Researchers had subjects use the iPad 2 and the Motorola Xoom and studied the angle of their necks and other body postures during different types of use.

They found that setting the tablet device up at an angle, resting against its case, was the most likely to promote good posture. Other ways of holding the devices, such as on the lap and hunching over to view it and using both hands on the screen, were more likely to result in scrunched shoulders and neck pain.

Though tablets are very popular, ergonomic testing has not yet caught up with their widespread proliferation so as to provide recognized guidelines for promoting healthy user posture ("Can Tablets Give You a Pain in the Neck?" Breitbart.com, Jan. 25, 2012).