Ergonomic Eye for the Tall Guy (or Gal)

Ergonomic Eye for the Tall Guy (or Gal)

Posted by Troy Arnold on Apr 23rd 2015

I’ve been tall my whole life, and while some people may think it’s all well and good up here, I can tell you first hand it is not all it’s cracked up to be. For one thing, we always have to stand in the back row of group photos. By 4th grade, I stopped dressing up for picture day, as I just didn’t see the point in it. Secondly, people are always disappointed when you’re not better at basketball. I’m sorry, but height and coordination don’t go hand in hand. And lastly, we spend a lot of time hunched over. Contrary to what more vertically challenged people may think, the world isn’t exactly tall person friendly.

I may have a height adjustable setup now, but that wasn’t always the case. If you find yourself with a more traditional workspace and unable to make the investment to an UPLIFT Desk just yet, never fear; The Human Solution has you covered. Whether it’s due to space or budgetary restrictions, we offer various desk conversion tools that can make your workspace more ergo friendly, even if you’re over 6 feet tall.

The first thing people tend to overlook when switching to a more ergonomic setup is, oddly enough, their vision. A common mistake is thinking that the ability to tilt your monitor up or down is enough while standing, and this simply isn’t the case. More often than not, you will stand about a foot closer to your desk than you were when you were sitting, which alters your viewing angle considerably. Yes, it is true that you want your screen to be lower than your eyes to combat strain and fatigue, but you also don't want to have your neck crooked and back hunched. A great way to help with this is a height adjustable monitor arm. I personally use the UPLIFT Dual Monitor Arm with two 24” monitors. This gives me full range of motion and tilt, while also raising to my eye level from desk height.

Another consideration is the keyboard tray component. Since you want your arms to bend at around a 90 degree angle while working, you’ll need something to raise with your arms as you go from sitting to standing. Now, for people of “average height”, there shouldn’t be much difficulty here, but for us taller folk, a height adjustable keyboard tray is a must. The ergoCentric Chameleon comes to mind with its extended height range, although most keyboard trays should meet your hands right where you need them.

The last component would be a full conversion kit. Something like the UPLIFT Standing Desk Converter was designed with this full situation in mind. It adds 48” of height and has a built in keyboard tray, and you have the ability to mount your monitor to it. It’s one of our “one stop” shopping solutions if you don’t want to piece everything together.

I have the space available to make the full transition over to a height adjustable desk, but hopefully I’ve helped point other gargantuan people who aren't as fortunate in the right direction. No longer do we have to sacrifice comfort for efficiency. If you can’t raise the desk, raise the tools.

Check out more of our conversion tools and accessories over at TheHumanSolution.com

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