Brainstorming: fatigue, pain etc.

[elettaria]

If you have any of the following or similar, or feel that your computer use puts you at risk of:

* Fatigue
* Pain
* Muscular or joint problems
* ME/CFIDS
* Fibromyalgia
* RSI
* Issues with ergonomics or physical positioning

then comment here to tell me about your experiences, the adaptations or software you use or are interested in, what it's like surfing the web, what you'd want to know about a computer or computer equipment before buying it, and anything else you think is relevant. You can write on behalf of someone you know too.

Comments

[mirabehn.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... interesting question.

(Have ME and a minor spinal deformity, which together mean a fair amount of pain as well as the inevitable fatigue.)

I've had to get an ergonomic keyboard to stop pain in my hands from typing. It's still sometimes a problem, but not as much as it was. Having pads to rest the heels of my hands on is good, though it doesn't completely remove the problem. I rarely or never have enough energy to lift the heels of my hands off a surface when typing, as though I were playing the piano, so what they go on is pretty important.

I tend to enjoy using my desktop PC because I have the nice good keyboard, and a monitor that is set up not to exacerbate my back pain. This is what's caused my wariness about getting laptops, and I am going to need to be careful with my posture when using the netbook I shall (hopefully!) soon be using.

I'm not that well up on what adaptations and software are available (which is why I'm probably going to be referring back to a fair number of your posts about all of this. Possibly some sort of soft extra padding on the keyboard for the heels of my hands would be good...

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

I'll do proper photos of my layout on the sewing desk soon, which I think you might find useful for using a laptop. The descriptions are here (http://elettaria.livejournal.com/75696.html), and it basically boils down to having a good laptop stand and then adding whatever keyboard and mouse you prefer. I used to have a laptop stand which tilted the laptop only slightly, so that the viewing angle wasn't quite perfect yet but you could still type on it. My current one tilts it a lot more, so you have to get an external keyboard. My former laptop was 14" fullscreen, the new one is 17" widescreen, and the older laptop stand is simply too small for the new laptop. It did have this great little gel wrist rest built in, though. Those might be worth looking into for you. And hey, if you get up to Edinburgh before you get around to sorting all of this out, you can always play with the various bits and bobs I have available.

I think the monitor ends up a bit further away from you if you are using a laptop on a stand than if you are using a desktop set-up with just a monitor. This is good if you're someone like me with a bad habit of getting too close and peering, but bad if you're someone like a blind student I used to know who needs to make the text huge and read it from a couple of inches away.

Out of curiosity, how tall are you? I'd always assumed you were relatively short, mainly from the hobbit connection! I'm 4'11" myself, so laptop keyboards are the best-proportioned for me. Do you know which sort of ergonomic keyboard you have? There are an enormous variety, although as they're all for desktop-sized keyboards I can't use any of them.

The other business with using a computer at a desk is getting the balance right with the various heights of everything. I was once advised to get an adjustable table, but if you're at the short end of the spectrum there's no point: if you make the table lower, your adjustable chair (which I do have) won't go low enough to match it. I find that an adjustable chair and finding something to use as a footrest does better for me.

You're making me realise that I should do a separate post on all of this. It'll happen before too long.