QUESTION: Ever since I put a computer on my desk, various parts of my body have been in pain. What can I do to feel better? Our firm has also noticed that the improvements we thought we would get in improved efficiency have not been realized. Have we missed something? What have we done wrong?

ANSWER: Besides taking the pain reliever of your choice, there are a number of things you can do to improve your situation. A well-designed work area with well-designed furniture and suitable lighting will help you work more efficiently and comfortably. Most office furniture was not designed with computers in mind. Most desks are not the right height for a computer keyboard or monitor. In fact, no one has really thought about how offices today should be designed, except for partitions or how office space is used.

A recent radio program spoke about how we really use our houses. The advice was to eliminate formal dining rooms and enhance the daily dining area on the premise that this is where the family eats most meals. The same philosophy should apply to our offices, since we spend even more time there.

If you’re planning a move in the foreseeable future, you might want to rethink your office design and furniture to take advantage of newer ergonomically designed products that can make your work area more effective.

In many retrofitted law offices, monitors are placed on an angle on the desk, forcing users to twist their body to work on the computer. Even recently redecorated offices may not have anticipated making room for a mouse next to the keyboard. While replacing all your furniture is a drastic solution, you should consider technology in designing your office if you plan to move during the next few years. Assume that monitors will be a little bigger and there may be some new components we haven’t heard about yet that you’ll want near your computer.

Suitable lighting also is a major factor in improving your comfort. Glare from windows can cause eye strain which, in turn, can lead to headaches. Larger monitors have lessened some of the eye strain that older, smaller, monochrome monitors caused. Make sure the light isn’t too bright, which could make the screen harder to read.

Don’t overlook adjusting the angle of your monitor. This, too, can improve your productivity. In fact, there are a number of minor adjustments you can make to your work area to improve your situation. Your computer should be directly in front of you — not to the left or right, which literally can cause a pain in the neck.

Part of IBM’s Internet site at www.pc.ibm.com/us/healthycomputing/ has a lot of useful information along with an animated checklist.

Some of the suggestions on the checklist include: Your chair should have arm rests; your feet should be able to be flat on the floor; your chair height should be adjusted so your thighs are parallel to the floor; your chair should have a backrest that supports your lower back; and your elbows should be parallel to the keyboard.

Positioning yourself

Good posture is the best way to avoid computer-related injuries. Your computer should be positioned so the monitor is directly in front of you and allows you to have your shoulders relaxed and your head vertical rather than leaning over. You should not have to reach excessively for commonly used items around your desk. You should consider attaching a keyboard and mouse drawer to your work surface. Choose one you can adjust for better wrist support, letting you use the mouse and keyboard with your upper arms relaxed and as close to your body as possible.

While working at your monitor, you should be 20 to 26 inches away from the screen; your work area should be at a 40-degree angle and the monitor should be tilted back at a 10- to 20-degree angle. The top of the monitor should be at eye level and you should adjust brightness and contrast to be comfortable. Make sure your monitor is clean and position it to avoid glare from windows or lights.

Your computer mouse can be another source of pain. Many people simply use the pointing device that comes with the computer. You should splurge and spend $10 to get a mouse pad. Mice, to work properly, need a little traction under the wheel. If you’re feeling discomfort in your hand or wrist, your mouse may be the problem. Experiment by trying another style mouse or consider purchasing a track ball.

Essentially, a track ball is an upside-down mouse. The large ball in the middle of the track ball moves the mouse pointer around just as the ball on the bottom of a mouse does. There are several different designs for track balls. Generally, I have found the best ones are the largest. For people who have trouble getting the mouse pointer exactly where they need it on the screen or mastering the double click required for many Windows programs, a track ball can be a major improvement.

Laptops generally come with a track pad. This uses your finger to move the mouse pointer around and you can press your finger harder on the pad to simulate a double click. If you really prefer a track pad, you can buy one for a desktop computer too. Regardless of which mouse you use, make sure you use it with your upper arm relaxed and as close to your body as possible.

Ergonomics

You also can purchase ergonomic keyboards. Most of these look like someone stretched out the space between the middle keys. The Cornell University web site, ergo.human.cornell.edu, is another excellent resource on ergonomics in the workplace. According to the Cornell site, these keyboards can be a disaster for people not trained to touch type. The design only addresses a condition called hand ulnar deviation, but research has shown that vertical wrist posture is much more important than keyboard design. Researchers concluded that “for most people, a regular keyboard design works just fine if it’s put in the proper position. Overreaching for an ergonomically designed keyboard or mouse defeats any benefits of these designs.”

What about wrist rests? According to the studies mentioned by Cornell, no one has demonstrated any substantial benefits for wrist rests. If you want one anyway, select a broad, flat surface rather than a soft one. Your hand should be able to glide over the surface while you’re working. Similarly, there is no consistent evidence that wearing gloves or braces helps reduce pain or injury. There is, however, some evidence that wearing wrist supports at night can help relieve symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome.

In my experience, one of the best aids to healthy computing — and again avoiding a pain in the neck — is the use of a telephone headset. While you could use the speaker phone on your telephone, a headset sounds more professional and will better ensure your client’s confidentiality since, at most, an eavesdropper in your office would only hear your side of the conversation.

Telephone headsets come in a wide variety of designs. They can be a small ear piece, a single ear piece, a double ear piece like stereo headphones and can be attached to your telephone. They range in price from $70 to $400 and there are even versions that work with cordless telephones and come with accessories like extension cords to improve their use. The best resource for headsets is the Hello Direct catalog, 800-444-3556 or www.hellodirect.com.

Work area layout

The layout of your work area also will depend on how much and what programs you use on your computer. For example, if you use your computer primarily for word processing, both your keyboard and mouse will be critical components and their optimal placement will be paramount. On the other hand, if you spend your time surfing the net, putting your mouse in the best position should be your priority. Finally, if you are the bookkeeper, billing clerk or do a lot of data entry, you want to be able to access the keyboard or number pad on the keyboard without discomfort.

Finally, the ergonomics experts at Cornell University suggest you “take a break.” It’s a good idea to take frequent, brief breaks from working in front of your computer. Every 15 minutes or so, you should look away from the computer to a distant point, preferably more than 20 feet away, to give your eyes a break. You should make a point to blink your eyes during your breaks. Generally, when you type at a keyboard, you tend to work in bursts. Between these bursts of activity, you should rest your hands in a relaxed position. Every 30 to 60 minutes, you should take a longer break — stand up, move around, get some coffee or water, get a file, talk with a colleague or do something else. Moving around will help you from feeling fatigued.

Software upgrades

As for your expectations regarding software upgrades, you probably started with unrealistic expectations and didn’t get the right kind of training or assistance to allow you to improve your firm’s work. Even when a firm is moving from one Windows version of software to another, the failure to take time to study the new features can sabotage the upgrade. In a busy law office, it is too easy to simply install the new version and continue working the same way as before. While we all complain about the bloated nature and extra features of each new software version, some of these features are intended to solve problems we’ve had with prior versions. For example, many people had trouble with the implementation of automatic paragraph numbering in earlier versions of both WordPerfect and Word. Both vendors have improved that capability in current versions and have promised even better options in upcoming releases.

If your firm is upgrading from a much older version to a new one, you undoubtedly will find that procedures you developed to work around limitations in older versions have often been solved in the latest edition. For example, firms using both file names and numbers were often frustrated by the single client nickname in older versions of Timeslips. Implementing the second nickname would allow your firm to search for clients by name or number and print reports the same way.

Finally, the biggest mistake I see law firms make when upgrading software is to fail to take a good look at the general procedures in the office that work in conjunction with the particular software. I recall an anecdote from a lawyer whose firm installed a local area network for the first time. Prior to the network, the billing clerk was required to make four color copies of each bill sent to clients. The copies were for the accounting department, the attorney, bookkeeper and client file. Without thinking about why all these copies were needed, the firm purchased a dot matrix printer for the billing clerk so she could continue to make the extra color copies.

Had the firm spent some time investigating the reason for the procedure, it would have realized the copies were required when the firm did not have a network and had to relay the billing information separately to the attorney and bookkeeper. With a network version of billing software, anyone with the proper security can access clients’ records and determine their billing history or other information.

Poor planning

Examples of poor planning around an upgrade abound. Despite technological improvements over the years, there still are law firms that insist on creating a custom pleading caption with lines across the top and bottom and a row of colons surrounded by Xs. While there is no court that requires a pleading to look like this, many law firms have stuck with this design, despite the difficulty setting it up because that’s how it’s always been done. Ironically, this design dates back to the typewriter era when there was no way to duplicate brackets from printed forms on a typewriter. The row of colons was meant to close a box. In case you’re still using this type of pleading caption, you might investigate the table function of your word processor and switch to a box with straight lines around it.

Another one of my favorites is the stubborn insistence that law firm bills be mailed in individually printed envelopes instead of window envelopes. The amount of time spent preparing envelopes each month is totally wasted. Most clients don’t even see the bills their lawyers send. Even when they do, they wouldn’t refuse to pay because they weren’t impressed with the envelope it came in. Ask yourself, “When was the last time I didn’t pay a bill because of the envelope?”

In migrating from DOS versions of word processors to Windows, you also may save yourself a lot of trouble by determining what functions you automated through macros in DOS that no longer need to be handled as macros in Windows. For instance, in WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS, you had to create an envelope macro to print envelopes efficiently. In Windows, there is an envelope function you should add to your firm’s toolbar to provide easier access.

Carefully planning your upgrades and examining your firm’s procedures will allow you to make better use of the technology and come closer to meeting your firm’s expectations.

Carol L. Schlein is president of Law Office Systems, a Montclair-based training and consulting firm specializing in law firms. She formerly chaired the Computer and Technology Division of the ABA Law Practice Management Section. A lecturer for ICLE, she can be reached at (973) 746-6454 or carol@losinc.com.

Questions for Carol Schlein on law office technology may be faxed to New Jersey Lawyer at (732) 750-0010 or mailed to “Law Technology Questions,” New Jersey Lawyer, Koll Corporate Plaza, 485B Route 1, Suite 100, Iselin, N.J. 08830.