The first laptop was invented in 1981, but the technological device only became popular and outsold the desktop computer n 2006. Today, laptops are the go-to computing device because of their portable and lightweight design, making them convenient to carry around. However, laptops aren’t perfect because they compromise ergonomic features and prioritize portability.
Because of the poor ergonomic design, prolonged laptop use results in a lot of stress on your back and neck. This happens due to tiny screens, small mouse devices, and, most importantly, small and incorrectly positioned keyboards. Luckily, you can make the laptop keyboard more ergonomic, and there are numerous ways to do this.
• Invest in a laptop stand.
• Place your keyboard at around elbow height.
• Position your laptop keyboard at the front of your desk.
• Place your keyboard right ahead of you.
By making your laptop keyboard more ergonomic, your hands, wrists, and hands will no longer experience unnecessary stress. As a result, you’ll most likely not experience long-term pain that negatively affects your work productivity.
Invest in a Laptop Stand
The primary advantage of the laptop over the conventional desktop computer is its portability, which comes in handy when working remotely. However, using this computing device for a prolonged period isn’t advised if you intend to use it for an extended duration. This is why investing in a laptop stand is advised.
With a laptop stand, your laptop’s screen will be at a much better height for optimal viewing. There are four main types of laptop stands you should consider.
- Laptop Trays: This laptop stand is huge, and this is what gives it a stable surface. Because of its huge size and bulkiness, this laptop stand should only be placed on a strong desk with enough space.
- Daddy Long Legs: It features long adjustable legs, but adjusting it to your preferred position can be pretty challenging.
- Dual Rise Stands: This laptop stand enables you to use an external keyboard that can be slid right below to ensure your laptop screen is closer. It’s an ideal fit for use at the office or home, thanks to its stronger height adjustment and angling.
- Wedge Shape Stands: It’s a portable laptop stand thanks to its unique design, which flattens for you to carry out your work without much hassle. This laptop stand doesn’t come with space where you can position an external keyboard. If portability is your main priority, you should opt for the wedge shape stand.
After getting a laptop stand, invest in an external ergonomic keypad without using the integrated laptop keyboard. And the three categories of keyboard ergonomics include the following.
- Angled Keyboard: This keyboard comes with a slight degree of the gradient. As a result, it creates a slight slope from the keyboard’s front to the back. The design of the angled keyboard is meant to ensure your hands are cupped when you’re typing and your wrists straight.
- Split Keyboard: It’s a keyboard with a conspicuous split at its center that causes the two sides to slant away. The unique design of the split keyboard assists with fluid typing motion, wrist comfort, and hand spacing.
- Contoured Keyboard: This keyboard has a wave-like shape and a small peak at its center. The countered keyboard gets its name because it appears to have a sidewalk or wavy pathway when looked at from above.
Position Your Laptop Keyboard at the Front of Your Desk
Your wrists need to have plenty of space from which to be supported. Knowing this, you must ensure your keyboard is placed at about 5 centimeters from the desk’s front edge. This will ensure that you don’t need to excessively stretch your arms and shoulders, resulting in your wrist bending in an unnatural position.
Place Your Keyboard Around Elbow Height
You want to position your laptop keyboard at the same height as your forearms and shoulder for you to feel relaxed while working. Doing this ensures you don’t need to move your arms up and down while working. This is because while these movements might look insignificant, they increase the chances of a musculoskeletal injury.
Achieving an appropriate height for your keyboard is easy, as you need to make minor adjustments to your desk and chair height.
Place Your Keyboard Right Ahead of You
Make sure you place your keyboard before typing on your computer. This prevents you from needing to twist your body when using your laptop, which only causes further strain on your shoulders and torso. This is especially crucial if you spend the entire day working; otherwise, you might eventually suffer from body aches.
But with the keyboard placed right ahead of you in a central position, your shoulders will rest naturally while you’re working. As a result, this saves you from unwanted pain due to poor posture.
Summary
Ensuring proper laptop ergonomics reduces fatigue in your neck and back. This consequently results in increased productivity because you don’t have any bodily aches, making it challenging to concentrate on your work. And to achieve this optimal comfort and productivity, you should start by making the keyboard more ergonomic.
Outlined clearly in this guide are helpful techniques you can implement to make the keyboard of your laptop key broad more ergonomic. Therefore, you’ll no longer experience disorders linked to incorrect keyboard positionings, such as tennis elbow, RSI, and carpal tunnel. You also won’t suffer from bad posture, which can adversely affect your overall well-being.
