Neck pain from 24 iMac?

I just picked up a new iMac, 24 inch monitor. After working on it for 2 hours, I realized that the hieght of the screen is too high and I am not ergonomically correct. Standing in the store, it worked fine, the right hieght. Is it just me that it is set up too tall? What have others experienced with these larger monitors? Othr suggestions?? I have adjusted my chair up, but it still seems a strain.

a saw may come in handy.
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WJBart

I had the same problem with the 20" and the 24" is even worse... I thought that I was going to have to forgo an iMac but I can raise my chair just enough to compensate. Otherwise I get terrible neck pain. I also had to raise my keyboard and trackball... I am 5'10".

If you cannot do that then you can add an external monitor; the 24" Dell I was considering has around a 7" range for height adjustment. The bottom of the LCD can be lowered to where it almost touches the table-top. Apple's LCD have no height adjustment so they are out of the running for me.

The lack of ergonomic adjustments on the current flat-panel iMacs is a serious defect in my book. The panel should have some provision for vertical movement; a tilt adjustment is of little use to anyone.

Well, in apple's defense, an imac is not a monitor, and I think that's as low as you can go and still have ample air intake through the bottom. My 24" white imac is only about 3" above the desktop, anyway. I can't imagine that it could get enough air circulation with any less than that.

To the OP, chair height is the way to go, even if you need some kind of footrest. Or else find a way to get the screen farther away from you, if possible.

I use a desk mount - works perfect, took it off the stand and on to the mount. Or you can wall mounted and pull it back and forth, up and down.

http://www.macmall.com/macmall/shop/detail.asp?Redir=1&description=Ergotron%2DLX+Desk+Mount+Arm+%28for+Flat+panel%29%2DMonitor+%26+Projector+Accessories&dpno=627143

Conchita said:

Well, in apple's defense, an imac is not a monitor, and I think
that's as low as you can go and still have ample air intake through
the bottom. My 24" white imac is only about 3" above the desktop,
anyway. I can't imagine that it could get enough air circulation with
any less than that.

To the OP, chair height is the way to go, even if you need some kind
of footrest. Or else find a way to get the screen farther away from
you, if possible.

Click to expand...

Can usually only raise the chair so much before your knees are too close to the keyboard tray or desk itself.

Conchita said:

Well, in apple's defense, an imac is not a monitor, and I think
that's as low as you can go and still have ample air intake through
the bottom. My 24" white imac is only about 3" above the desktop,
anyway. I can't imagine that it could get enough air circulation with
any less than that.

Click to expand...

Agree with you, also remember that the speakers rely on deflecting sound from your desk, so changing height would worsen the quality.

Also to the OP... how can you blame Apple for having your system set up incorrectly? Sorry, but I do agree that they should implement some sort of height adjustment to improve the ergonomics of the display, as well as a good few other things, but surely at the time of purchase you knew about this?

Anyway, this might help, haven't read it for a while but it seemed to all be quite good when I last looked at it...

http://www.openexchange.org/archives/AMJ04/diamond.html

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http://www.adeyjdesign.co.uk

Are the white iMacs height adjustable or do all iMacs have this issue?

I just got my new 24" iMac on Friday and noticed the same thing. I am 5'4". My chair doesn't go any higher so I got a seat cushion and use that.
This iMac is a thing of beauty.

-Denise
--
Play Like A Champion Today
'Remember the qualities that form the foundation of success:
discipline, self-confidence, determination and perserverance'
Ara Parseghian

I agree with the earlier poster that a good solution is a swing arm mount. Take the iMac off it's stand and attach it to the swing arm. Put it wherever you like it.

On the other hand, I wear progressive lenses. Therefore, at a 24-30" distance, I am always looking at the screen through the lower third of my lenses. This causes neck strain. Solution: get an inexpensive pair of single vision computer glasses. Look thorugh the middle of them.

--
Only my opinion. It's worth what you paid for it. Your mileage may vary! ;-}
http://www.dougwigton.com/

Have to agree re the glasses! I had an 'on-line' pair made up the last time I changed my progressives: these got rid of the neck strain in short order.
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David Jenkins
Kelowna BC Canada

The fastest, easiest, cheapest thing to try is the suggestion to push your monitor further away from you. Obviously, this isn't a good solution if you're near sited. If not, give it a day or two to see how it feels. If it puts your monitor at the right distance to keep from straining your neck, it may be something you adjust to quickly.

Physical ergonomics is hard to get a feel of outside your real world setting. I don't think experiencing it in the store with a concerted attention to that particular detail (even if you took measurements of your desk at home and at the store to compare) would result in a sure thing. It's like buying a mattress. Sure you can lay on it in the store for a while and think it feels great. Until you actually sleep on it a night or two, it's very hard to tell . . . same with an office chair, shoes, bicycles, jeans, guitars, the list goes one. Don't listen to the, "you should have been known better before you bought it" comments — that's just ridiculous, sometimes you just don't know 'till you live with it a while – same thing even goes for significant others ;-)

You can think of an iMac as a monitor with a computer attached to it, or a computer with a monitor attached to it, or maybe it's a motorcycle minus the handle bars, seat, motor, wheels, and exhaust but with a motherboard and a magic colorful 'etch-a-sketch-monitor-like-thingy' in place of all those things. What difference does it make? It is what it is, when you buy an iMac you buy a monitor.

adeyj said:

Also to the OP... how can you blame Apple for having your system set
up incorrectly? Sorry, but I do agree that they should implement some
sort of height adjustment to improve the ergonomics of the display,
as well as a good few other things, but surely at the time of
purchase you knew about this?

Anyway, this might help, haven't read it for a while but it seemed to
all be quite good when I last looked at it...

http://www.openexchange.org/archives/AMJ04/diamond.html

Click to expand...

Grant Hutchins said:

Don't listen to the, "you should have been known better before you
bought it" comments — that's just ridiculous, sometimes you just
don't know 'till you live with it a while

Click to expand...

I was saying that the op knew about the imac screen not moving up and down, not "should have known better"- unless I missed something and you weren't trying to quote me?

What I meant is that surely when you play with it in the shop, you realise that it has the same sort of movement as the g5 imacs? That's one of the things that struck me when I first tried moving the screen around.

Anyway as to seating position, I'll quote what one of my university ergonomics lecturers once said in a reply to the question what is the best seating position (I'm an industrial designer, so not talking utter BS!)-

"The next one!"

It is advised that you change seating position every 30-45 minutes, standing up for a minute in between and stretching and moving all your joints around.

Hope that clears up any confusion,
Adrian

--
http://www.adeyjdesign.co.uk

You're right. Where do I trade mine in?

--
Only my opinion. It's worth what you paid for it. Your mileage may vary! ;-}
http://www.dougwigton.com/

This may fall under the category of too-much-information. I re-read my post. I see it's possible it read more harshly than I intended (at least to whom I was responding, and yes I was referring to your post). It was a response based on past experiences with my own purchases. I'm one of those idiots who analyzes every thing I buy to the point of decision overload. After reading a gazillion 'pro' and user reviews, after tons of agonizing and trying to imagine how it will perform; I've far too often bought what I think is just the right thing only to find it's way different then I could have imagined it would be in real use.

It's obvious the iMac has no height adjustment but it's hard to know if it's a deal breaker until you experience it. Apple made choices with the iMac that are a bit difficult to weigh as a buyer. Among others, they went with beautiful almost Swedish design aesthetics (and what I believe) is tempered with a compromise in cost vs. design. The iMac has a solid brushed aluminum base with an elegant (and simple) tilt but no height adjustment. Other monitors have tilt AND height adjustment. Apple's approach uses superior (IMO) materials and aesthetics off set by fewer moving parts and (I think) less production cost. Others ad more adjustability and consequently more moving parts with what I'm guessing is higher assembly cost offset by cheaper parts (plastic). If you know which you prefer then your ahead of the game. If you see equal advantages and disadvantages in your minds eye before you make your purchase, you're at the mercy of experience after the fact.

This can be attested to by the guitar center dudes who suffered my last umpteen visits in an effort to decide which of the identical Les Pauls I was attempting to choose from. I was trying to find the one that sounded the way I wanted, 'felt' the way I wanted, and had the least dings, scratches, and showroom ware — all that and I'm a mediocre on a good day, bedroom player at my very best. But what the hell, it cost a butt load and I'm not rich – I wanted what I wanted — the end result being that I felt I spent my money wisely. I ended up with a great feeling, great sounding (given my limitations) guitar with a bit more "character" via scratches and dings than I prefer for a brand new, full cost item. I can imagine how difficult it is to make a decision about something you use every day — the design and convenience of the iMac vs. it's ergonomics, plusses and minuses, and cost of an all-in-one. Now if only I could decide what color to paint my walls, which carpet to go with, and what tile to put in my bathroom . . .

Which one: office chair, shoes, bicycle, jeans, guitar, or significant other? I'd suggest one of the first 5 choices. The latter might cost you a pretty penny — if that's the case, might I suggest looking into the services of your local "legitimate business man" it could be easier on the wallet — JOKING, hate the game, not the playa ;-)

Cut a hole in your computer desk large enough for the stand to go through and fix something underneath for it to stand on. Wella

... even with all desk and chair height adjustments, at some point your knees hit the keyboard. Having said that, a 30" screen is probably almost as high as the 24" iMac.

I for one, six feet (1.825 cm) tall, raised my 20" CD by about 15 cm by putting books below it. This allows me to put a 15" MBP screen below it.

noirdesir said:

I for one, six feet (1.825 cm) tall, raised my 20" CD by about 15 cm
by putting books below it. This allows me to put a 15" MBP screen
below it.

Click to expand...

I read somewhere that the ideal monitor position was with the top of the screen at eye level and the screen slightly tilted backwards, so that you looked slightly down at the screen.

That's how I set up my work and home environments, each time with a laptop next to a 19" 20" screen, and I found it to be a very relaxing setup. In both cases, the external monitors are adjustable in height and are almost at their lowest position. Clearly, with 24" and 30" screens, this is going to be hard to achieve.

I'm not saying it is ergonomically ideal for everybody, but I find hard to believe that it is convenient to work with a 20" screen ON TOP of a 15" laptop screen.