The Coronavirus outbreak completely changed the world and our lives. Social distancing became necessary and brought about changes such as work and study from home. As a result, our home became the new workstation which is not always ergonomically suited. A new article, from Cincinnati University, demonstrates challenges from the home working environment and offers some simple ergonomic solutions to improve and adjust the home office station to accommodate the new normal way of work.

Main recommendations included:

1. Use a cushion on the seat to elevate sitting height
2. Use a pillow and/or a rolled-up towel, and place it on the backrest to provide lumbar support and eliminate the need to lean forward away from the backrest
3. Wrap padding onto the armrests, in case they are too low and non-adjustable
4. Move chair close to the desk, this encourages the back to lean against the backrest
5. Place a lap desk or large pillow under the laptop to raise it when it is on your lap.
6. Use an external keyboard and mouse, also raise the monitor with a stack of books or a box when using a laptop on a desk
7. When possible, use an external monitor at right height (at eye level) and centered on the person.
8. When using dual or multiple monitors, keep the primary monitor directly in front of you, and place the secondary monitors (laptop or second external monitor) to the side of the primary monitor.
9. Place a folded towel over the edge of the desk and in front of the keyboard.
10. Use pipe insulation from a local hardware store, or a pool noodle, which can be split down the seam and placed along the table’s edge to reduce the stress on the hand and wrist.
    

    https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1064804620937907
    Davis, K. G., Kotowski, S. E., Daniel, D., Gerding, T., Naylor, J., & Syck, M. (2020).
    The home office: ergonomic Lessons From the “new normal”. Ergonomics in         Design, 28(4), 4-10.‏