First, chairs. I'll sweat by the Herman Miller Aeron. Got one about 10
years ago. Prior to that, would switch off between 2 or 3 different
chairs and even stand for a while.
Next, neck. Steve, perhaps your monitor is a too high and you are
extending your neck too much. Ideally, it should be at eye level or
slightly below. Another possibility, also that can cause too much neck
extension is the kind of glasses you're wearing. if they are bifocals,
trifocals or progressives, you have to tilt your head back to focus on
the monitor. I have midrange-only glasses that I use for the computer.
This way, I can look through any part of the lens and the monitor is in
focus. The tradeoff is the keyboard and across the room will be a bit
out of focus through the glasses. Of course, this applies primarily to
the 50+ set, which is most of us. For the rare, young contester, you
have this to look forward to :.)
Disclaimer - although I am an ophthalmologist (retired), I am not
currently licensed to practice medicine and none of this should be
construed as medical advice.
Barry W2UP
On 3/13/2013 14:07, Steve London wrote:
Interesting thread.
I have a strange contesting pain issue for which I have not yet found
a solution.
I believe that I do not move my neck enough. I tend to focus
straight-ahead on the monitor, and not much else. After a 48 hour
contest, the back of the neck is incredibly sore when I move it, and
the pain can continue for up to a week after the contest. The pain
feels like it is in the skin, rather than deep in the vertebrae. My
table is lower than the standard height, and my monitor is as low as I
can place it, so that I do not have lift my head upward. I tend to sit
upright, not using the back of the chair. (My XYL says I look like a
turtle, and my cat frequently provides lumbar support !). Other than
this, I have no contest-related pain.
Suggestions ?
73,
Steve, N2IC
On 03/13/2013 08:39 AM, Charles Harpole wrote:
20 yrs ago, after I totalled up all I had invested in gear, I decided to
invest in myself. I purchased a Steelcase brand full posture desk
chair.
Shoulder hi back, adjustable tilt fore and aft, adjustable up and down,
adjustable hardness of the front seat edge, short arms (away from
front of
desk), and a lumbar cushioning rear back. Five swivel wheels.
I could have bought a good antenna tuner or a Ham-M but this was the
best
ham item I own. It allows my thighs to be horiz, my feet flat on the
floor, or raised on a small stool, and back adjust. too.
Also, I cut the legs for my operating table to TYPING HEIGHT, not desk
height (research on Internet), and put extra feet under the front
legs of
my radios to angle them upward. My logging monitor is at eye line
height
and above the radios. My keyboard is the shorty kind with no number or
arrow keys on the right side, leaves another 6 inches of desk space. I
would have liked to put the keyboard in a pull out drawer just under the
table, but needed a twoXfour across there to hold the weight of the
gear.
My transceiver is at typing table height, with the main knob in line
with
my right shoulder. Being right handed to run the kbrd and Morse paddle
(paddle is to right of rig), my rotor controls are to the left of the
monitor. I like the HyGain single button 6 pre-sets rotor control
model
DCU-1 (note the DCU-2 is not as good but newer).*
Left and right speakers are separated by 5 ft. and at ear height.
Manual
tunable amps are on the upper right (right handed) and auto-tune
thing is
on upper left.
VOX on ssb with Heil 4 element and headset. (if you dont like VOX, you
dont have a FT-9000 line of radio... smooth). Lemon juice drinks, no
coffee, finger food delivered to desk. Empty gallon jug on floor under
table.
Ant selector is remote sw box slaved to rig. Computer gets exact rig
freq
to N1MM log. And, that is my only automation.
The posture chair, however, is the most important contest accessory I
have.
73, Charly K4VUD
*Sadly and strangely, there is no other true and full PRE-SET rotor
control
available. The best the non-DCU-1 controllers can do is to turn the
rotable knob to the desired bearing and push go. The latter style means
you must look carefully at the bearing knob for much longer time than
pushing a pre-set button. Yaesu, listen up !!!
On Wed, Mar 13, 2013 at 2:44 AM, Pete Smith
N4ZR<n4zr@contesting.com>wrote:
Many of us will recognize Contester's Crouch - sitting in front of a
radio
or a computer screen, head forward, shoulders hunched, ready to pounce.
It's instinctive, maybe, but not very healthy.
For the last dozen years or so, I've had a buildup of calcium on my
neck
vertebrae, pressing on nerves going down to my right arm. When I sit
for a
long time - as in contests - it can be really painful. After making
lots
of compensatory changes in the ergonomics of my station over the years,
this fall was disappointingly familiar, but with a new addition -
strong
referred pain in the muscles just inside my shoulder-blade on that
side.
So it was back to the physical therapist again, for more traction and
electro-stimulation, but this time he suggested I try something else
- a
large lumbar cushion placed vertically in the lower back of my desk
chair.
Because my weight would carried on the cushion rather than where
my upper
back rests against the chair, the effect would be to push my lower back
forward, and shift my shoulders back. I had been using a small one for
driving, to help relieve some sciatica, so I figured, why not try it?
In my case, benefit was immediate and dramatic. Where an hour or
two in
the chair would produce strong pain, now I can sit for hours with no
pain
at all. I'm not about to go 44 out of 48 hours like K0DQ and others
who
totally defy aging, but this way I can have all the fun I want out of
contesting, pain-free.
The particular cushion I use is by Tempur-Pedic, and is close to 3
inches
thick. No particular brand preference here, except that the
temperature
sensitive foam adjusts nicely to spread the pressure across my back.
And of course, I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV. YMMV, etc.
--
73, Pete N4ZR
Check out the Reverse Beacon Network at
http://reversebeacon.net,
blog at reversebeacon.blogspot.com.
For spots, please go to your favorite
ARC V6 or VE7CC DX cluster node.
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