In my past life I worked in outside sales and was pretty active; I later accepted a position requiring me to sit at a desk for the majority of my working day. If anyone had told me then, in the nineties, that sitting at a desk all day could be hazardous to your health, they certainly wouldn’t have been taken very seriously.

Trade show floors can be intimidating and a bit overwhelming. After all, APCO 2015 is one of the largest, if not the largest, trade shows for public safety professionals all year. And, whether you’re a Supervisor, Director, Dispatcher, or Manager, odds are that you’ve got a pretty busy week planned for Washington, DC. Hustling from one session to another, and obviously coming back to your agency with some key take-aways! Trust me, we know the drill.

So, let us help you by giving you 3 great reasons why you shouldn’t come by Xybix’s booth at APCO:

Typically, a radiologist’s work environment is a very dark room with the exception of the light coming from the monitors the goal being to interpret the digital imaging on the screen. Because the rooms are very dark and the screens are very bright, eyes can become fatigued. This increases the likelihood of headaches, and overall discomfort.

If you are in the public safety industry and are familiar with Xybix, you may have noticed a few articles, emails and blogs from Xybix about imaging desks. Are you scratching your head and wondering what that is all about…? I realize most of associate Xybix as only selling height adjustable furniture to 911 dispatch, security and utility agencies. But, in fact, there are several other industries in which the ergonomic sit to stand furniture we provide can be beneficial.

There is a growing body of research that suggests your physical state affects your mental state. Dr. Erik Pepper at San Francisco State University has researched the relationship between posture and mood and has found significant results between posture and subjective energy. He found that “when people experience a lower subjective energy, they feel less capable of performing a task”. 

While looking for a comical introduction to this blog, I revved up the Google machine and searched for “funny sneaker”, and right away, a “funny sneaker” meme popped up. I figured it couldn’t hurt to check it out (even though I had no clue what a meme is), and you could have colored me surprised when Google opened up a whole new world to me: the world of sneakerheads. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the term “sneakerheads” is a real adjective used to describe collectors of classic “sneaks”, or, to further clarify, here’s how the literary virtuoso Urban Dictionary puts it:

It is a known fact that the optimum monitor placement would locate users monitors equal distance from the user’s eyes in order to minimize the need for the eyes to refocus when looking from screen to screen, thus reducing eye strain. 

With all the hype about sit to stand desks and how "sitting is the new smoking." It makes a person wonder, "what are the benefits of switching from a fixed height desk to a height adjustable desk?" That's a great question! And if you are looking to make a case for height adjustable furniture in your office or work environment, use this blog as a resource, ammunition for your cause, post it in your break room, or email it to your boss! Whatever you use it for, I hope you'll find the information valuable and useful.

A friend at a communication center in San Diego recently told Xybix that he’s been working with monitors he cannot move. I asked if I could take pictures of a gentleman’s “system” and he was kind enough to let me. I mean hey, it’s not his fault; if you don’t have the tools at your disposal to be able to see what’s on the monitor, what are you supposed to do?

Focal depth is how far your monitor is from your eyes. The adjustment of that depth  or focal depth adjustment, allows you to move those monitors nearer or farther from your eyes to better see the screens. It is not a fancy add-on for your workstation. It’s not a luxury. Really, it’s about being able to see what your screen projects. If you have to look at those screens for 10 to 12 hours, doesn’t it make sense that you find a way to do so without stressing your eyes?

As a radiologist, it's no doubt that you spend a rather significant amount of time at a desk, behind a computer. The physical toll it takes on your body has to have crossed your mind. Not only do you risk becoming ill from germs on your keyboard and work surfaces, but you can also injure yourself. One of the most common preventable injuries amongst someone who spends a significant amount of time at a desk is related to the placement of the keyboard. Keyboard orientation is important to reduce muscular skeletal injuries. Whether sitting or standing, maintaining neutral alignment of the wrist along with an approximate 90 degree forearm-to-upper-arm relationship will significantly reduce the opportunity of injury.