We have an epidemic of bad posture
levels.io
levels.io
If you're not balancing these pushes with pulls (chinups, pullups, rows, etc), it can promote issues like rolled shoulders, forward neck, weak traps, weak rhomboids or similar postural issues to those the author is trying to avoid in the first place. In fact, many lifters will add more pulls than pushes, because our day-to-day activities tend to be more push-oriented.
The point is, if you're going to lift, pick a beginner's routine designed by someone who knows what they're doing that has push/pull balance programmed in from the outset. Don't just pick a couple lifts that you enjoy and throw out the rest.
http://www.romphysicaltherapy.ie/best-exercises-to-strengthe...
In some cases dumbbells will give you a better range of motion and help develop smaller muscles.
Another common addition to 5x5 I've seen is adding a dedicated core day (weighted ab crunches, hanging leg raises, planks) Core is the 2nd most important part of doing pull exercises (after back)
This has always smelled like broscience to me. I guess I'm just skeptical that someone unable to create stable positions with a fixed object (barbell) will have more success creating proper stable positions off of objects that move freely. Based on what I've seen in the gym, it looks like the barbell users usually end up 'collapsing' into stability... then again, most of what I see in the gym are meatheads using way more weight than they should be. Maybe it would be different if priority was given to proper mechanics rather than pressing till your eyeballs bleed.
What does that mean? If your goal is to get stronger you have to lift as much weight as possible. Obviously you don't want to hurt yourself, but the emphasis on perfect form over heavy weights is "broscience" if your goal is strength.
>I'm just skeptical that someone unable to create stable positions with a fixed object (barbell) will have more success creating proper stable positions off of objects that move freely.
The whole point is that it's more difficult to maintain stability with dumbells.
No need to miss out!
[1] : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru0scbx8DuI [2] : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGkRDcMeSTY
I would add weighted chin-ups to any beginner routine that doesn't have them, because I personally like to balance not only the push/pull muscles, but also in the horizontal and vertical planes.
You didn't ask, but my current routine consists of these core/compound lifts:
Workout A) * Bench Press (horizontal push) * Barbell Row (horizontal pull) * Squat (leg-driven push)
Workout B) * Overhead Press (vertical push) * Weighted Chin-Ups (vertical pull) * Deadlift (leg-driven pull)
Any lifts besides these are considered accessory and are only programmed in based on specific needs, e.g. weaknesses/imbalances/posture issues/aesthetic goals. If I can't tie an accessory back to a specific need, then it's just considered fuckarounditis and I eliminate it.
I rotate my rep scheme so I'm not always doing high weight / low rep, but sometimes low weight / high reps or medium weight / medium reps. I do this mostly to not get bored, but also because always doing high weight / low rep can get stressful. I'm probably sacrificing strength gains by slowing my progression down, but I'm okay with it.
Disclaimer: everyone's goals are different. I'm pushing 40 and my goals are to maintain a modest level of strength and overall fit appearance (only working out 3 days a week for < 90 minutes per session) and this is what works for me.
If one's goal is to be a powerlifter, fitness model, bodybuilder, etc. you most likely have to work harder and take your programming even further than I've taken mine.
Deadlift- Be careful not to overdo this, especially when you're starting out
Squat- Overhead squat is probably the best variation to master, but goblet squat is probably the easiest
Press
Bench Press
Dip
Pullup
Bent-over Row
You should also challenge your cardiovascular system in some way, preferably one that physically moves your body through space.
In addition, I feel strongly that recreational lifters should always emphasize mechanical alignment and efficiency over force production. So set aside the time to address any movement restrictions, prioritizing those that interfere with your ability to perform the above movements. For instance, if you have 0 degrees of internal rotation at the hip, you aren't going to be able to squat correctly.
On a side note, it's interesting to me that you singled out the deadlift, as I found the (back) squat the most challenging lift to master.
[1] - SS prescribes power cleans; I think most people will get more desirable results from rows
[2] - this varies significantly from person to person, and is probably the biggest challenge, as it's a huge inner game
I totally agree with you, I feel that the goblet squat, front squat, and eventually the overhead squat are much better for beginners because they emphasize good movement mechanics in a way that the back squat allows you to cheat on (until you end up at the chiropractor).
The reason I put deadlifts first on the list is that I truly believe it to be the most important lift to master- particularly for those who spend most of their time in globally flexed positions while sitting on the primary movers of the posterior chain. Plus, you can't deadlift and not develop bracing technique, which is IMO the most important thing a beginner can learn.
Very much with you on bracing and its essence in deadlifting, though.
The human body is a very complicated machine, but you have to start with the idea of a mechanical system. If the system isn't aligned properly (eg your posture sucks, you have a dysfunctional deep core, you're missing significant range of motion, etc) you have no business putting stress on the system. Weight training has a lot of benefits but most people end up just reinforcing their poor mechanics. When you grab a 5x5 off the Internet, you're basically betting that your body will automagically realign itself to normal (whatever that means) before you damage it beyond the point of recovery.
My advice- don't focus on moving weight, focus on moving correctly and use the weight as a tool to learn how. If you don't have a solid foundation in exercise fundamentals (your freshman football strength coach probably doesn't qualify), use a non-challenging weight while you learn. Also, start watching Dr. Kelly Starrett's videos.
Can you give a short "ELI5" list of popular exercises which should be avoided/limited with these posture issues, and which typical exercises would fill the lacking areas?
The reason I suggest this particular regimen is threefold:
1. it's simple
2. the "culture" of stronglifts focuses heavily on proper form
3. the exercises involved are compound (i.e. multi-join, multi-muscle-group) lifts, which reduce the risk of muscular imbalances.
Did StrongLifts. Got gains. The only injuries came from my Krav Maga instructor. ;-)
>I can't do pull-ups very well
Funny it's the opposite for me. I can do pull-ups all day long but still struggle with bent-over rows to this day. TBH I don't really do rows anymore. I just hold a dumbbell between my thighs and do pull-ups.
It is not for the beginner. Squats are difficult to do correctly and I spent about an hour watching videos before I attempted it with a personal trainer. Then I kept watching videos to improve form. It's not a simple exercise and it is easy to perform it wrong. Barbell rows are easier to learn but also easy to perform incorrectly. Bench press is pretty safe. Overhead press is pretty safe. Deadlift is worrisome but not so much at the low starting weights of the 5x5.
I would recommend watching a lot of youtube tutorials on how to do the exercises correctly. Do a complete warmup before lifting. Hire a personal trainer who is a weight lifter to make sure you're doing the exercises correctly. Then you can feel comfortable doing it on your own.
If you have a mirror and you start with light weights, you can monitor yourself for form. Yes, there's a bit of due diligence involved, but it ain't exactly rocket science...
That having been said, the importance of doing all of these exercises with proper form cannot be overstated.
Start with x repeats, then count to 20, do x•2, count to 20, do x•3, ..., until you tired, e.g. x•5, count to 100, then do x•4, count to 20, do x•3, count to 20, do x•2, count to 20, do x repeats in row. X can be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc., e.g. 5, sp, 10, sp, 15, sp, 20, lp, 15, sp, 10, sp, 5, lp, an another exercise...
Important NOTE: Each of downslope repeats must feel like top repeat, i.e. you should be equally tired for X•N, count to 100, X•N-1, count to 20, X•N-2, and so on. If you are not tired, then increase X or weight.
You just do 5 sets of 5 reps for a couple of exercises... that's really all there is to it.
Planning a good programme mostly isn't about specific exercises, except for avoiding a few that persist in popularity even though they're actually really bad for you. It's more about balancing so you don't focus too much on one area relative to another, and then you also need to use good form when you move so you really are recruiting the muscles you intend to without damaging anything else. If you don't balance your training well, or you train with bad form that has the same end result, a couple of things are likely to go wrong.
The first is if you have opposing muscle groups but train one side much more than the other, either through neglecting exercises on one side or through bad form so you're not getting the full benefit of the exercises you are doing. Barring injury, you'll still strengthen the muscles all right. However, you'll then find that instead of the muscles having a comfortable neutral position and supporting any nearby joints as they should, you permanently have the much stronger side pulling on everything. This makes you vulnerable to all kinds of injuries and complications. It also means that in the real world, your strength will be less useful in practice than it could be. (It's also potentially an underlying cause of bad posture, which I think is where we came in.)
There's no big secret to avoiding this. Just be careful to train both sides of an action reasonably evenly. If you're doing bench press to build up your chest, do some rows to build up your back as well. Shoulder press? Do some pull downs or chin-ups as well. Hitting your triceps? Don't forget your biceps. Be particularly careful with the legs, because so many exercises naturally use a pushing action, but big quads and weak hamstrings does not make for happy knees and hips.
A second very common mistake is to focus mostly or entirely on the bigger, stronger muscle groups. They look great all pumped up, and they do provide the majority of your practical strength. However, your body is also full of little muscles that co-ordinate and stabilise everything else, so you can deploy the strength of your major muscle groups efficiently and safely. If you don't train your supporting muscles to back up the big guns, then sooner or later all the extra power in your big guns is going to get put somewhere that can't handle it, again probably resulting in sprains, strains, or worse.
The best general advice I can offer to avoid this one is to try to focus on compound exercises and free weights for the most part. (A compound exercise just means one that uses multiple joints and muscles together at once. Almost any "big movement" exercise you see at the gym that isn't done with a machine partially controlling the weight/resistance is going to be a compound exercise.) If you use machines to isolate specific major muscle groups, you can really concentrate on building those up, but the machine is probably also lending support to the surrounding joints in a way that natural movement won't. Do that for most or all of your work-out and neglect other kinds of exercises and you'll build up the big muscles but neglect the stabilisers, and the first time you realise it may unfortunately be when you try to move something substantial in real life away from the gym and find you didn't have nearly as much functional strength as that nice increasing weight on the machine made you think you did.
I hope that helps with your question, but again I really can't stress enough how important it is to work with a good trainer, at least to start with, if you want to get into gym work. They're not just there for encouragement or to spot you on a heavy lift, they're also there to help you make the most of your work-out and get better results sooner just through training with a good combination of exercises and good performance when you do them. Finding the right trainer was one of the best life decisions I ever made.
Deadlift- My favorite, the king of lifts! When I say a globally flexed position I'm talking about the fetal position archetype. Next time you're sitting down just imagine transitioning from your seated posture to fetal position. The deadlift is the opposite of this- you start in a flexed position, and then stand up perfectly straight. Make sure to learn how to properly brace before attempting this movement, or really any movement under heavy load.
Bench Press- My back muscles that are in charge of pulling my shoulder blades back and down are stretched out, meaning that my shoulder blades are usually much further forward and up than they should be. When I bench press the tendency is for my shoulder blades to roll forward. When bench pressing, you're supposed to keep your shoulder blades pulled down towards your butt and as close to your spine as possible. This creates stability and room in the front of your shoulder. When I bench press, I have to put in extra effort and use a light load to make sure can I keep my shoulder blades in the right position. This forward rolling is also associated with activation of the internal rotator cuff, which is bad- your rotator cuff isn't meant to handle that much load. So it's also very important for me to use a close grip and keep my elbows close to my body, maybe a 15-20 degree angle at my armpit in the bottom position.
Squat- I'm missing a significant amount of internal rotation at the hip. Sit in a chair with your feet on the floor, then without changing the angle between your upper and lower leg rotate your right foot up and to the right. This is internal rotation. External would be putting your right foot on your left knee. Part of my restriction is due to a lifetime of poor habits, but part of it is due to my hip structure. Think of a dog with hip dysplasia. This, combined with a tight posterior chain, makes it impossible for me right now to squat without compromising in some way. I find that elevating my heels slightly (often I'll just stand with my heels on 5lb plates) and pointing my toes slightly out (10 degrees) creates more room in my hip, allowing me to achieve a parallel squat. The danger of this is that without your feet flat on the ground straight ahead, you aren't integrating your lower legs into the movement in a natural fashion. Make sure to keep your knees 'not in' so that your arch doesn't collapse. A collapsed arch not only bleeds power, but the accompanying inward movement of the knee (valgus) can cause ligament tears.
Pullup- The same issue I have with the bench press where my shoulders roll forward under high stress. I usually don't have any trouble maintaining form as long as I consciously think about keeping my back straight and pulling my elbows down and back, rather than my head up.
Also, re toes slightly out, this is how you should squat, you shouldn't square up with the rack or keep your feet parallel, because (again, referencing the 3rd world squat) if you were to sit down on your heels, mobility permitting, you would basically have to have your toes slightly outward.
(edit: I'm trying to ask the same question as the sister comment by PeterP)
If you're looking for the README.md just going with StrongLifts works for a wide segment of people.
Lots of people have different opinions and systems of fitness but just keep that truth in mind.
Keeping lower back muscles strengthened also helps. I've found rollerblading through my city and its trails to be an excellent low-impact cardio workout. A cheap pair of Bauers goes for 80$ at CanTire, and pairs perfectly with the Hackers Soundtrack (1,2,3) (because inline is dead right?).
Proper sized tools also help with RSI. Massive hands and small iPhones/chef knives destroy me. I've picked up some grips for my knives (I'm a chef) and a larger Android device and the cramps have disappeared. Raise surfaces that are routinely used, most surfaces ate meant for normal height workers, not giant lanklets.
Great to see I'm not the only one to discover this. Hopefully many more with poor posture will follow.
The key thing for me was starting to use a break program on my computer. Every 5 minutes I take a 10 seconds micro-break (let go of the mouse and keyboard). Every 45 minutes I take a 5 minute stretching break, and do 3 or 4 stretches.
That, together with a split keyboard (Goldtouch) and a pen-shaped mouse called Penclic. Both those are great for me. Almost all regular keyboards are terrible from an ergonomic standpoint (especially Apple's), not to mention laptop keyboards.
More details here: https://henrikwarne.com/2012/02/18/how-i-beat-rsi/
Rocking a GoldTouch split foldable keyboard, Apple Trackpad, and the Roost that levels mentioned in his post
She suggested that it would just be better to get up and do something completely different for a time. I found that, while working at home, hanging out laundry worked wonders.
I've had a lot of people deride me and laugh at me for that single phrase, but not one of them suffered the pain of RSI. They probably wouldn't laugh so readily if they couldn't feed themselves - or open a locked door - for several months.
(for those of us who didn't just know this)
If you've worked for multiple years in a (seated) office setting, chances are you have tight muscles. Muscle tissue then gets glued together and stuff like forward rolled shoulders happens.
Now you go to a physical therapist with your neck or shoulder pain and he/she recommends you physical therapy. The problem is just, the area is too tight to react to the right kind of stimulus, so the trick is to first massage the area and then fix it with the right exercises.
Simple tools like a lacrosse ball (5 bucks) or a foam roller (10-20ish bucks) can work wonders IF used regularly and in the right fashion.
I've written about one part the issue here, called "text neck" https://bitehype.com/text-neck/ - I've also compiled some of these lessons into a free email course, where I dive into the topic a bit deeper: https://www.dailybitsof.com/courses/fix-your-posture
I hope that helps - open to any questions in that area (my expertise comes from years of injury/self experimentation, bunch of interviews with doctors, physical therapists and massage therapists as well as visits to sports clinics. Oh and of course interest).
and an year ago, after more than 2 decades (not counting university and before) of sitting i started to work standing. Wonderful. Besides posture and better breathing position, gone away some issues that started to appear during recent years due to bad circulation when sitting.
It looks like Microsoft brought this back as a new model in black with fake chrome, unlike the old beige model. (Still has the crappy spacebar mechanism, though; the spacebar is huge but has to be pushed near its center.)
Wow, are they Out of stock temporarily or permanently?
https://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Natural...
EDIT: They still offer plenty of Ergonomic keyboards, but only wireless one it seems. (For instance: https://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Wireles... )
Cheap MS Natural 4000: https://www.microsoft.com/accessories/en-us/products/keyboar... (rubber domes - actually I think the space bar is OK, but tends to be stiff until it's had a couple of weeks of use)
More expensive MS Sculpt Ergonomic: https://www.microsoft.com/accessories/en-us/products/keyboar... (scissor switches + clicky buttons for F keys and Esc)
Both are OK, I'd say. The 4000 has slightly nasty keyswitches, but in exchange it's got all the keys in traditional places. The Sculpt is nicer to type on, if you don't mind that sort of thing, but the non-standard keyboard layout leaves something to be desired.
(One note of caution: I've had 5 of the MS 4000s now, and the newest one, bought a month ago, has a much squishier, quieter key action - presumably a new recipe with improved cost-effectiveness. I don't think this is any worse than what was there already, but some might disagree...)
The best solution is touched on in the article, but it can't be overstated that actual exercise is the best preventative.
One of the best periods I had in college was when I used to wake up around 0430, work out at home, take a shower, have breakfast (oeufs au plat, escalope/steak, and half a liter of milk).
I'd spend the day feeling great even though I didn't have lunch hour, just four 1h30 lectures from 0800 to 1430 as opposed to 1st and 2nd years 0800-1120, 1300-1630, with 10 minute pauses between each two lectures.
Full of energy and feeling great the whole day.
My feet wanted to murder me the first week, and especially the first 3 days, but once you get over it I highly recommend doing so - I actually don't have a chair at my desk anymore.
Since then, quite a few people have gotten a VariDesk, and if you ask, your boss will just tell you to get one from Amazon.
If you think programming is bad, CAD is even worse. So far as wrist fatigue goes, I was in pain within a few months of getting my first Apple Mac, and quickly learned all of the keyboard shortcuts so I could minimize mouse use. A side benefit is that using a keyboard shortcut instead of an icon doesn't require you to focus your eyes on the screen.
But I told him, "long term computer use will kill you. Get a standing desk."
You'll need one with a sit-stand desk anyway so I'd suggest getting one first. You need the monitor higher when standing to have correct posture.
The monitor stands that come bundled with monitors are way too low if stationed on the same tabletop as your keyboard.
Just searching the Internet shows that there are dozens of manufacturers for these things and price ranges vary widely. You should have no problem finding one.
If you're a tall guy like I am, I'd go for the highest one I could find. I have it almost at the highest setting when sitting down and I wish it was higher when standing up.
This one (Ergotron LX Desk Mount LCD Monitor Arm, Tall Pole) has been working well for me for the last couple of years, in conjunction with a Conset sit/stand desk (also great). I got the Tall Pole version just to be on the safe side, and it gives a lot of flexibility on where you want to position and angle the monitor.
Posted about it on Slashdot and someone told me to look up TMS. Changed my life. After years of problems it completely went away in weeks. After years of searching for ergonomic solutions it was bizarre that following TMS treatment cured it in weeks and now I don't do anything ergonomic and I have had no problems for over a decade.
More info... http://www.rsi.deas.harvard.edu/mb_what_is.html
So instead of raising the laptop in a stand and getting an external keyboard and mouse, I use an external display (24" 4K) at an ergonomic height/distance and keep the built-in monitor as a secondary screen (for example, running the iOS simulator on the MacBook screen and Xcode full screen on the external display).
I arrange the screens so the built-in display is below the external one (i.e. the same arrangement as they are physically) and keep my dock on the left of the main display.
Here's a collection of other RSI stories, along with other ergonomic information:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/wiki/switch_gui...
There's a table with activation forces:
MX Red Linear 45cN
MX Black Linear 60cN
MX Dark Grey Linear 80cN
MX Brownhttps://github.com/melling/ErgonomicNotes/blob/master/keyboa...
For all I don't like about Apple, their aluminum keyboards are what I prefer and use, precisely for the reasons stated in the article, and to counter your claim, the Apple aluminum keyboard travel is very short, so it bottoms out much quicker and still gives a feel like a mechanical keyboard.
This is a good instructional video on them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd9VoT1BPAY
I once had an ergonomics consultant confirm that despite my ridiculously poor posture, my constant fidgeting did wonders for preventing RSI and other forms of strain that occur when you hold a single position for too long.
(Also I barely touch a mouse which probably helps.)
I disagree there — wireless mice & keyboards are terribly insecure.
Other than that, seems like some good advice here.
EDIT: The Logitech MX Master (a wireless mouse) weighs 145g including battery, and the M500 (corded) weighs 144g. That probably includes the cord, so the in-hand weight might be a little lower, but they're certainly close. Neato.
https://www.amazon.de/gp/customer-reviews/R1MVD7C55Q9ZKD/ref...
It can fit literally any machine, won't break from a puny laptop under any circumstance, folds very flat so fits in most bags, and can bring the screen really high.
The doctor prescribed Vicodin it was that bad. But only when I went in for a series of chiropractic sessions did I improve my neck at the source. Thankfully now I'm more aware of just how important it is to not crane the neck, and I catch myself if I do it for more than 15 minutes at a time.
It definitely is becoming an epidemic, and there needs to be a lot more public awareness around this. Not everyone can afford multiple chiro sessions a week for weeks at a time to correct something preventable!
Maybe because there are no evidence that it's effective.
https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/reference/chiropractic/
https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/science-based-chiroprac...
That guy spent years being a chiropractor and while he acknowledges that the postulates of vertebral subluxation theory is implausible, he was also able to spend years helping people with spinal manipulations working as a chiropractor. It was only until recently that physical therapists began doing adjustments which began competing with chiropractics
Like with anything, there are good and bad actors and even a bad actor may help people even if their justification for why something is helping is fundamentally flawed.
Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Did he help them or did he deliver placebos? "Most cases of back pain are self limiting, and spinal manipulation is not often more effective than other physical treatment modalities in affecting the final outcome."
> Like with anything, there are good and bad actors and even a bad actor may help people even if their justification for why something is helping is fundamentally flawed.
Is there actual science supporting the claims? Not the mechanism claims, which are clearly bullshit. Is there even any support in the science for the claims of effectiveness?
You want a study on effectiveness in treating asthma or deafness, then it's probably not available.
Effectiveness in treating something like scoliiosis? Yep, there is a study for that[1]. How about headaches? Seems to be some positive research on it[2].
Now I'm no scientist or statistician and there are also studies point to non-effectiveness in things like lower back-pain[3], yet even that study acknowledges that it's difficult to ascertain since most chiropractic packages aren't limited to simply adjustments.
I find it interesting how many people denounce sweeping generalizations when it comes to programming paradigms and approaches to infrastructure and application development... yet still fall victim to it when it's a topic outside their domain.
We're still just talking about problem solving here, so how come it's not a matter of defining the problem and assessing each approach in context of that problem?
[1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3259989/
This thread here: https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/4ug8vw/this_chiropr...
You can see a clear divide. It's far from the homeopathy agreement that it's bullshit. It also seems like most people arguing against chiropractors have never experienced even a good massage and its benefits.
Many people had good experience with horoscope or homeopathy and so on... I think any reasonable discussion shouldn't be based on personal anecdotes but on serious scientific protocols.
> It's far from the homeopathy agreement that it's bullshit. It also seems like most people arguing against chiropractors have never experienced even a good massage and its benefits.
I'm certainly not saying that all manual therapies are bullshit. Chiropractic doesn't equate to manual therapy.
Without Chiropractors and PT's who incorporate it into their practice there'd be a lot more people on opiates.
I cannot get over this kind of unhelpful bullshit.
The plural of "anecdote" is not "data".
[1] http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/9223578/Chiropractor-...
[2] https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/chiropractic-manipulati...
[3] https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/stroke-death-from-chiro...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perioperative_mortality
/s
Obviously people die all the time and the cause of death can be attributed to any number of activities that are otherwise beneficial to the vast majority of people who undertake them.
There is also a difference between anaesthetizing someone to slice them open for an elective hip procedure vs having someone analyze your biomechanics and work to correct that through subtle lowerback/hip adjustments and strengthening supporting muscles through various exercises.
We could spend days going back and forth like this but it really boils down to you us having different ideas of what we're talking about when we say "chiropractics". I get the sense you've either never been to one, or else you went to a shitty one.
I'm looking in to what exercises she can do to get better.
"Some studies have related hypothyroidism to muscle dysfunction... Furthermore, studies ... demonstrated that thyroid hormone action on skeletal muscles affects mainly type-I muscle fibers, which promote slow contractions and are most prevalent in the postural muscles recruited during prolonged effort" [1]
Also, not sure where you are in the world but your doctor telling you your thyroid hormone levels are ok unfortunately may not necessarily mean they are ok... There is a controversy about reference ranges amongst experts [2], and I think it's wise to pay attention to that.
BTW, I think this is also worth highlighting (from [1] above):
"Different metabolic changes, yet with similar consequences, may therefore be observed in both hypothyroid and hyperthyroid patients. In the first case, fatigue is directly related to deficient action of thyroid hormones. In the latter, however, the cause is mainly depletion of muscle energy substrate due to high metabolic demand."
As an aside, I don't goof off as much when I'm standing at my desk.
I realized nearly two years ago that almost all tall people in my office use external monitors and it clicked. The taller you are the worse the laptop ergonomy is. Human head weighs 4.5kg-5kg. If you have to bend your neck even a little bit your muscles have to do lot of static work. You can compensate by bending your back, tall people have to bend their back more.
My hypothesis is that short or fit people can get away more than tall or unfit, but things will show up after 20-30 years of bad posture for everyone.
Or you could (with the right chair and foot rest) angle your seat instead of bending your back.
External monitor and keyboard is must.
* Yoga or daily stretching
* Walking (properly)
* Epidural steroid injections every six months (for the disks)
What would be better (for people who don't want to end up like me):
A) Don't do dumb shit with your body (obvi)
B) If facilities departments would stop buying torture devices just cuz that's what everyone's used to sitting in
I wonder what happens to all those bearded 20+year vets after all that neck carnage..scary..
so i just built one of these: http://www.latesthandmade.com/pvc-laptop-stand-diy-ideas/
And now EVERYONE in the office wants one. Best investment of the year. +Also fun to paint/customize them.
and YOGA YOGA YOGA!
Mostly I liked how you reconciled your personal pains with your expert domain knowledge about human biomechanics and health to provide medical advice, even providing Googled images that unequivocally demonstrate your claim and truly the extent of this epidemic.
Sorry your arms hurt.
I'm not sure why according to the author, but the advantages I can think of are:
(1) It allows more free repositioning to address ergonomic issues, and
(2) While this doesn't necessarily happen all the time, lots of times wired mice end up with the wires running in paths where they ocassionally provide more resistance to certain movements, which seems likely to have negative ergonomic consequences over time.
The upsides for a wired mouse are:
* Zero lag. Wireless mice add a few milliseconds of lag.
* Zero charging. It's never out of charge because you forgot to dock it at the end of the day.
* Zero stuttering. Even the best wireless mice sometimes stutter.
To my mind, the most important things for a mouse are:
* Get a mouse with extra smooth gliding surfaces. Most good gaming mice qualify.
* Get a properly weighted mouse. Again, most gaming mice qualify.
* Get a proper mouse pad. A gaming mouse pad will usually provide the best surface.
* Make sure the cable has proper slack.
* Set your acceleration properly so that you don't need to reposition the mouse often. Again, a high-quality high-resolution mouse really helps here. A gaming mouse can help if it has a "sniper" mode allowing you to engage a high-precision mode to click small targets in your UI.
Ultimately, yes, what I am recommending is get a lot of gaming hardware to do work, but it's actually great.
1. A second mouse for my other hand. Pick a corporate mouse because those are symmetric. Use it to browse the web when you are not really working.
2. A desk with a dull (chamfer) edge.
I limit my desk time to 3 hours a day.
I purchased mine but still have not received it.
The modern concepts of posture may be wrong.
I have a curved butt to shoulder area. It makes me look somewhat duck like.
However, I never have any back aches etc.
I know of people who are straight as a plank, and complain constantly of aches and pains.
This TED talk will explain why curved is better than straight: