2.  Center the spacebar of the keyboard in front of you to keep your body in a neutral position.

3.  Avoid using a wrist rest as they can put pressure on the nerves running through your wrist.

4.  Position your keyboard in such a way that your forearms are parallel to your thighs with both feet flat on the floor (or footrest).  This will help maintain proper blood flow to the hands and arms while decreasing muscle strain and tension.

A simple way to remind yourself is to use a break reminder program.  The program will remind you to take a quick break every so often.   You may be surprised at how quickly 15 or 30 minutes go by, so don’t just rely on yourself to remember to take those breaks.

WorksafeBC has a downloadable tool called Worksafe Sam that runs in the Windows operating system.  Download the WorkSafe Sam “Stretch Prompter,” a desktop tool that provides stretching tips to help reduce eye and muscle strain for office workers.

Download WorkSafe Sam 9 mb zip