If one is moving into a new Sydney office, space a lot of stress and possibly a lot of pain can be saved by setting things up correctly right from the beginning.

Before purchasing office furniture make a list of what is needed, and what features those items need to have.

If we start with a desk, the ideal office desk will be at least 750mm from front to back. That will easily accommodate both the keyboard and monitor. Otherwise the monitor is put at an angle from the keyboard. That angle will lead to shifting the neck back and forth from the keyboard to the monitor and can cause eye and neck strain.

When seated at the desk, the legs should fit underneath without rubbing on the underside. Be sure to check this. Some office desks have drawers that will be in the way of a comfortable seated position. The drawer can be removed in many cases, just make sure to also remove the hardware that held the drawer in place or the user may cut themself on a sharp edge.

Next is the office chair. A good client chair will provide back support, arm rests that allow the arm to be at a level just above the top of the desk, and should he able to be adjusted to the height requirements. If the feet do not touch the ground when seated, invest in a footrest.

The computer- The monitor should be straight in front when seated at the office desk. The top of the monitor should be at eye level. If the user does not have to move the head up or down to see the monitor, the neck is making that adjustment and will likely begin to experience strain. If the lighting in the office causes a glare on the monitor, a glare screen, can be considered to keep eyes from having to squint and work all the harder to make out the characters on the display.

The keyboard should be at the same height of the elbow when sitting up straight in the chair. If the user has a keyboard shelf, an extra drawer just below the desktop meant to hold the keyboard, make sure it has enough room to also hold the mouse. Otherwise the user will have to keep moving the hand from one level to another to operate the computer, and that can lead to arm, shoulder and neck pain.

Depending on the desk the user may want also want an additional wrist support to allow to type without asking the wrist to hold the arm above the surface.

When the mouse or trackball at the workstation is placed it should be as close as possible to the keyboard. When using this device the user should be able to keep the wrist straight. If not, the user needs to adjust the height of the mouse or trackball.