Ergonomic Tips

In our current society, more and more people are working at deskjobs. Although these jobs are mostly sedentary, there are inherent stressors that can lead injuries. Here is a brief overview of some physical stressors and ergonomics adjustments that can reduce your chances of developing injuries.

• Wrist injuries: If you do a lot of computer typing or mousing, you are at risk of developing repetitive stress to your wrist muscles and tendons. To decrease the stress, try to keep your wrist neutral while typing or mousing. If you type or mouse with an angle to your wrist, you place extra stress on your wrist tendons. Some support at the wrist may help with keeping your wrist neutral if you have a high keyboard but be sure to not have constant pressure on your wrist all day.
• Back injuries: Sitting can actually be more stressful for your back than standing. If you sit a lot during the day, be sure you have an adjustable ergonomic chair with good lumbar support. Your low back has a natural curve (concave) that is often reserved when sitting (convex or “slouching”) without good support. This can lead to increased stress on your back muscles and joints. If you have a good chair with lumbar support, make sure you sit back and support that natural curve to reduce stress.  If you do not have good lumbar support, try to find support with a different chair or back rolls. Also, be sure to take microbreaks every 30 mins. Stand up, stretch and then back to work!
• Neck injuries: This is particularly important if you work on a laptop or multiple computer screens. Your neck is designed to sit on the vertebrate (neck bones) without leaning forward or turned for extended period of time. Often that is the case when working on computers. Our heads lean forward or turn to the side and place a lot of stress on the muscles and joints in our neck.  To reduce this, try to keep your main computer screen at eye level. If you use more screens, completely turn your whole body if you are working more than 5 mins on that screen. If you are using laptop for more than 30 mins, try to get an extra keyboard so you can place the laptop screen at eye level.

I hope these tips help with reducing your physical stress at work. If you have more ergonomic questions or if you are already feeling symptoms of pain at work, be sure to visit an healthcare professional at Form and Function. We can help relief your pain and address any other ergonomics questions or issues that you may have.

Manni Wong
Registered Physiotherapist