Re: Health advisory: neck and shoulder pain

[Romay Jean Sitze <rositze -at- NMSU -dot- EDU>]

On Mon, 3 Jul 1995, Geoff Hart wrote:

>      (Optional: Do you wear bifocals?) The problem may be the location of
>      your monitor. For looking at things close up, you have to look through
>      the bottom lens of your bifocals, and since the monitor is above this
>      level, you're required to tilt your head upwards to look. Even if you
>      don't wear bifocals, most of us set the tops of our monitors too high,
>      especially with large monitors, causing a similar problem. Voila! Neck
>      or shoulder strain (or both).

>      The simple solution is to move the top of the monitor below eye level,
>      perhaps as low as the top of a conventional desk. The actual amount of
>      lowering depends on just where the cutoff point for your bifocals lies
>      and how comfortable your neck feels in various positions while
>      watching the screen. (You'll have to pay attention to this... after
>      getting comfortable with a setup, it's easy to ignore the strain that
>      builds up by the end of the day.)

Another thing to consider:  I switced to trifocals the last time I had a
prescription made for glasses.  This allows me a medium range between the
reading and distance vision portions of the lens.  My glasses are made
with a graduated lens rather than definite lines between the sections and
they allow me a much more normal head position.  I just told my eye
doctor that I needed to be able to work with a monitor and to read music
at a distance of 24-30 inches.  Love it.  :)

        RoMay Sitze,  rositze -at- nmsu -dot- edu