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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

Try sitting on a pillow. Extra cushy!

Posted By: certainly! on 2005-10-11
In Reply to: you guys crack me up. Can you give me - cowgirl

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Can they do surgery extra fast? What do they do with the extra glove in the pack?
;+
Extra shift or extra work
Has anyone taken on an extra job or shift with a new company for a just a few months to get out of debt or to be able to pay for something that is needed or wanted?  I am thinking about taking on another job to get out of a stressful debt situation.   I am just afraid I would be going into another stressful situation working more hours with the very busy family schedule I have.
I have a big old pillow or two.
I sit on one and have the other behind my back. I wish I could take the seat out of my blazer and type on that all day. :-)
I just use a pillow
for back support
How about a neck pillow you can
That can help sometimes; you can even make one. Just sew up a tube and fill it with beans or rice. Or maybe you could get someone to massage your neck to loosen up those tight muscles? If nobody is around to do that for me, I sometimes stand under the shower with hot water or take a long soak in the tub with Epsom salts. Also, those neck rotating exercises help loosen up tense muscles sometimes. Hope it gets better; I know the feeling well. If it's not the hands, wrists, or arms, it's the back, neck, or butt.
Put a small pillow on it and ..
lay it on the armrest, just under your elbow. Just a little pressure will press the mid play section. Ease up to stop.


I used a pillow. I placed part of it on the
the keyboard tray so I wasn't having to chase it around.   You could also get something to put under your desk to put your foot pedal on.  The old wooden Coke crates are great.  There are adjustable keyboard trays.  Part of mine broke and I'm limited in what I can do with it, but could go up and down, tilt it, go sideways.  You could go to a store like Office Depot where they have various things setup and see if anything would work for you. 
I use a pillow that I prop against either my desk or my

keyboard tray and then put my keyboard on the pillow.  It helps my fingers, wrists, back, and shoulders, which helps my production.  I find that I sit back with back against the chair, which helps ease shoulder and back discomfort. 


I use a standard-sized bed pillow and isn't too fat or firm. 


Try using a standard-sized bed pillow

instead of a board.  I put the pillow on my keyboard tray or I prop it against my desk.  My posture is better and you aren't banging on a hard surface.  It helps with wrists, elbows, and shoulders.


It may take a day or two to get used to.  I found a sort of quishy pillow works better than a very firm pillow.  I don't have problems with the keyboard bouncing off.  I've also had the pillow up again my chest (I have a large ledge - LOL) and I type with the keyboard angled down sometimes.  The pillow supports my forearms that way and relieves the stress on my shoulders/back. 


 


I do the same thing. Put a pillow/cushion in my lap
and type away.  I had purchased an ergonomic keyboard and simply could not get used to using it.  I read on one of these boards about somebody putting their keyboard in their lap.  I tried that with my ergo keyboard and now I love it.  It's really hard to type on a flat keyboard now.  Typing with my keyboard in my lap is much easier on my shoulders and back, too.  I usually have one leg propped up on the hard drive of my computer, too.
Try propping your pillow against your desk or

or keyboard tray.  I'm short and not much lap, so having it in my lap doesn't work for me.  I don't have issues of chasing my keyboard when I prop the pillow.


I think a sort of squishy pillow works better.  If you have a fat one I think there is too much bounce in it and then you will be chasing the keyboard.   


Thanks for the pillow suggestions; the frontal

nm


I changed my pillow to a memory foam and
that has reduced my neck pains and headaches a lot. I also have a memory foam neck pillow I bought at Wal-Mart.
I prop a pillow on my keyboard tray and then

put my keyboard on the pillow.  You need a sort of squishy pillow, too firm and it doesn't work.    I find that it makes me sit with my back against the back of the chair and it also helps with pain in fingers, wrists, and shoulders. 


I use a standard bed pillow - foam not feather. 


Any time I travel and don't have room for my keyboard I use a pillow in my lap or prop
it on the edge of the desk.  I find it also takes some of the stress off my wrists and I tend to sit straighter in my chair.  Takes a bit getting used to, but if you travel with your own pillows you can use your own and it won't be so bad.   You could also go to one of the office warehouse companies like Office Depot and look at their keyboard trays.  They may have some that slides or clamps onto a desk that would work for you. 
I wedge a small pillow between me and the armrest on each side for my arms to rest on.
;L
Well let's just say I'm sitting here without
work, which is a typical day for me. Does that help any?
re: sitting on leg
Please, try to break this habit.  I sat on my leg for years and years and my neurologist has told me he forbids his patients to sit on legs, cross anything but the ankles!  This because of all the peripheral vascular disease, sciatica and DVT's.
Pet sitting
I make good money at it and it is fun
Sitting
When I started transcribing, I had a lot of problems with sitting. I am a pretty fidgety person, so I can't usually work without at least a 5-minute stretch every hour, 2 hours at the absolute most. I did a lot of research into office ergonomics, & one of the most helpful things I found was this:

Q: What is the best sitting position?
A: The next one.

So I try to not stay locked in one position for a long time.

Also when I first started working, I started getting 4th & 5th digit numbness. This can be an ulnar nerve compression or a disk problem. I tried to look at how I was positioned at my desk, & what I discovered is this: The higher my monitor, the worse my neck pain was, because the more I would round my back & crunch my neck (chin jutting). There are a lot of places selling things that lift the monitor higher, & this is the exact opposite of what I needed. Also I need to have my knees lower than my hips in order to avoid the tendency to round my back.

The chin jutting/back rounding was pretty obvious, but I wasn't sure what was going on with my wrists. Anyway, I took the shotgun approach & immediately got a downview desk (monitor is under glass), a modified "kneeling chair," (I removed the knee rests but use it for the seat tilt), and a Kinesis keyboard.My chair does not have any back rest at all, & yet I am so well balanced that I am very comfortable without it. I had some wedge-shaped foam cut and occasionally I use this as a seat cushion. It helps maintain the hip tilt & gives my butt a rest.

After I made these changes, my numbness disappeared completely in a couple of weeks and has never come back, & I've been doing this work for around 6 years with the same setup.

Can't help you with the hair loss issue.

Hope this helps.

Sitting all day...
You can look forward to your backside expanding as well!  The more years that go by, the wider I get! 
When it comes to sitting all day, sm
I have been at this 15 years. My backside is actually SMALLER then when I started. I have not become obese at this, quite the reverse. It is all in what you do when you are not sitting at your desk.

You actually DO need to get up and at least stretch, hourly anyway and you need to have an actual break every 3 hours, that being 15 minutes or so. You also need to break to eat lunch. No one expects you to sit for 8 hours straight, nor should you.

I remember being a new MT and the excitement of the work and what I was doing, and my pleasure in it and trying to do it right, etc. meant I didn't want to get up. I was trying to find that magical flow. I did, but I developed less than great working habits. You are new, learn to balance. Having a break can renew your spirits, your energy and reduce your stress.

Hair loss is probably not work related so have that checked out. Hypothyroidism, lupus, etc cause it.
Sitting
I have a bad back, if I go to school for medical transcription, is there any way to cope with prolonged sitting? WHat kind of chair do you use? What do you do?
Tired of sitting
I can stand to sit for just so long and then I have to get up and move around. Sitting and pounding a keyboard makes me more exhausted than if I was doing something physical. When I am doing something physical, I feel much better and am not as cranky.
As if we don't do it enough sitting at the computer! (sm)
If I do transcribe while I am dreaming I surely don't remember when I wake up. I'm usually passed out the second my head hits the pillow. Don't remember a thing when I wake up. Heaven Forbid!
Ha, sitting here waiting
for work!
New MT problems with sitting all day?
I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this.  I am new to MT and not used to sitting at the computer all day or a big portion of it, and lately my neck has been hurting (more than usual) and also my hair seems to be coming out more?! My husband says it's stress from everything? Any suggestions, or is this normal starting out?
Sitting like this all day is so bad for us. Plus, tinnitus is no fun...(NM)
dd
Sitting waiting right now....
I guess this gives us time to chat on MTStars.
Yep. I was falling asleep sitting up.
I went to the neurologist, and he put me on Provigil. Works pretty good. I'm also switching to an earlier work shift.
After years of sitting down and getting 1 job an hour....
I finally got out.  They don't care if 300 people type 50 jobs a day or 3000 people type 1 job a day.  Makes no difference to them.  Hey, if you don't make their minimum line count, they don't have to provide you with benefits, so it's a win-win if you don't get much work.  I can only hope that a company that cares that little about their employees will eventually implode upon itself.  It took me over a year of scouring the employment opportunities at the local hospitals before I finally got a job with a hospital.  For the first time in 17 years of doing MT, I feel like somebody.  I was also fortunate enough to get a job that has all their MTs at home telecommuting, so it's best of both worlds.  I know that isn't possible for everybody, but maybe if enough people "bail" on these nationals who HAVE all the hospital accounts, and they're left with inexperienced "typists" who will eventually mess up the work so bad that the hospitals get mad, maybe hospitals will go back to having their own department where at least they have some quality control over the finished product.  That's my hope for this profession.
She is sitting at home with her husband
I think it's foolish to ask such a question here.
Sitting here shaking my head
Can't believe how many people can't see through this obvious bunch of crap.
sitting here working, oblivious
when a friend called and asked if i had the tv on. She said 'turn it on'. And stayed glued to the tube for a long time, switching emotions....
Again I am sitting here twiddling my thumbs
and waiting for some work. I started with this company about six months ago and was told I would do a number of reports per day. Well that has not happened. Most of the day I spend waiting for work, and I am not making any money while sitting here. I notified the company about a week ago that I need more work and they are supposedly looking into it, so my question is how long should I wait? Has anyone else had this problem, and how did you handle it? Thanks in advance.
I have 4 of those machines sitting in my storage....sm
I'm sure I have that info.  I will check tonight when through working and will email you.
I do pet-sitting and have bred yorkies.

o


Office Max. Seriously, it's like sitting on a cloud.

and it's microfiber.


You will have bigger worries than us sitting in
x
Sitting here waiting for work
I hate it when this happens.  Sitting here waiting for a job to get into the pool.  This is so stupid.
I am also sitting here with no work again from Amherst. I dont believe this.
:
I'm sitting here so freaking annoyed and can't stand it.

My freaking family has got me totally upset that all I can do when I sit and think is cry.  My mom came into a little bit of money and I've sat back and watched all my family members keep going and asking for money.  My brother talked to my son about a truck (my son needs a truck and went and looked at this one), my brother then got the money for the truck from my mom and bought it.  My other son is driving a car that has been dying for a year and is on it's final last legs but keeps driving it, hoping it doesn't die on him, while my mom goes and buys a car for my niece who has failed out of 2 years of college and is failing out of her 3rd year while working a part-time job where she can't even afford the insurance.My mom bought a new car and sold her old one to my sister for a really cheap price.  ALL of this because they run over there with their hands out while I just can't lower myself to it, so I sit and cry because I watch my mom give expensive gifts to family friends for their birthday while my own son got a card, JUST a card.  Perhaps it's jealousy, but more than that I'm feeling bad for my own kids (who I wish I had the money to take care of their problems) but don't run to grandma with their hands out.  Both my sons work hard full-time and by the time they pay their student loans from college they don't have 2 nickels to rub together, but they won't beg grandma's money away.  I'm TOTALLY proud of them for that but just find myself feeling bad that I can't do more for them and that my mom doesn't even look their way to see if she could be of help.  It totally SUCKS and I'll complain here and sit and cry, but I'll never tell her how bad it makes me feel.  I bend over backwards for her, ALWAYS have, and still will, even though my kids get the short end of her kindness stick. 


Thanks for the place to vent!  Maybe now I can stop crying and get back to work.


I am sitting here splitting my sides after reading your
comedy post. I absolutely love those dirty jokes and can hardly wait until my better half gets home to read to him. He will love also. Thanks for a perfect end to this otherwise dull day.
I struggle every day with whether or not I can take another take of sitting here..I feel socially is
I've gone back and forth so many times. When I'm home, I cant wait to get back to a job outside the house, and when I do that, I want to be back home. I've done it about 3 times in the past 2 years.  Some days I just sit here and stare at the computer wondering how much longer I can do this before I lose my mind. I immediately get another job outside of the home but ended up hating it every minute and come back home. I've just come to the conclusion that I'm tired and plain burned out. I really just want to do something different..like travel and enjoy life...this working stuff is for the birds. I think it makes it harder on me too that my husband is "retired" so he does what he wants when he wants to and I just work, work, and work with no quality of life. I told him I want to be him in another life LOL..Anyway, your not alone. Every since I have been doing this at-home stuff, I've ended up with a depression problem and I wonder how much comes from not being able to separate work from home and social isolation. Well back to work.. 
I tried to deduct price of deck by sitting out
x
This is fun, Happy. A very small sitting room SM
off our kitchen is my office. Windows wrap around a corner, and a small old mahogany desk with drawers, of a type you've all seen many times, looks out over the northwest half of our hill and, like Lynn, the birds and other critters who live here with us. No closet, but an old cherry sideboard and hutch holds an amazing amount of stuff. I Google almost everything these days, so no books, paper, etc, needed at the desk. The room's in soft yellows and reds, some favorite paintings and chochkas. Right now your betta and snail are seeming the height of drama; my cats don't do much besides lay around and occasionally narrow their eyes at the birds. A loveseat and spring rocker do always await anyone who cares to come interrupt me, though. :)
Yep, I am rich, that's why I sitting here typing in the middle of the night!
Of course when I'm done, I'm gonna hop in the limo and have Jeeves take me to NYC to breakfast and get my hair and nails done.  Wanna go?  There's room in the back.  I mean, it is a limo!
In other words, pay no attention to that big ole elephant sitting in the middle of MQ
lawsuit and SEC mess and just keep transcribing.  Now that's upbeat.  Don't believe your lying eyes and everyone else is wrong about MQ but you. 
I do dog sitting but screen owner and pets carefully. I won't take just anyone.
:)
Actually, I'm sitting here waiting for the Dell technician to come to my house.
He's going to replace the CD-R drive in my computer, but I already told him it's not the drive.  It's either the cable or the motherboard.  I know this, because I took the Dell CD-R out of the computer and put it into my old computer.  It worked.  And when I took the CD drive out of my computer and put it into the Dell, it didn't work.  But hey, I'm just a stupid female who only has a computer science degree and 10 years of technical experience.  Let the dude from Dell figure it out, then it'll take forever to get the right parts here.
Nope. Not after sitting in an office chair for 15 years

with earphones stuck in my ears all day.


At least this way if I go to get a drink, I don't hear all about what this one said or that one said, blah, blah, blah.