[TowerTalk] Varidesk-Standing desks

Sat Oct 15 00:34:18 EDT 2016

I stick with what I said!

I'd add that operating a station is similar to operating a computer, 
except from more extreme positions when operating a station for bifocal 
wearers.

Ergonomic Specialists and Physical therapists go through fads just like 
other groups. Some prove to be good and others just fade away.  Whether 
good or bad they always have a stack of good reasons for doing it that 
way.  Many Ergonomic Specialists have minimal training.

Easily switchable positions? How many of us have the space for that?  I 
have two computers (full size towers) in a computer hutch in front of 
me, plus two servers on the shelves. I only need to turn the chair 90 
degrees to the right and move about two feet to access the HF station.  
I can reach the VHF/UHF station from this position by just reaching to 
the right.  I have two nearly identical computers in the shop with a 1.8 
through 440 MHz station.  Unfortunately the desk extension only has room 
for one monitor. The other sets on the left side of the desk, hiding 
some of the station.

Anyone else either stands in the doorway, or puts a chair there. Space 
is limited!

Ergonomics specialists? A while back, a wrist rest let your fingers hang 
down with those specialists trying to get us who spent hours, often 
many  consecutive hours at keyboard(s). They pointed out that if you 
held your hands out and relaxed the fingers were down. Nary a thought  
to that position being the limit for the wrist, or basically hyper 
extended. The natural position is half way between full up and full 
down.  It only took one day of trying that wrist rest to end up with 
wrist pain.
I'm not talking about the shallow wrist pads that come with some kbds
I get to go through a lot of PT and OT, working to get the full use of 
my left arm and leg back. As I've worn a brace on my left leg since 2012 
it has created problems with my lower back and hips and I'd really like 
to get back to typing with both hands.

I agree that changing positions is as important as changing the distance 
we use for  reading. IOW, it's bad for your eyes to continually look at 
a monitor at a fixed distance.  At least look away every few minutes. 
Whether at the station, or a computer, I find it's a good idea to stand 
and stretch at least every hour. Too long and my muscles complain, not 
my joints.

I use large monitors and normally have two computers running at a time.  
The larger monitor (normally) is almost twice the distance of the 
closer.  Currently I have e-mail running on this one (distance abt 18") 
and QEX, QST, or one of the handbooks. on the other to the right, facing 
me(distance abt 36"). I no longer collect QSTs. When I gave them to a 
new ham it took two trips with a small pick-up truck.  I'd like to load 
the entire collection on my server(s) with a master index, but the very 
early ones are somewhat crude.

With the typical desk mounted monitor bifocal wearers will invariably 
end up, leaning closer and tilting their head back which is bad for the 
neck, eyes, back, and hips

Lumbar support is why I mentioned, or stipulated using a fully 
adjustable chair that fits you.  My chairs all provide support to the 
lower back.  To get full support I need the correct height, correct 
tilt, correct position for the lumbar support, correct height, and 
surprisingly the correct distance to the screen.

Standing on a hard floor which is normally concrete, or the rugged 
Indoor, out door carpet which offers little support at the office or out 
in the plant is hard on nearly everything.. Our skeletal and muscular 
structure developed  long before modern conveniences. How do we rest our 
legs and feet?  It's either sitting, or laying down.
I've never been able to stand in one position for long even when young.  
It makes my feet, legs, hips, and back hurt.

Adjustable desk height is good, as I find the standard desk height to be 
inconvenient.  Given a choice, I'd place the primary display a few 
inches, maybe 6, above the keyboard tilted up to face me. I find the 
standard monitor placement to be quite inconvenient and it produces a 
lot of neck strain  As a touch typist, I didn't need to look at the kbd 
to type 60 - 70 WPM.

73

Roger (K8RI)

On 10/14/2016 Friday 10:24 AM, Gary Johnson wrote:
> >Another fad.
> >Those are fine in a lab, or where you walk up and making entries, BUT
> >working from a "stationary" standing position can damage feet, knees,
> >hips and even your lower back.
>
> NOT a fad. And you missed the point: This device, like other modern 
> height-adjustable desks, allows you to easily SWITCH between sitting 
> and standing. Ask any ergonomics consultant, ask any physical 
> therapist, and they will confirm that 1) sitting puts higher stress on 
> the lumbar region of your back than standing; 2) our skeleton and 
> anti-gravity musculature evolved in a way that is optimized for 
> standing, not sitting; 3) changing positions is always better than 
> remaining eternally in one position. The only thing better would be a 
> desk that lets you waltz around the room, or maybe we should just 
> operate from our mobile devices. The reason we end up sitting all the 
> time is that we are lazy! So lazy that many of us can't handle a 
> decent hike at middle age. No wonder everything hurts... Walking the 
> halls at work, I saw at least half the offices outfitted with 
> electrically-actuated adjustable-height desks, folks have learned how 
> to use them, and they are popular.  That's the result of an effective 
> ergonomics program.
>
> Gary NA6O
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-- 

73

Roger (K8RI)

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