The other week I wrote about the ergonomic mouse that I bought in hopes it would aleviate the pain I have in the top of my hands and forearms. The mouse definitely did help some, but my pain is due to years of bad typing posture, and I found out that I needed to do more than just switch to an ergonomic mouse.
Good Desk Posture
After switching to the ergo mouse I realized that my elbows were too high for proper typing posture. Proper typing posture, as can been seen here, requires one’s hands to be at a lower elevation than his elbows. My desk and chair setup could not get me into a good posture position.
Doing More
I decided that it was time for a new chair or desk or both, in an effort to further alleviate my pain. After doing some research on chairs, I stumbled across a blog post that mentioned standing desks. I had looked into standing desks a couple of years ago, before I had any real pain.
So I started investigating standing desks again, and came across adjustable standing desks/tables. An adjustable table can go from a sitting to standing position, and back down again. It can adjust to any height, within a certain range.
Once I stumbled across adjustable tables, a light bulb went on in my head. In addition to my hand and forearm pain, I’m not really fond of sitting all day. I realized that with a standing desk I could put myself in good typing posture, while sitting or standing. This was an awesome thought!
Cost and Health
I started pricing and reading about adjustable height tables, and found out two notable things. One, they’re expensive. And two, there are health benefits to standing while working. Here are some articles on the health benefits of standing while working:
Standing Desks are on the Rise – The Wall Street Journal
Is Sitting a Lethal Activity? – NYTimes.com
The Most Dangerous Thing You’ll Do All Day – Men’s Health
Designing the 21st Century Cubicle – CNN Money
Too Much Sitting Puts the Body on Idle – USATODAY.com
My Choice
After shopping around I decided to go with a manual crank desk, instead of an electric one. This was just a personal preference, but it also cut down on the cost. And because of shipping costs, I decided to order just the base of the desk, and build the desktop myself. Here are some pictures of my whole setup:
The base came from multitable.com and I built the desktop out of a piece of birch plywood that I picked-up at my local lumber yard.
It’s Been Going Great
I’ve been using the desk for about a week now and I really like it! Each day I switch a few times between sitting and standing. It is so nice to have the option to stand. And my hands and forearms are feeling better too.
And as you can see from the picture above, I built a little stand for my monitor. This allows me to have the desk low enough to put my arms in an ergonomically good position for typing, while still having my monitor in the correct position.
Conclusion
This desk looks like it is going to be a great investment in my health and quality of life!. Feel free to drop me a line, if you have any questions.