Elevate Your Home Office by Taking a Stand Against Sore, Aching Necks

Spearheaded by Niels Diffrient, the industrial designer who dedicated his life to engineering solutions in service of a healthier human body and often cited as the father of ergonomics, the Humanscale quick-reference guide remains a thoughtfully authored resource in understanding the relationships between the objects we interact with and our health. If there is anything from the Humanscale guide applicable to our lives today, it’s the section focused upon the relationship between our heads and a line of sight. Ideally our eyes align with our screens so the head is neither tilted too far upward or downward throughout the day (ever so slightly downward is preferable to upward) – the source of soreness in our neck, shoulders, and back. Alas, many of us operate daily with our necks strained in one direction or another even though the solution is a supremely simple one most of the time. By elevating our screens to eye level, a great deal of bodily stress can be erased.

Which all makes Compustand’s range of computing stands for desktops and laptops a “no-duh” solution. Of course, a pile of books can suffice, but the Simple Monitor Stand is a more elegant approach toward a permanent solution rather than a haphazard fix. We also appreciate it bears a resemblance to the wooden serving platforms used at a sushi bar, except supersized to accommodate monitors and all-in-one desktops in either 30- or 44-inch widths, and in a range of five color options.

There’s also a laptop stand with dimensions designed to accommodate for those forgoing an external monitor, but are seeking to bring the laptop screen up to proper eye level.

But our favorite design is the 44-inch Shelf Monitor Stand, as it not just elevates the screen to ergonomic eye level, but also offers a sleek and slender addition of storage for items like laptops, tablets, peripherals, and notebooks.

Compustand stands range in price from $49 to $159 depending upon width and depth.