Coronavirus Quarantine: 9 Ergonomic Tips for Working at Home

As the pandemic spreads, businesses close and employees are sent home to work remotely. But our homes don’t exactly have the office comfort we need. And not everyone has a home office and ergonomic working supplies.

In this article, we share 9 ergonomic tips to ensure productivity throughout the day while you're working from home: 

1. Use a separate keyboard and mouse for a laptop

Keeping your wrists elevated and rested on your laptop’s edges can cause stress to your carpal tunnel muscles. Move your laptop backward so your forearms have more space to rest on the table. Don’t use your laptop’s touchpad or keyboard. Instead, use external peripherals. Keep in mind to keep your hands parallel to your elbows while working.

2. Align the top border of laptop’s monitor to your eye level

Don’t hunch on your laptop’s screen when you work. To avoid this, use a laptop riser to bring your laptop to your eye level. See the camera on top of your laptop’s screen? Level that to your eyes as you look straight. This also prevents eye strain caused by looking down too much.

3. Use a home computer

Don’t work exclusively on your laptop’s small monitor. Home computers are more ergonomic with better monitor display and the bigger and taller the monitor is, the better. One disadvantage of a PC is a blackout. If you're using a PC, regularly save your work.

4. Have an adequate foot space

When choosing a table to work on, make sure it’s spacious enough under for you to move forward and rest your elbows on the table while sitting. Also, when sitting, keep your foot on the ground. If that isn’t possible, get a footrest. You can use a box as a platform to put your foot on while working. Also, when you sit, make sure your knees aren’t above your hips.

5. Choose a seat with lumbar support

If you can afford an office chair, get it. Don’t choose your couch as your workstation. As tempting and comfortable as it can be, sitting on a couch the whole day can cause numbness and discomfort. If you cannot avail of an office chair, you can use a firm cushion or a folded towel as a chair pillow to raise your hips and curve your spine.

6.   Level your chair’s armrest to your table’s height

Assuming that you have an office chair with armrests, adjust the seat’s height to level with the table. Put your elbow on the armrest and move forward while sitting. Feel if both your wrists and elbows are on the same level. Whether your seat can be vertically adjusted or not, check if your table’s height can be modified or simply sit on books to raise your sitting level.

7. Follow the 20/20/20 rule

Give your muscles a break from eye strains with this rule: For every 20 minutes facing a monitor, look at something else that is 20 feet away for 20 seconds.

8. Stand up, walk around, and stretch

Even if you’re working at home, do some walking exercises and stretch while taking a break. Work while standing up or walking on a treadmill. Change your posture time-to-time. Better advice: Challenge yourself to meet your daily step count during breaks.

9. Snack and stay hydrated

To add more opportunities to stand up and take a break from your screen, drink water or grab something healthy to eat. 

Stimulate the comfort of your office environment in your home to ensure productivity. Move your body in between work and during breaks. Change your posture regularly and don’t forget to stay healthy and properly nourished.