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It is more comfortable to look downward than look upward, while the head is in a fixed position. If you often need to look upward for longer than a glance, you
by jacobolus 6y ago
It is more comfortable to look downward than look upward, while the head is in a fixed position. If you often need to look upward for longer than a glance, you are likely to tilt your head back a bit to relieve strain on eye muscles (trading it for strain on neck muscles).
Often people compensate by resting their head on a headrest and leaning back against a back rest. Often this causes shoulder and back strain. Then they use an armrest or palmrest to type, causing RSI from static loads on bent wrists.
There are two main ways to avoid static muscle loads that cause discomfort and long-term problems. One is to regularly change position. Another is to default to a neutral and comfortable basic position.
- MichaelZuo 6y agoDo you know what the relative trade off is between eye muscle strain and neck muscle strain? Although intuitively the head is a lot heavier than the eyeballs the neck muscles should be much stronger to compensate. Perhaps the neck spinal column will be deformed after a while?
- jacobolus 6y agoYou can reduce both by lowering the display so that its top is roughly at eye level (or maybe up to 5° above or something), and tilting it backward a bit. Ideally you want to find a neutral position where there is as little static load on any of your muscles as possible (including the eye muscles used for accommodation (focusing), convergence, and turning your eyes around). Temporary dynamic muscle loads are fine, but static loads get tiring and lead to long-term problems.