Preserve your Health: Position your Body Properly while Working

Following proper ergonomic principles will ensure your productivity is maximized without sacrificing your health.  Positioning your body properly while working at the computer can help to prevent muscle and joint strain and reduce fatigue.  Here are some key principles:

• Use a back/lumbar support: The curve in the lower part of your back (lumbar curve) is one of the most important structural elements of a good overall posture.  Try to use a chair with a built-in lumbar support at the right position.
• Upper arms at side of body: Your upper arms should be right next to your body, not angled forward as in 'reaching' for the keyboard.  With your arms comfortably at your sides, and elbows resting on arm rests, your hands should naturally reach the keyboard without any forced reaching.
• Forearms parallel to floor: The keyboard should be at the correct height. This means that if your chair and table are the correct height, your elbows will be at 90 degrees and your forearms will be parallel to the floor. With this position, you are not reaching 'upward' to a keyboard that is too high, which could result in straining of the shoulder and upper back muscles.
• Elbows resting on arm rests: If possible, use a chair with arms rests that are high enough for you to rest your elbows on, to take the weight of your arms.
• Elbow 90 degrees: With your hands on the keyboard and wrists or palms resting on a wrist or palm rest, your elbows should be at 90 degrees.
• Wrists straight: Looking at your wrists from the top and from the side, there should be no angles (flexing or extending). Your wrists should be in a 'neutral' position.
• Fingers slightly flexed (curled) to reach each key: Each finger should be bent or flexed just enough to gently rest on the home row keys.

Our Custom Typing Training web site includes a complete section on ergonomics.  To go directly to our ergonomics section, click on the link below:

http://www.customtyping.com/tutorials/erg/ergonomics.htm

Tip of the Week: Running Programs when your Computer Starts Up

A good time saver in Windows is the ability to run programs or open web pages when your computer starts up. Windows has a special folder called "Startup" or "Startup Items" (depending on your Windows version). To access this folder, click on the "Start" menu, then "Programs" or "All Programs", then right-click on "Startup" or "Startup Items" and choose Open. The folder that appears contains shortcuts to items that Windows will run when it starts up. From here, you can copy and paste shortcuts from other items within the Programs menu into this folder to have Windows launch them at start up. For instance, you can make Internet Explorer run at startup by doing the following:

1. Go to the Start menu and choose "Programs" or "All Programs".
2. Right click on the Internet Explorer Icon and choose "Copy".
3. Open the startup items folder as described above.
4. Right click within the startup items folder and choose "Paste". You will now see an Internet Explorer shortcut here.

You can also put an Internet shortcut here to have Windows open a web page. To do so, right click within the Startup folder and choose New, then Shortcut. When prompted for the location of the item, enter the web address.

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For further information about our products and services, visit us online at www.customsolutions.us.