Since I switched to a laptop from a desktop computer, my productivity has increased. But, working from a laptop greatly increased the risk of bad posture for me. Today, I’ll solely talk about the two main posture issues I fixed from working on a laptop.
The ability to take our laptop with us and work anywhere in the world is incredibly convenient. This article doesn’t necessarily talk about using a laptop during travel. I completely understand the value of being able to work away from the home office. The human body is very resilient. We can withstand poor posture positions for small amounts of time. We get in trouble with posture when we try to fight through these poor positions for long periods of time on a daily basis.
This article will talk about how to use good posture on a laptop while working in an office or home office. In other words, this article applies to any permanent location that we work on our laptop for long periods of time, where we have the ability to make a couple small changes to our ergonomic setup.
The first (and worst) injury I got from working full time on a laptop was neck pain. Looking down at a laptop screen causes terrible posture issues with our necks. We may not notice in the beginning. We may not even notice the damage for years. But, it’s definitely doing a number on us. The muscles on the front of my neck compressed and shortened. The muscles on the back of my neck overextended and lengthened. This imbalance caused me a number of problems including neck pain, headaches, longer muscle recovery times, and also dysfunction during sports and workouts.
Good Laptop Posture
Don’t look down at your laptop screen for long periods of time. That’s the first lesson I learned when I began taking accountability of my poor laptop posture. Notice the woman in the photo by Mikhail Nilov. She’s looking down at her laptop screen at a heavy angle with her head tilted forward. This is exactly how I used to sit at my laptop, causing excessive neck pain.
Looking down at a laptop screen for long periods of time caused spinal degeneration in my neck (which is irreversible). This means the discs between the vertebrae become damaged by poor posture. I was lucky because I noticed this early. I happened to be rear-ended in an auto accident years ago. Also, I got x-rays done at a chiropractor to make sure everything in my spine was okay from the accident. The good news, I was told there was no damage from the car accident. The bad news, I had stage 1 spinal degeneration in my neck. This wasn’t caused by a car accident or a one-time trauma. This was due to bad posture over a repetitive, long period of time.
I knew immediately what caused this spinal degeneration. It was looking down at too much of an angle while working on my laptop screen. Correcting this problem took a lot of body awareness. It was a tricky problem to realize I had. It wasn’t even painful for me yet, but the damage was already being done.
Use an External Monitor when Using a Laptop
This allowed me to look straight forward when viewing the top of my screen. Looking down slightly to see the bottom of the external monitor is okay. It doesn’t do nearly the damage to your neck that looking down at the laptop screen would do.
Practicing this tip eventually balanced out the muscles in the front of my neck with the muscles in the back of my neck. This also reduced unnecessary pressure on the discs and vertebrae in my neck and spine. It led to correct posture and less pain, both over the short-term and long-term.
Notice the man using an external monitor in the photo by Firos nv. This is a great example of correct posture that will minimize neck pain. The top of the computer monitor is eye level. The computer monitor is also at a 90 degree angle from the desk. Compare that to the increased angle of his laptop screen, which is more difficult to see, not to mention smaller than his external monitor. He’s sitting comfortably in his office chair with good posture, in a position that is not likely to cause neck pain. He’s also using an external keyboard and mouse, which is a nice segue to the next good posture laptop tip.
Use an External Keyboard and Mouse when Using a Laptop
The second painful injury I got from using a laptop was carpel tunnel syndrome. This happened to me because I didn’t use a separate keyboard and mouse. Carpel tunnel syndrome is an often used term when describing a computer related injury. But, it’s not necessarily caused by the act of typing. I had carpel tunnel issues from engaging my wrist muscles constantly to lift my hands up so they were placed on a high keyboard, such as a laptop keyboard. The actual activity of typing wasn’t causing the injury. It was the actual engagement of my wrists and the high placement of my hands.
The majority of internal laptop technology components (processor, hard drive, etc) is contained inside of the laptop keyboard. So naturally, the laptop keyboard is going to have a little height to it. Once I bought an external keyboard and mouse that was much lower and thinner, my carpel tunnel pain went away almost immediately.
Notice the ergonomic setup in the photo by Nathan Riley. The user here has an external keyboard and mouse. They are very flat, minimalistic models, which is what I prefer. These models don’t require the user to engage their wrists all day, in order to lift their hands onto a thick laptop keyboard. These are actually the exact models I began using that made my carpel tunnel syndrome go away years ago.
Side note: I’m not paid or compensated by any product manufacturers. When I talk about products, I’m a paying customer. I really like the product which improved my quality of life.
You’ll also notice that instead of using an external monitor, this user has a laptop stand that can raise your laptop.
I’ve never used a laptop stand like this personally, but I do kind of like this option. The height of the screen can be eye level, without the need to buy another computer monitor. The only downside here is that the laptop screen is going to be smaller than an external monitor. As long as the height of the screen is eye level, that’s what matters most to me.
It appears that this laptop stand may even act as a docking station, since I don’t notice any wires coming directly out of the laptop. A docking station basically has the wires plugged into it permanently, making it more convenient to hook up your laptop to your workstation. It also allows the power settings on your laptop to basically function as a desktop while you are working with correct posture from your office of home office.
Notice the woman in the photo by Pavel Danilyuk. It looks like she may be at a temporary desk she may not work at often. In that case, I would feel pretty comfortable in the posture she’s working in. She’s using a stool instead of an office chair, which is a nice way to break up the repetitive strain of traditionally sitting at a computer. It’s allowing her to keep her legs somewhat activated. Her hips are not at a 90 degree angle, like they would be compressed into if she was sitting in an office chair. They are partially open and comfortably activated.
On the downside, I would be concerned with possible neck pain if I was in this position for an extended period of time.
Even though she’s reaping the benefits of this comfortably activated and non-traditional position, she is leaning her upper body forward while her head is tilted forward. I wouldn’t want to stay in this position for a long period of time. Given the height of the standing desks, I would probably bounce back and forth between sitting and standing while working in this environment.
Thanks for your interest in sitting posture.
If this article was helpful, check out my book titled “45 Ways to Improve Computer Posture.” It’s available in both digital and paperback versions.
>>> Click here to pick up your copy
This book explains how to improve your posture through different variables of health and wellness. These include sitting posture, standing posture, sleep, hydration, and breathing. Poor posture is not just how we sit at a computer. The health habits we practice, 24 hours a day, are directly related to how good (or bad) our computer posture is.
Go to SittingPosture.com/book to learn more.
Take care,
Todd Bowen
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