thinking about workspace, redux

[iconwriter77373]

Well, I finally got Middle Son grown up and out of the house. His old room is now, FINALLY, my studio.

I have lots of room, don't have to worry about gesso dust on my pillow anymore, etc. However, as I have now been DOING much more, I find that I have a whopping nasty shoulder/back/arm spasm. I assume it has to do with my posture as I work, given that this has been an issue in other venues (writing) before.

So: has anybody here ever had the problem of back/shoulder etc., spasms and restructured their worktables, chairs, the relative height of each, or whatever? Any ideas on how to work without getting so miserable? (I REALLY don't want to have to go to the doctor. Again....)

Any ideas would be most welcome!

Jan

[Rosemary]

I recommend a set of daily exercises from the book Pain Free by Pete Egoscue. His basic premise is that modern man lives and works inside a 3 foot cube as far as how much moving and stretching we do. The result is shortened muscles pulling on tendons and even warping joints out of line with resulting pain and disability. I found that I eliminated a lot of shoulder/neck/ back pain by doing the corrective exercises he has outlined until I restored normal range of motion, then doing daily maintenance exercises. They are designed to preserve a full range of motion in our bodies.

I have a really tall drafting table with a very high stool that I can sit at or can stand at the table so I can move around more freely and get out of the hunching over the table tendency I have. The stool is one of the Norwegian kneeling types that allow the knees to take some of the weight and the back to stay in a more natural curve than when sitting in an ordinary chair. I also use a kneeling stool at my computer as well.

When I was younger, the kneeling stools alone prevented problems but as I have gotten older and have more time to paint, I found I needed to do some specific exercises as well to counteract the effects of staying in one position too long.

Good luck!

[iconwriter77373]

I'll see if I can find that on amazon.com. Thanks!

Jan