My Workstation
One of my hobbies is designing a more perfect workstation. My interest in this obsession began out of necessity - I get sciatica pain from sitting and typing for hours at a conventional desk. Below are a few of the iterations of workstations I have gone through to try and remedy this. Regardless of the setup, one of the best things you can do to alleviate pain is simply take regular breaks (e.g. set a timer for no more than 60 minutes of continuous working without standing up and moving around).
Standing / Treadmill Desk
My first effort to improve my work station was to build a standing desk, which I ultimately converted into a treadmill desk. Over time, standing (and even walking) for a few hours became nearly as painful as sitting for a few hours. Taking regular breaks was critical, but coming back to standing / walking for a considerable about of time each day just wasn't helping. My IT bands in particular became very tight, and over time they were causing pain as well. While I do generally recommend a standing desk for some tasks, I quickly realized it was not going to be my long-term solution for most tasks.
My first effort to improve my work station was to build a standing desk, which I ultimately converted into a treadmill desk. Over time, standing (and even walking) for a few hours became nearly as painful as sitting for a few hours. Taking regular breaks was critical, but coming back to standing / walking for a considerable about of time each day just wasn't helping. My IT bands in particular became very tight, and over time they were causing pain as well. While I do generally recommend a standing desk for some tasks, I quickly realized it was not going to be my long-term solution for most tasks.
Reclining Desk (V1 & V2)
After seeing the absurdly expensive reclining desk by Altwork, I got inspired to build my own reclining desk at a fraction of the cost. My first prototype (the first photo) was far more effective in reducing low-back (and upper back and neck) pain, so I decided to keep doing design iterations with the reclining position. The second version was a much more robust iteration on the prototype with a steel piping frame and finished wood.
After seeing the absurdly expensive reclining desk by Altwork, I got inspired to build my own reclining desk at a fraction of the cost. My first prototype (the first photo) was far more effective in reducing low-back (and upper back and neck) pain, so I decided to keep doing design iterations with the reclining position. The second version was a much more robust iteration on the prototype with a steel piping frame and finished wood.
Reclining Desk (V3)
I recently completed a third design iteration which is far less bulky and more integrated into the reclining chair. This version and was inspired by dentist chairs where the chair is open to the right and all the tools are mounted on the left and can swivel into position over the chair. It's much easier to get in and out of, and it has far fewer parts. You can read about how I built it in this blog post.
I recently completed a third design iteration which is far less bulky and more integrated into the reclining chair. This version and was inspired by dentist chairs where the chair is open to the right and all the tools are mounted on the left and can swivel into position over the chair. It's much easier to get in and out of, and it has far fewer parts. You can read about how I built it in this blog post.
Custom Keyboard
Along with designing the ultimate desk, I also designed a customized keyboard from WASD keyboards. Using Karabiner-Elements, I customized the functionality of my keyboard to do all sorts of helpful modifications, such as launching applications with a single hotkey and even mapping the J / I / K / L keys to be used as arrow keys for navigating the cursor or selecting text. You can see more about my keyboard on my blog post about it or my jKeyboard github page.
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While my custom WASD keyboard has served me well for years, my wrists are starting to feel the wear and tear of spending hours at the keyboard everyday. To try and get some relief, I've been experimenting with different split ergonomic keyboards. Most recently, I've been trying out the Ergodox EZ. It's taken a couple weeks to get used to, but it's definitely a big improvement in ergonomics over my WASD board. It also creates the perfect place to put your coffee.