RESPECT THE KEYBOARD
If you type on any regular basis, you should drop your keyboard down below desk or table height. Today I saw two patients in my office who were using their laptop/keyboard on top of their desks or their tables at home.
Seeing them and thinking through their symptoms reminded me of the fact that I’ve been having a little more rotator cuff discomfort lately (after at least a decade of not having one iota of pain in my shoulder). Whenever I experience some classic form of repetitive strain pain, I immediately begin trying to figure out what I’m doing to cause or aggravate the situation. This time was no exception. And coincidentally, I recently purchased a laptop which I’ve been using at my kitchen table downstairs, rather than taking the hike upstairs to my PC. That’s what I get for trying to spare my knees on the staircase. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. So when you use a keyboard on top of a table or desk, it angles your shoulder forward, placing the rotator cuff in a vulnerable position. For more information on protecting your rotator cuff, please read my blog on shoulder bursitis: Shoulder Bursitis
You don’t know if you’re susceptible to having rotator cuff disease, until the day you experience rotator cuff disease. But I can tell you that every single day I’m in the office, I see at least a half dozen patients with some form of rotator cuff disease: bursitis, tendonitis, rotator cuff tears. So what I want to tell the world today, is to drop that keyboard down, either through elevating your seat, lowering your desk, or getting a drop down extension for your desk.
There are many of you out there with rotator cuffs just waiting to get dinged. Can you feel it yet? Wait for it…