However, based on research, a review of prolonged standing in the workplace revealed that workers productivity and efficiency actually declined. The health effects and work related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD) are creating higher worker compensation costs, lost workdays and lowering employee morale as well as increasing numerous health risks.  Stress, both mental and physical can deter a workforce.

Here are ten steps you can do to maximize your health, productivity and safety at work.

1. Use an ANTI-FATIGUE MAT – this reduces muscle tension in the lower back, legs and feet.

2. DRINK PLENTY OF WATER – Muscles need water to recover

3. EAT HEALTHY MEALS – they give you energy to do the job

4. TAKE YOUR BREAKS – SIT DOWN – PUT YOUR FEET UP – skipping breaks leads to both mental and physical fatigue

5. STRETCH – to increase range of motion

6. STEP STOOL – put one leg up to take stress off lower back.  Shift your weight.

7. WEAR SAFETY GOGGLES – protect your eyes

8. WEAR EAR PROTECTORS – protect your hearing

9. WATCH YOUR POSTURE – stand up straight as much as possible.

10. BREATHE – when stressed, we all tend to hold our breath.  Remember to breathe and it will help your mind stay more alert, increase oxygen to the muscles and keep you focused and more relaxed.

Remember to drink PLENTY OF WATER.  (Your body is 70% water) Hydrate, hydrate and hydrate. This can’t be said enough.  A major reason for fatigue is dehydration.

Kate Montgomery

ERGOhealthy Coach

For more ergonomic and healthy solutions, go to ergohealthy.com

Resource:  A review on health effects associated with prolonged standing in the industrial workplaces by Isa Halim & Abdul Rahman Omar,  Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering, University Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Hang Tuah Jaya, 76100 Durian Tunggal, Melaka, Malaysia. Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.

This article was written and published in the April 2013 edition of Die Casting Industry Links Magazine. Author Kate Montgomery.

“Inactivity physiology — the study of what the body does when it’s doing nothing — is a relatively new field. Richard Rosenkranz, assistant professor in Kansas State University’s department of human nutrition, calls it “unexplored terrain that’s being carved out in a hurry.”

One of those studies on humans was conducted by Hidde Van Der Ploeg, senior research fellow at the University of Sydney’s Sydney School of Public Health.

His team looked at data collected from 200,000 Australians. It found that adults who sat for 11 hours per day or longer had a 40 percent increased risk of dying over the next three years — compared to people who sat for fewer than four hours a day.

“We think that prolonged sitting is bad for your cardiovascular and metabolic health,” Van Der Ploeg said. “It seems to be bad for your ACL cholesterol, your triglyceride levels and insulin sensitivity.”

As we have moved from the age of our grandfathers and grandmothers doing manual tasks, the technological age has created a workforce of people sitting 8-10 hours a day.  The CHAIR has become the culprit where what we sit in, reflects our discomforts.

80% of the American workforce sits at a desk

Sit as they drive to work – on a train, on the subway or when flying

Sit at their meals

Sit at a seminar

Sit and watch television or read

The medical expenditures for RMI’s amounts to billions of dollars annually!

Sitting has become a national pastime.  The body’s posture is molding to what ever you sit in – good or bad. Musculoskeletal disorders from sitting encompass neck and back pain, leg cramps, eye strain, abdominal pain, breathing disorders, symptoms of numbness and tingling, and repetition after repetition (RMIs), weeks, months and years has a cumulative effect on the posture of the body.

Any muscle discomfort adds stress to the physical and emotional body.  Poor posture such as slumping with rounded shoulders stretches ligaments, tendons and distorts muscles that extend to all 600 + muscles.  It impedes nerve flow and circulation, which results in symptoms of pain, spasms, cramps, loss of feeling, increased tension, numbness, tingling and loss of grip strength.

We all do this after sitting for long periods – we shift our weight in the seat.  Our skin and muscles while sitting tend to flatten out and the skeletal structure, the pelvis and buttocks, presses into the muscles.  Any fat you have and the muscles move out of the way, eventually leaving the skin as the last barrier between you and the hard surface of the seat pad.

As we shift our weight, the skin sustains high pressure thus reducing blood flow.  The longer you sit, the more muscle tissue moves away from the bone increasing pressure on the skin and bone.  The first symptom you may notice is a burning in your buttocks, then achy legs and calves, upper back wanting to stretch more often, back pain, neck strain and more.   If you do not get up and move about and the burning persists, the skin begins to die and it is akin to an eventual bed sore.

***The word here is to get up every hour and move, stretch and drink water to rehydrate your muscles.

A good chair will give you good posture.  It has to be adjusted correctly to fit your body. It can do wonders to a person’s productivity, focus and concentration and emotional well being.

Things to remember:  Ergonomics is a science and no two bodies are the same.  It is necessary that you adjust the chair to fit your size, height, and breath and to make sure that you can sit comfortably without those nagging symptoms.

At ERGOhealthy, we work to help you to increase your productivity and emotional wellbeing.

***Next time I will talk about how to adjust the chair.

Kate Montgomery is an ERGOhealthy Coach

www.ergohealthy.com

Resource: ergoteacher.com/scienceofsittin

Illustration by Ryan Inzana

After reading the article by Beth Braverman, Money magazine – Be There – Even When You’re Not, the cartoon depicting a home office isn’t too far off.  I know many remote workers who stay in their PJ’s and bathrobe while making those early morning pacific coast calls.  It is nice to say you can do all your work in the privacy of your home, but eventually will there be musculoskeletal consequences to pay?

Just to critique the above gentleman, ergonomics looks like it left a long time ago. Posture, what posture? That chair looks like it came from recycling – lower back pain is there by now; crunching the phone to his ear pressed by a shoulder – a stiff neck and misalignment of the cervicals…where is the phone headset? And that keyboard pushed far back on the desk – the hand resting on the desk… has his carpal tunnel shown up yet?  And that over- reaching with his leg – hip issues are coming.  And the overreaching for his coffee, hope he doesn’t trip over the cat!

Seriously though, repetitive strain injuries (RSI’s) also called musculoskeletal disorders (MSD’s) are the leading cause of ergonomic Worker Compensation (WC) costs. You can change the furniture but until you look at the whole equation of the work area + the Human Body, it is not a complete evaluation to cut these spiraling WC costs.

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) defines MSD’s as injuries and disorders of muscles, nerves, tendons, ligaments, joints, cartilages, and spinal discs. MSD’s are caused by excessive and repeated physical stress on the musculoskeletal system – the hands, wrists, elbows, shoulders, neck, and back.

• According to OSHA, the average cost per incidence of an MSD is estimated to be $12,000, which includes lost work with full wages, replacement wages, lost productivity, and medical treatment (not including surgery). If surgery is required, the average cost bumps up to $43,000 per incidence according to the American Society of Orthopedic Surgeons.

However, these figures DO NOT include the effects of these injuries that are not always easy to see:

• The hidden costs due to slower production, lower quality, job retraining, unemployment, and long-term disabilities.

• Or the lifestyles of millions of people that are affected every year due to the pain and discomfort of these unfortunate injuries; Workers with severe MSD’s often are unable to return to their jobs or even manage the simplest of tasks, such as combing their hair.

Resource: http://www.hermanmiller.com/hm/content/research_summaries/pdfs/wp_ergogoodnews0503.pdf

• An abstract on Office Ergonomics and MSD’s showed a decrease in MSD’s due to ergonomic training.

Applied Ergonomics, Vol.44, No.1, pp.73-85, 2013 ~ Office Ergonomics Training

Even if you work at home, design a work area that is both ergonomically safe and efficient and will keep your body from crying out in discomfort after two hours.   The less WC costs for your employer and the possible loss of your job due to having an office like the one up above. Bodily discomforts add up and can reduce your productivity.

Here are a  few suggestions that could save your body much agonizing discomfort:

Buy a comfortable chair that fits your body. Remove the arm rests, use a foot rest if necessary, have good lighting, use a document holder so you don’t look down while typing briefs, adjust the backrest to support your lower back, and the knees and arms should be at 90 degree angles.  At ERGOhealthy, we use this picture to illustrate proper seated posture while sitting at your desk.

Kate Montgomery owner of Body Maintenance 101.com is a musculoskeletal therapist and a Coach for ERGOhealthy. Our experts work with insurance brokers and companies and deliver online cost effective ergonomic analytics and evaluations with personal service for 6 months.  Visit us at ERGOhealthy.com to learn more.

By Tony Schwartz ~ New York Times ~ Opinion Pages

THINK… Is this you rushing to work? Not a minute to spare?

 Golden Cosmos

THINK for a moment about your typical workday. Do you wake up tired? Check your e-mail before you get out of bed? Skip breakfast or grab something on the run that’s not particularly nutritious? Rarely get away from your desk for lunch? Run from meeting to meeting with no time in between? Find it nearly impossible to keep up with the volume of e-mail you receive? Leave work later than you’d like, and still feel compelled to check e-mail in the evenings?

“More, bigger, faster.” This, the ethos of the market economies since the Industrial Revolution, is grounded in a mythical and misguided assumption — that our resources are infinite.

A very good article  to remind us to slow down.  Bigger, faster does not make us more productive. Stop and Smell the Roses!   Kate Montgomery ~ ERGOhealthy Coach

Read the full article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/opinion/sunday/relax-youll-be-more-productive.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Including: Workers’ Compensation, Tax Issues, And Compliance with ADA and OSHA Regulations

Telecommuting is defined as using telecommunications technology to allow employees to work from remote locations (including the field, while traveling, or most typically from their homes) instead of commuting to a conventional workplace at a conventional time.  By definition, telecommuting decentralizes, defying conventional notions of how work, workers and the “workplace” are structured.

Workers’ compensation concerns and the fact that it is often unclear precisely when telecommuters are working, when are they preparing to work, and when they have temporarily stopped working.  In addition, there have been some cases where employees requested telework arrangements as a “reasonable accommodation” under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Read the full article by Ken Winter

vtrc.virginiadot.org/rsb/RSB12.pdf

Kate Montgomery ~ ERGOhealthy Coach

In today’s workplace, the ergonomic work area has changed.  More and more employees are telecommuting, using a laptop, notebook, or a smart phone to stay in touch with clients.  This technological change will begin to create new musculoskeletal problems for the employee. No longer will he or she sit at a desk with the correct chair, correct height of the desk, a footrest, or ergo mouse.

Instead they will be sitting in Starbucks bent over pounding away at their laptop, or texting overusing their thumbs, or on a Smartphone or sending new communication on their iPad.  Posture goes out the window and musculoskeletal injuries begin to arise.  What will the employee of the future look like?  Poor posture, hunch back, overreaching, gorrilla arm, increased musculoskeletal injuries of the arms, wrists, hands, fingers, neck, shoulders, and upper back and lower back.

Can you picture  what the work force will look like of the future? What the medical costs will be? Its crippling effects?

The time is now to begin a preventative program.  Be aware of posture and the risk you are posing to your Body’s health and well being.

Kate Montgomery ~ ERGOhealthy Coach ~ Musculoskeletal Therapist

1. Studies indicate that ergonomics interventions (self assessment, one-on-one evaluations, training and ongoing coaching) have the greatest impact on preventing musculoskeletal injuries and disease, reducing discomfort, improving productivity, and reducing ergonomic injury costs.  With a $365 annual investment for an employee earning $65,000 annually, the 1 year ROI is 534% with the payback period in 2.2 months.
2. There is a minimum 5% savings gain allowance for productivity:  If a worker is in their “comfort zone,” we assume a gain of 3 minutes per hour of productive work because of eased work related pain and discomfort.  Over the course of one year for a full time worker, that’s a gain of 100 hours.  For a workforce of 3000, that gain is 300,000 hours or equivalent to 150 full-time workers.
3. Cisco and Accenture studies (10,000 employees participating in survey)
   • Employees in persistent discomfort – pulled off task 5 minutes out every 15 minutes
   • Lost time/day/employee:  2.6 hours;  Lost time/week/employee:  13 hours

Finding an employees “comfort zone” is cost effective and cutting WC costs.

Steve Thompson, ARM

ERGOhealthy.com

Below are some areas in the office environment where ergonomic problems are commonly found, and some ideas on improvement.

1. Adjustable chair adjusted to fit you
2. Commonly used office items (monitor, documents, keyboard, mouse, and phone) are positioned close to you
3. Adequate lighting and minimal glare
4. Take short and frequent rest breaks, and do gentle stretches to keep your muscles limber
5. Move your eyes frequently and focus them away from the screen
6. Ask for assistance and/or medical advice if necessary.

Chairs

Maintaining good posture while using a computer is your primary defense against fatigue and stress. This doesn’t mean that maintaining the same posture throughout the day is necessary. In fact it is good to vary your sitting postures. It is also a good idea to get out of your chair frequently and move around. Even if it’s for a minute at a time, it’s helpful.

While sitting, it is important to be comfortable. This is a personal issue, and everyone is different, which you should recognize when considering an office chair. In addition, a chair should have sufficient adjustability to allow for various postures during the day. Chairs should have adjustability in the seat height and depth, backrest height and seat tilt. Armrests are not necessary (nor recommended), but if they are desired they should be adjustable in height and width.

Monitors

Your monitor should sit directly in front of you, and in line with the keyboard. A twisted working posture may lead to discomfort. Also, the top of the screen should be at or a little below eye level, as it is natural to look slightly downward. When determining monitor distance, place it at about arm’s length, and then adjust according to your comfort level. For bifocal wearers, read the Vision section.

If the job requires privacy while working, instead of rotating your monitor to one side, consider a privacy screen, which will allow you to keep the monitor directly in line with you and the keyboard.

Finally, keep your computer screen clean by wiping it very lightly when needed with a paper towel or special cleaning solution.

Documents

If the job requires working from paper documents while at a computer, it’s important to keep them as close as possible to the computer screen, and at about the same angle. This will eliminate a twisted working posture, and also put the document at an easier to read angle.

For frequent users of documents, consider using a document holder. There are ones available that place the document to the side of the monitor, between the monitor and keyboard, and even some that can hold books. Consider your personal preference and job needs when looking for one.

Keyboards

The position of your hands and wrists on the keyboard is important. The keyboard should be at or slightly below elbow height, and parallel with your forearms. If it is possible to slope the keyboard (although not necessary), make it a slightly downward slope (the front of the keyboard is higher than the back).

This may sound unconventional, but the idea is to keep your wrists straight (in a neutral/natural position of function). In other words, if the keyboard is below elbow height, a downward sloping keyboard allows this. If your keyboard has feet on the back that prop the keyboard up, make sure to lower those feet, in order to keep your wrists straight.

Adjustable keyboard trays can be helpful in this regard (although most times not necessary). Individual factors (height, weight, and amount of keyboard and mouse use) will determine if the use of keyboard tray is the right solution.

If you type frequently and do not touch-type, consider taking a typing class. You can alleviate the annoyance of having to shift your eyes from the keyboard to the monitor, which, if done repetitively, may lead to discomfort. Also, you will become more productive. It is also beneficial to learn shortcut keys (versus using a mouse for every command).

Mouse

The mouse should be positioned as close to the keyboard as possible, and at about the same height, as they are normally used together. You want to avoid reaching to get to the mouse. It is also advisable to avoid resting your forearm or wrists on a sharp edge or hard surface as this constant, direct pressure may lead to discomfort.

It’s best to use an oval style mouse and consider rotating mouse use between the right and left hands every 30 days. It is the most effective way to maintain long-term ergonomics success.

There are other alternatives to using a traditional mouse, such as trackballs and touch pads; however, they are stationary and don’t allow for rotation.

Phone Use

If the phone is a commonly used item at your work area, keep it within comfortable arms reach, so it’s easy to get to. If you have the tendency to cradle the phone, consider getting a hands free headset, as cradling the phone between your head and shoulder strains the muscles in the neck and shoulder. A headset will also allow you to work with both hands while conversing on the phone.

Lighting

Your work area should have moderate, indirect lighting. Lights in front of you are hard on the eyes while lights behind you produce reflected glare. To minimize glare, position your monitor so it’s perpendicular to or below the light source, use window shades, or tape a piece of cardboard across the top of the monitor to act as a visor. Glare screens can reduce glare if needed.

Vision

If you wear glasses or contact lenses, keep them clean. For bifocal wearers, it is important to be aware of your monitor height. Consider placing it at a lower height than normal to avoid tilting your head back, which may lead to neck discomfort. It might be beneficial to consider a pair of computer glasses.

Good tips to avoid eyestrain: Blink often, and take frequent rest pauses. Close your eyes for a minute, refocus by looking away from your monitor at something in the distance, and roll your eyes up and down, left to right.

Rest Breaks

Short, frequent breaks are more beneficial than longer, more infrequent ones. Sitting for more than two to three hours without moving can put stress on the body. Breaks can be as simple as standing up and walking around your desk three times. You should also break up your sitting period by walking to the water fountain, printer, etc.

Exercises

Here are some tension-relieving exercises that you can do throughout the day:

• Tightly clench your hand into a fist and release, fanning out the fingers. Do 3 times.
• With elbows straight, bend your wrists back as far as they will go, hold for 3 seconds then extend wrists as far as they will go. Do 5 times.
• Stand up straight, place your hands on your hips and bend backwards at the waist, gently. Do 5 times
• Touch the fingertips of your hands together just behind the top of your head without letting your hands touch your head, move your elbows in a backward direction, hold 5 seconds then relax. Do 3 times.
• Tuck your chin in while keeping your eyes level; hold 3 seconds and then relax. Do 5 times.
• Roll your head in circles, stretching more toward each shoulder. Do 5 times.

Additional Exercises

• Cubicle Calisthenics

Steve Thompson is president of Aspen Risk Management Group and ERGOhealthy. Contact Steve at: 619-294-9863  or www.ergohealthy.com, or www.aspenrmg.com