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People doing technology-intensive work may have several elements that provide proper support for their wrists, backs, and eyes. However, these elements lack concordance. They don’t work in concert, so changing postures requires the person to adjust each one separately. This is further complicated by ergonomic guidelines that base the design of work areas on an upright seated posture. If the person wants to work in a reclined posture—which has been shown to offer health benefits—moving puts everything out of alignment. What is needed is an easy, coordinated way for a person, his or her chair, desk surface, and technology to remain in alignment as the person moves through a range of postures.
The computer is a wonderful thing. So much so, that people—whether working hard or playing intently, at the office or at home—are mesmerized by it. Focused use over a long period of time isn’t the problem so much as the inactivity it fosters. That’s because the human body is made to move.
Research has clearly established the health benefits of postural change when seated:
• Muscle movement serves as a pump to improve blood circulation (Schoberth, 1978).
• Movement of the spine nourishes the intervertebral discs through hydration (Holm and Nachemson, 1983).
• Continuous movement of joints is therapeutic for joints and ligaments (Reinecke, 1994).
By contrast, at the workstation level, computers and computer furniture are largely static. As Dr. James Sheedy, Director of Optometric Research for Pacific University’s Vision Performance Institute notes, “The main problem with the computer display is
that it’s fixed in space, and you’ve got to adapt to it visually
and posturally.”
For the purposes of studying the seated human body at work, ergonomists have identified three postures based on the location of the body’s center of mass: reclining, upright, and forward leaning.
The dominance of forward/upright postures when computing is dictated by the practical need to view the computer screen. Physical therapist Eileen Vollowitz describes this tendency as “the eyes always win.” That is, the sitter commonly—and often instinctively—sacrifices good postures and the associated proper support in order to see his or her computer screen, even if the resulting posture puts stress on the body.
Constraining movement and sitting in a posture with no support strains neck, back, shoulders, and arms. As a result, prolonged interaction with computers is contributing to higher costs associated with time lost and workers’ compensation claims.
To combat the pain of sitting awkwardly—as well as the tendency to sit too long in static postures—people add support elements. These range from keyboard trays to highly adjustable chairs to work surfaces that adjust vertically to movable monitor arms. As good as each of these is in promoting healthy postural change, a problem persists: They lack concordance because they do not work in concert.
To read more from this article, click here.
A special thanks to Becky Peters of Work Squared for submitting this article regarding ergonomics!
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