published 6/26/04, updated 5/03/06

Unconventional Ergonomics

Five creative ergonomics tips you don’t hear as much about as the usual stuff

by Paul Ingraham, Vancouver, Canada MORE

Credentials and qualifications

I am a writer and retired Registered Massage Therapist (unusually well-trained for a massage therapist, a 3000-hour program). I’m almost done with a Bachelor of Health Sciences degree. I am a peer reviewer for The Natural Standard, and a copyeditor for Science-Based Medicine. My most important qualification is more than a decade of workaholic post-graduate study, clinical experience, and constant conversations with readers from around the world, including many experts who have provided countless suggestions and criticisms.

For more information, see: Who Am I to Say? More information about my qualifications, credentials and professional experiences for my readers and customers.

Often massage therapy is like fighting a losing battle: an hour of therapy per week versus ten hours of work per day. In these cases, treatment does little more than “take the edge off” and remind people that they need to take better care of themselves, maybe not work so hard … and possibly improve your ergonomics at work.

Ergonomics is the science of arranging or designing things for efficient use. Unfortunately, ergonomics is usually interpreted unimaginatively, with the result that most people think that ergonomics is just about choosing office chairs and changing the tilt on your keyboard. Lots of things can be said about office chairs and the tilt of your keyboard — but it’s only the tip of the ergonomics iceberg.

What a perfect comic strip I found! This perfectly illustrates what I’m trying to say: that conventional ergonomics solutions may be missing the point, and often get out of hand.

What discussions about ergonomics usually miss is that long work days in a chair are just a fundamentally bad idea — no matter how good your chair is. Ergonomics should not be focussed on ways of making people more comfortable with a bad situation — almost a conspiracy against workers — but rather on improving the situation. Conventional ergonomics, when “arranging things for efficient use” — tends to exclude the most important thing in your workstation: you!

The consequences of ergonomics that ignore you range from the irritating to the traumatic. This fascinating collection of videos of ergonomic disasters has some examples.

This article offers a quick look at some ideas from a better, more worker-o-centric kind of ergonomics, and “arranging” a few things other than your workstation.

Tip No. 1: Be active

Without a doubt, the single most problematic “design” feature of most of my client’s lives is a lack of frequent and diverse activity throughout the working day. If you are glued to your desk for hours at a time, getting up and moving around for at least one minute in every fifteen will make a significant difference in your health. This is called “microbreaking,” if you want the buzzword.

Is this ergonomics? Damn straight it is: if ergonomics is the science of arranging things for efficient use, then what’s more important than arranging yourself? Right out of your chair! Your employer’s short-sighted priority may be to have you in your chair as much as possible — in the name of efficiency! A better priority is to have you moving around so that you don’t ruin your body in your chair — which would be terribly inefficient!

Tip No. 2: Choose good shoes

I can’t imagine a better example of how misplaced ergonomics priorities can be than the secretary who practically goes to war with her employer to get the right chair, keyboard, mouse and desk … but wears high heels. Of course, men are generally less stubborn about this issue, but we also need to pay more attention to the quality of our shoes.

Insensible footwear is another classic culprit in a wide variety of conditions from head to toe — yes, shoes can affect your back. Please, if you value your health, wear good shoes! As ergonomics advice goes, good shoes are much better bang for your buck than the right office chair. Incredibly, even in the Twenty-First Century, women are still willing to sacrifice health for fashion. Good shoes:

are flat, or have very little heel
have arch support
have cushioned insoles
provide good traction
stay on the feet easily

Tip No. 3: Help your eyes

Surprised? You shouldn’t be! An obsolete prescription for your glasses is one of the most common causes of tension headaches. An update can work small miracles. Sunglasses can also provide relief from eye strain. One client provided a less obvious example recently: he wears trifocals, and must tip his head back to view his computer screen through the narrow bottom viewing area of the glasses, a postural disaster. Solution? A pair of reading glasses — computer glasses, that is. As your optometrist for other ideas about how to ease eye strain.

Tip No. 4: Use a chair, a stool and a wobble cushion

Most ergonomics consultants — and ergonomic office chair manufacturers — would have you believe that what you really need is an especially good chair. But consider: do you really want a chair that encourages you to remain seated in it? The real hazard of modern life for most people is stillness itself, not the position in which you are still. All positions are a bad idea in six-hour doses, no matter how ergonomically correct. I have gone so far down this line of thought as to wonder if it would actually be a good idea to work in an uncomfortable chair, for the obvious reason that I would be less likely to sit in it for long stretches!

This tip is actually compatible with conventional wisdom, however. An uncomfortable chair might discourage me from sitting in it, but I wouldn’t get much work done. As long as I have to work I would like to have a good ergonomic chair, and I recommend the same to you — buy the best, it’s a lot cheaper than pain — and there’s lots of great information about that out there. There, that should keep the ergonomic chair lobby happy.

What you won’t hear anywhere else, though, is that you should also get any old cheap stool or second chair, as well as a wobble cushion such as a Disco ‘O’ Sit or Sissel Balance Fit, and then alternate between four sitting methods throughout your day:

chair alone
chair with wobble cushion
stool alone
stool with wobble cushion

Now you’ve got some variety, and that alone is worth as much as the best chair money can buy, for a fraction of the price.

Tip No. 5: Get a headset telephone

The ubiquitous headset telephone is a major troublemaker, yet is routinely ignored in the average egonomics assessment! Headset telephone technology has become much more effective and affordable in the last three years, and of course headsets are standard for people who work in call centres where the issue is paramount. Meanwhile, Joe Office Worker is on the phone almost as much, but usually pinching a handset between ear and shoulder — and you’re worried about your chair?

If you spend a lot of time on the phone — and approximately more than an hour a day would qualify as a lot — you can’t afford not to use a headset. Based on my personal experience, I recommend that you avoid phones designed as headset telephones, and instead simply purchase a good cordless telephone and plug a good headset into it. You can find sturdy headsets at Radio Shack.

And as a bonus, here is a quick review of some conventional ergonomics advice …

Bonus Tip: Improve your computer work station

There are many well-established basic rules for how to use a computer to minimize repetitive strain injuries and fatigue. IBM publishes an excellent guide (see Healthy Computing) to setting up your work station. It seems like almost everyone seems to need to do this. Even I rearranged my desk when I read up on the subject! Here are some of the highlights …

a flat keyboard with wrist support
screen at a distance of about two feet
looking downward at a screen tilted slightly upwards
an inclined footrest