Table of Contents
How to Play - Secrets of PC Gaming Ergonomics
By 1HP Staff·June 26, 2017
Introduction
Our ergonomics play a crucial role in what we do and how we feel while doing the task. This becomes even more important when we rely on this position for a significant portion of our day. Within this article we will break down key points to look for and how to address them with PC gaming.
1 – Adjust your Keyboard
The most utilized tool with coding/gaming on a PC tends to be the keyboard. The nature of the keyboard requires a flat surface and for the general person this often means just having it be on the table that the monitor also sits upon, however this may not be the BEST position.
Ideally, your keyboard should sit on a surface about 2-3 inches above your knees, meaning that a pull-out drawer or shelf on your desk may be a worthwhile change. For an easy reference point, the “g” and “h” keys should be right in line with your bellybutton. This setup allows for relaxed shoulders and a good angle of how the wrist sits when typing. Additionally you want to make sure your keys are easy to press: having to hit your keys hard to make them respond puts far too much stress on the tendons of the small muscles of your hands and fingers.
When it comes to whether or not your keyboard should have wrists rests, consider the following: keyboards with wrist rests increase pressure on the carpal tunnel up to 200% greater than keyboards without which can lead to significant inflammation and nerve compression. Alternatively, a wrist that has excessive angles in flexion/extension also can put pressure on the carpal tunnel. Ultimately it is personal preference however if you opt to have something there for support, position it so that the base of your palm rests on it rather than your wrists.
To further relieve stress on your wrists and keep them in a relaxed, neutral position, have good arm support and set up your keyboard so that it is angled down and away from you. Consider propping it so that the near side of your keyboard is about an inch or two higher than the far side of your keyboard. As usual, tweak it to find what’s most comfortable for you.
Lastly, a splint keyboard may be helpful as this can be adjusted to you and be set up to promote a more neutral wrist as opposed to a keyboard that requires the wrists to be ulnarly deviated with typing.
2 – Mouse Position
Just like your keyboard, your mouse is the next most common tool we use when gaming/coding. To begin it is important to first have the correct mouse for YOU. To better understand this than check out this article here that provides information on how to choose the correct mouse size. Once you have the appropriate mouse we can get down to business on the position of the mouse. Again the mouse should be on a surface about 2-3 inches above your knees.
It should be directly in front of your shoulder or very slightly outside; you shouldn’t have to reach out in order to move it. The motion to control your mouse should come from the elbow, not from the wrist however this may vary depending on the DPI or mouse sensitivity being used. Oftentimes the higher the sensitivity the more likely we are to use more wrist motion and the lower it is the more elbow/shoulder may contribute. To find which sensitivity may be right for you then click the link here!
3 – Monitor Distance and Height
The height of our monitor remains another important variable to our ergonomics. Optimal visual range is within about 1-2 feet away from your face, with the center of the monitor about 15-30 degrees below your line of sight. You want to avoid hunching to look down at a screen, craning to look up at a screen, or straining to focus on a screen that’s too far away or too close.
If you’re a taller individual, consider stacking books or a small box under your monitor to get it to the best height for you or having some way to adjust this to the appropriate height. There are also now variabilities in monitor size or even differences in a flat vs curved monitor. To learn more about these differences than check out this article here.
Eye strain is a battle many gamers face for many reasons but one contributor is the distance of our monitor. You see, the more our eyes are forced to converge (looking inward or come together to fixate on 1 point) the more the muscles that constrict the eyes can become strained. Similarly to carrying something for 2 hours on end, our arms would be extremely fatigued or just unable to tolerate this. That is what we are asking of our eyes when we fail to give them a rest break!
To combat this we can follow something known as the 20-20-20 rule. The rule states that for every 20 minutes of screen time, you should look away and focus on something at least 20 feet away for 20 seconds. This brief break helps relax the eye muscles, reduce fatigue, and prevent digital eye strain symptoms such as dryness, blurred vision, and headaches. By regularly shifting focus away from close-up screens, the eyes get a chance to reset and avoid the constant strain caused by extended near-vision tasks.
Another strategy to help with eye strain or the consequences of staring at a screen for long hours is doing eye palming/cupping. To complete eye palming start by rubbing your hands together to generate warmth, then gently cupping your palms over your closed eyes without applying pressure on the eyeballs.
While doing this, you breathe deeply and relax, ideally for a minute or more. The darkness and warmth from your palms help calm the optic nerve and reduce visual stimulation, allowing your eyes and mind to rest. Eye palming is often recommended as part of vision therapy or simple daily eye care routines to refresh tired eyes and promote mental relaxation.
Lastly, consider additions like wearing blue light glasses or even software integrated into the computer such as f.lux which is a program that automatically adjusts the amount of blue light emitted from your screen to match your circadian rhythms and reduce eyestrain.
If you would like to learn more about eye strain and headaches than check out this article here.
4 – The Right Chair
Picking the right chair can be tricky. There are plenty of potential pitfalls: too skinny, and it puts pressure on your shoulder blades; too wide, you’ll find yourself twisted or tilted; too tall, you’ll end up hunching forward to avoid bumping your head; too short, and you won’t get the full back support you need.
You could get a custom ergonomic gaming chair, but those are pretty expensive and not in most budgets. However, it matters less that you have the ideal “ergonomic” chair and matters more than whatever chair you have is comfortable, gives you adequate support, and is appropriate for your size.
There are a couple of general criteria your chair should meet that will let you achieve those three things.
- Armrests are a must–supporting your forearms and elbows reduces stress on your shoulders, upper back, and neck. The armrests should let your arms be level with your bellybutton, and your keyboard/mouse should be around that height as well.
- Your chair should be at a height that allows you to meet the required monitor height and mouse/keyboard position while still allowing you to have both feet on the floor with your knees bent to whatever extent is comfortable to you (usually between 90-120 degrees). If you’re on the shorter side, this is quite a tall order for your chair. Luckily, the fix is pretty easy–try placing a stool, a box, or one of those textbooks you bought for $200 that the campus bookstore will only give you $3.75 on buyback under your feet. This takes a significant amount of stress off of your back.
- You’ll need good lumbar support. If your chair doesn’t have good lumbar support–that is, support for your low back that helps it keep its natural curve–it’s easy enough to make your own with a small pillow or rolled/folded towel. Adjust to whatever is comfortable.
- Finally, if you have multiple monitors or a large desk, you’ll want a chair that rolls, swivels, or does both; this prevents unnecessary twisting strain on your spine.
To learn more about which chair may be right for you than check out this article here.
5 – Posture, Posture, Posture
A fairly popular study by Wilkes et al (1999) found that sitting at 90 degrees was the position of most compressive stress on the spine, which increases the pressure on the discs between your vertebrae. From this, a lot of people have concluded that ideal posture involves leaning back. However, that doesn’t take into account that other positions will put stresses on other structures that support your spine–ligaments and muscles.
What’s best, in fact, is to start at 90 degrees, find your neutral posture, and then adjust your chair to support that. “Neutral posture” is what’s briefly demonstrated in the gif above: feet planted, pelvis not tilted, lower back in slight extension, chest elevated, and head over your shoulders. In all likelihood, your neutral posture will be 90 degrees or greater; thus the suggestion to start at 90.
When you sit, you want your core engaged–it keeps you from slumping. “Engaging your core” here means keeping some amount of tension or contraction in your abdominal and low back muscles. If you’re having a hard time picturing that, imagine your standard WWE championship belt: if the muscles are covered by that belt, those are muscles you want to engage while sitting. You don’t have to suck in your gut or keep your back rigid; just keep enough tension in those muscles that you don’t slide down in your chair.
This may be challenging at first, but by doing this more often than it can become a learned habit while also strengthening the core allowing greater durations of engaged core musculature before fatigue (slumping posture) sets in. In addition to these frequent changes it is always beneficial to also work on core strength as this remains the root of where our posture begins.
Conclusion
Overall, your setup should allow you to be comfortable: head and back supported, shoulders relaxed, arms supported, wrists in neutral (not too bent in any direction–you should be able to make a straight line from your elbows to your fingertips), knees bent, feet on the floor.
Your setup will be unique to you, based on your size, equipment, and available space. You don’t have to have “perfect” ergonomics at all times. But if you can make a few small changes to your arrangement, you’ll find yourself in a much better position to keep your gaming pain-free.
For additional education on ergonomics than check out these articles below:
https://1-hp.org/blog/hpforgamers/esports-health-it-starts-with-ergonomics-and-posture/
https://1-hp.org/product/posture-ergonomics-mini-course/
References
Rempel DM, Keir PJ, Bach JM. Effect of wrist posture on carpal tunnel pressure while typing. J Orthop Res. 2008 Sep;26(9):1269-73. doi: 10.1002/jor.20599. PMID: 18383144; PMCID: PMC2649727.
Cook, C., Burgess-Limerick, R., & Papalia, S. (2004). The effect of wrist rests and forearm support during keyboard and mouse use. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 34(6), 507–513. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ergon.2004.03.004