By LANIE PIMENTEL
petunia5043(at)gmail.com

Ergonomics in the office.

“What?” One might ask. So I shall repeat. Ergonomics. According to Ergonomics.org, the term is derived from two Greek words: “ergon,” meaning work and “nomoi,” meaning natural laws. Ergonomists study human capabilities in relationship to work demands. In other words, it is the study of techniques to make one’s body perform to the maximum capacity with the least amount of resistance.

Studies have shown that good posture can help alleviate stress on the body. Sitting in one place for hours at a time causes unnecessary stress on the body. It all begins with how your desk or workspace is set up. The idea is to keep your body in a neutral position. This is a comfortable working posture in which your joints are naturally aligned. Working with the body in a neutral position reduces stress and strain on the muscles, tendons and skeletal system and reduces your risk of developing a musculoskeletal disorder (MSD).

According to the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) there are four basic neutral body positions: upright sitting, where the torso and neck are approximately vertical and in-line and the thighs are horizontal, while the lower legs are vertical; reclined sitting position, where the torso and neck are straight and reclined between 105 and 120degrees from the thighs; a declined sitting position entails that the user’s thighs are inclined with the butt higher than the knee and the angle between the thighs and the torso is greater than 90 degrees. The torso is vertical or slightly reclined and the legs are vertical; and standing., where the legs, neck, torso and head are in line and vertical.

Since these descriptions may be hard to visualize, OSHA has described each position and included diagrams on their Web site — http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/computerworkstations/positions.html.

The idea here is that you will not be applying pressures or stresses to your body throughout the day, making sure your chair is at the correct height to your desk and keyboard, making sure the computer monitor is at the right height to your eyes and that the chair you sit is in supports your lumbar and neck. Things you probably would not even think of!

People have designed products and techniques to help get employees through the day with as little stress to the body as possible.

Let’s take a look at some productions on the market now.

Let me start off by saying, some this stuff is not cheap. Unfortunately, it’s probably the biggest reason why companies won’t supply these products for employees, even administration types who spend eight plus hours in front of a computer — an ideal candidate for these productions and who need them!

BodyBilts K3500 Management Chair with True Rocking Motion and Headrest is a chair that is designed to hug every part of the body by adjusting to every part of your body. If one will sit all day in front of the computer, a chair could be considered one of the most important tools of the job. The wide back of the chair is designed to support the back fully along with the headrest. The seat curvature spreads the hips and thighs to help keep the back and spine aligned.

WorkRite Sonoma Select Height-Adjustable Tables are great because they can adjust to any height while sitting. What makes this thousand dollar workstation so great is that the table will raise so that you can work at it from a standing position. The people over at WorkRite know that variety of poses and flexibility help take the strains off of everyday working positions. Now, after a few hours, you can stand at your desk and get some work done.

A vinyl-matter footres, like many others on the market, is a footrest. When sitting at a desk, these adjustable rests help to promote good posture.

We have just scraped the surface. Join me next week when I explore more ergonomic tools and tips to make your day more stress free!

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 27th, 2007 at 12:01 am and is filed under The Workplace. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.