Is your monitor too far away or is the font too small?

We’ve all been there – leaning forward and squinting our eyes to see the screen. Whether this happens on occasion to view a tiny PDF someone has sent you or you are having trouble viewing your screen all the time.  

The head weighs about 12-13 lbs and when you bring it forward (ears in front of shoulders) it causes the muscles in the upper back, neck, and shoulders to work harder to support you in this posture. When your muscles are working harder, they will fatigue. This can feel like burning in the muscle belly, tightness, stiffness, numbness/tingling into the extremities, or general discomfort.  

This paired with reaching your arms forward to access your keyboard and mouse means those muscles can fatigue quite quickly and set the stage for discomfort or even injury.  

If you are thinking “I do that!”. Here is what you can do to help:  

• Enlarge the font (refer to this handout for help with this) 

• Pull the monitor or screen a little closer until you do not feel the need to bring your head forward – ideally within 30” from your eyes 

• Adjust the contrast and brightness of the screen if you find its too bright or bothers your eyes.  

• Switch various applications to “Dark Mode” if you find the white of the screen does cause you discomfort 

As always, if you are still uncomfortable and can’t set up your workstation optimally or something feels off, reach out to us to schedule an ergonomic assessment. We would love to help you out.