If you wear progressive lenses like I do, you may be plagued by computer-generated neck pain. For me, this occurs when I move my head around to read the screen on my desktop computer.
Fusion
In 2006, an unexpected diagnosis of Atlantoaxial Instability led to surgery. The fusion of my first two cervical vertebrae meant that I had to wear a (hot) cervical collar for twelve weeks. As a result, I have to be careful with my neck; it impacts how I turn my head and even how I sit.
Where I sat in a movie theatre, when I used to go to them, mattered. With hearing loss, I need subtitles. When movie theatres finally turn them on, I’ll do an “Arnold” – I’ll be back. I needed to sit near the centre and at the back so I wouldn’t have to torque my neck, either from looking from the side or up at the screen. Forget about making eye contact with my seat mate in a car or on a plane, for the same reason. The fusion has even affected how I swim. Now, whenever I swim front crawl I use a snorkel. Better that than stressing my neck with bilateral breathing.
A Solution
When I work on a desktop computer, “bobble head” comes to mind. In order to read the screen, I do a lot of head bobbing to see through the middle distance portion of my progressive glasses. For those who don’t know, progressives are made with three fields of vision: close up (reading), middle distance (computer work) and distance (out and about).
Fortunately, I found a solution. In order to minimize my head bobbing, I ordered a pair of middle distance single-vision glasses. What a difference this has made! I can now look at the entire screen and eliminate the head bobbing.
