at 09:07

Talasour · 2 May 2018 at 09:44

When at a desk I always used to keep my wallet in my back pocket but recently saw this on Reddit and stopped.

It might be relevant to this thread? :confused:

Shocky-FM · 2 May 2018 at 09:55

I don't use my back pockets for anything, but to be fair that wallet is about four times the thickness of a normal wallet.

Talasour · 2 May 2018 at 09:58

It's a bit ridiculous the size of that wallet but just wanted to check as it may of been causing your back pain.

Angilion · 2 May 2018 at 19:50

A cheap thing to try would be support for your mouse wrist. I use a small bean bag. It's a flat floppy tube, sold as a neck support for sleeping in a chair IIRC, but whatever works. So my mouse arm is supported at the correct height at wrist (by the desk and the bean bag on it) and elbow (by the arm of my chair) and there isn't any significant pressure on my wrist (which is very important because it's vulnerable) or elbow. All my mouse use is just wrist and fingers and not much of that. I'm fine using a mouse for hours on end day after day and have been for years. No strain at all.

A console controller, on the other hand, wrecks my hand. A couple of hours of that and my thumb is painful for days. It's why I'll probably never switch to console gaming despite Microsoft's malware and the increasingly farcical cost of PC hardware and the poor PC support (proper PC support, not a quick console port) from game devs.

Given the pain you describe, medical advice might be a good idea. If it's that bad, something is wrong and reducing the cause of the problem might not be enough.

MrRockliffe · 2 May 2018 at 19:52

Angilion said:
A cheap thing to try would be support for your mouse wrist. I use a small bean bag. It's a flat floppy tube, sold as a neck support for sleeping in a chair IIRC, but whatever works. So my mouse arm is supported at the correct height at wrist (by the desk and the bean bag on it) and elbow (by the arm of my chair) and there isn't any significant pressure on my wrist (which is very important because it's vulnerable) or elbow. All my mouse use is just wrist and fingers and not much of that. I'm fine using a mouse for hours on end day after day and have been for years. No strain at all.

A console controller, on the other hand, wrecks my hand. A couple of hours of that and my thumb is painful for days. It's why I'll probably never switch to console gaming despite Microsoft's malware and the increasingly farcical cost of PC hardware and the poor PC support (proper PC support, not a quick console port) from game devs.

Given the pain you describe, medical advice might be a good idea. If it's that bad, something is wrong and reducing the cause of the problem might not be enough.

My girlfriend made me a mouse and keyboard rest for Christmas - I don't find it helps much for me

Rroff · 2 May 2018 at 19:57

I need a chair that stays up a bit higher - with my proportions I have to use a desk that is right at the top of the recommended height and the gas lift on most chairs settle a little after being set resulting in bad posture and my shoulders and neck being scrunched up if I don't keep thinking to reset my position

chaparral · 2 May 2018 at 20:06

This is how I spend must my time while reading the internet...

I Lay back in chair and put my feet on the desk

ShiWarrior · 2 May 2018 at 21:52

https://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/workplacehealth/Pages/Howtositcorrectly.aspx