EK HEALTH

-by Kim Granata-Clark, MS in Human Factors and Ergonomics, Ergonomic Specialist

Do you use your laptop at meetings in conference rooms?  Most conference room tables are too high for comfortable laptop use but they are comfortable for taking notes during the meeting.

Make sure to keep good posture while working on your laptop.  Raise your chair so your elbows placed at 90 degrees match the height of the table but the laptop monitor is going to be low.  Keep your head over your shoulders and have your eyes look down at the laptop not your head bending down to see the contents on the screen.  If the chair does not raise high enough, place your laptop in your lap.  Now the keyboard will be at a good height but you might bend the neck more than when it is on the table.  Push the laptop screen as far back as it goes.  Switch off between using the laptop on your lap and on the table.  When you don’t need to be using your laptop, allow your hands to relax in your lap or next to your sides.

Another option is to place the laptop on the table and use an external keyboard and mouse in your lap on a compact laptop desk (lapboard) that you can find at your local office supply store.  You can also buy a keyboard with a touchpad built in.