Hatrack River Writers Workshop: My Back Is Killing Me

This is topic My Back Is Killing Me in forum Grist for the Mill at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :

...I have a deteriorating back. It's given me problems before, particularly at work where I have to do a lot of bending and lifting, but lately it's troubling me more and more.

Particularly when I put in a session at my computer. I lean forward to see the screen (my eyes are also going) or type something or move the mouse, winding up in this position for a while, getting up stiff and sore.

I think it's cutting into the time I put in writing, too, which I have to do at the same keyboard with the same effect. I haven't produced much this summer, possibly because of this.

I can still get by at work, whiere I can pace myself and limber up...but I'd like to get some relief at home, too. Maybe a new chair would improve things. Maybe, too, if I got a laptop and tried working from a prone position.

Any opinions?

Posted by kings_falcon (Member # 3261) on :

I hope the current round of pain is temporary.

I gave myself a compression fracture of my lower back falling off a horse back when I was in college. When my back bugs me, I tend to take the lap top and a computer lap desk onto my bed to write. Seems to work for me. I also know you can buy one of the "hospital tables" to swing over the beds if you wanted something larger and more desklike. I think they are fairly easy to come by.

Posted by KayTi (Member # 5137) on :

There are a lot of things you can do to make your computer environment a better fit for you - ergonomics is the field of study but you may find "ergonomic design" for desks, wrist pads for keyboards, padded mouse pads (repetitive stress injury of wrists is a common problem for computer users.) There are also things to do to the chair - lumbar support, adjusting the height. Then things to do below your feet - ideally your feet should be supported up off the ground just a bit. And you can adjust the font size/screen resolution so that text displays on your screen at a size you can read better. Most browsers also have a text size setting. I have a newer computer and find that fonts in browser windows are really itty bitty.

Hope some of these suggestions help. I have definitely spent time working on a laptop on my lap on the couch or bed, but that position has its limits too. I find that my tailbone hurts if I sit like that for long.

Good luck, I hope you find some relief.

Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :

Do you leave your keyboard up on the desk, Robert? Have you tried using it in your lap?

I find that if I'm going to be doing a lot of typing on a desktop keyboard, it helps to put it in my lap.

Enlarge the font on the screen as KayTi suggests and sit back with the keyboard in your lap and that may help a little.

Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :

I think it's just an aggravation of an earlier injury---that, or I healed and it's started hurting again. This has caused me an enormous amount of grief over the years---I was out over a year at work, not because of the injury, but because I "dared to be sick" and they tried to fire me. But the back strain never went away.

At work, I religiously wear a backstrap support---not 'cause I think much of its ability to protect from or prevent injuries, but it does remind me not to bend at the spine.

Hadn't thought of keyboard-in-lap or increasing-the-type-size.

My keyboard is ergonomic---it's also wired to the computer, part of my desire not to put any more radio transmissions into the air immediately around me. But I could move it to my lap---I think.

The last time I enlarged the type size, it happened by accident---and I had a devil of a time getting it to go back.

I may try both in a little while.

Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :

I gave it a try, and it was easier on my back than usual. I produced my standard five-hundred-words-a-session without trouble. And I found, with my glasses on, I could see the screen just fine---no need to adjust sizes.

But---

---it was awkward to keep juggling the keyboard on my lap. I grew up in the typewriter era, where they didn't have a number keypad on the right side.

---it was also like learning how to type all over again---I couldn't hit the right keys consistently.

---up till now I had no idea how dependent I had become on using the mouse---which I still had to lean forward to use.

I think that is the way to go, at least for writing. For this online web surfing, or whatever it's calle, I'll have to refine it some more. But thanks for the suggestions.

And does anybody know if there's a keyboard that is specifically for use in the lap? I'll check the stores first chance I get, but if anybody knows offhand...

Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :

I don't have any ergonomic keyboards, just the old ones, so I don't know if my experience would be any help. I would think they would be easier to use on your lap than an ergonomic, though.

Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :

After the last post, I remembered seeing these keyboards in motel rooms, intended to be used just about anywhere in the particular room, including one's lap---and which seemed better suited to lap use than this. So they're out there, I guess...I just have to find one.