Contact with your computer- problems, ergonomical aspects of using a keyboard, a mouse. Correct body posture, solutions, alternative devices
The number of people working with computers increases every year, and actually it is increasing since quite a long time- ever since computerwork begun to take place. Today it can be related to a very, very big percent of professions. With the increasing numbers, of course the problems with this type of work are getting noticed. This motivates the designers to develop new, alternative, ergonomic solutions.
To ensure safer work, we have to know some things that effect our body when working with the computer.
A very important thing, that can be related with almost every aspect of the computer use, is body posture. The positioning of ourselves, and the computer is the most important thing of course. The monitor should be slightly lower, then our head. The feet have to rest on the ground smoothly. This, and the back point torwards a most important tool of the computer work, which is the office or computer chair. The position of hands, wrists, shoulders, back, arms is also imperative, when using a computer. the back should be straight, the forearms should be parallel to the floor, the wrist shouldn't bend or twist. These lead us to the main issue, the keyboard and the mouse. Almost all of the problems, consequences with these bodyparts are related to the incorrect use of these, or using an incorrect tool.
Maybe if we get to know the possible problems, damages that can happen to us, we acknoewledge the importance of keyboard and computer ergonomics. The most common trauma is RSI, Repetitive strain injury. This is a group of conditions, disorders that effect almost everyone who spends much time at the computer. RSI is not extremely damaging, it can be regenerated by everyone, when enough time for it. The other common traumas, however can result in serious damage in the hands, arms, fingers. Tendon injuries are also quite common, these can even result in paralysis of fingers, if not treaten early and correctly. the Carpal tunnel syndrome, and it is also quite damaging and painful. These problems can be all avoided, or the chance to get them can be lowered by significant amounts.
To avoid these traumas and increase the work performance and comfort, designers developed several new types of keyboards called alternative keyboards. The standard QWERTY keyboard had, and even today it has got numerous problems. When using it, our wrists tend to bend and twist, no matter how hard we try to use them with straight, forward pointing palms. These can be taken easily when using the keyboard for little time. However, when using it for more, for example 8 hours a day, the results will come sooner or later- but they will come, no doubt. To ensure a safer, natural palm positioning, engineers developed the alternative keyboards, such as the split keyboard, which is literally split into 2 or 3 parts, to correct the orientation of the wrist, and palms, or the tented keyboards. Tented keyboards have 2 or more parts, that can be manually adjusted to a preferred angle or position- these are quite the most advanced types of QWERTY keyboards. There are also the negative bend keyboards- the main point of these is to ensure the palms and wrists ideal angle, which is 180'. The scooped keyboards have bowl-shaped key surfaces, which have several advantages, and increase performance and comfort. A promising development is the Minimal-motion keyboard, which has got several switches and buttons on it, and usually fits into the palm of the user. This has been designed to require minimal motions of the fingers, to decrease tiring, disconfort. Besides the numerous advantages these alternative keyboards have, the users usually can't reach such a high typing speed with them, as they could with the standard keyboard. Everyone has to decide, which is more important: safety and comfort, or speed.
The comfort and safety of all the keyboards can be enhanced by accessories, such as wrist holders, or mouse trays connected to the keyboard itself.
Mice are also a very important part of the human-computer contact. The right hand, wrist and forearm positioning is just as important as it is with the keyboard. The pressure on our hands can be lowered when using a more ergonomic mouse build, such as the vertical mouse, which keeps the palm in a more natural position all the time, or using a trackball, which minimises the movement of the hands. The touchpad is also a viable solution- but just like the alternative keyboard types, the mice are also said to be slower, or harder to learn. It is hard to change the things we are used to.