WORKPLACE ERGONOMICS

Is the study of the workers and their workplace environment.

In the late 1980s businesses began to recognize how much the physical work environment impacted the health and productivity of its workers.

Did you know that improper use of your chair, monitor, keyboard, mouse, and lighting in the office can cause physical harm to your body and sense? Here are some of the symptoms you may be experiencing, as well as their causes:

Adjusting your Workstation Helps Keep You Focused and Alert at Work and Pain Free:

--Chair Adjustment (Preventing Posture Discomfort):

•      Adjust the height of your chair so as to leave about 5cm of space between your   thighs and the bottom of your work surface.

•      Check to see whether your feet lie flat on the floor.  If not, use a footrest.

•      Your backrest angle should be between 95 and 100 degrees relative to the seat of the chair.

•      Adjust your backrest height so that the lower third of the backrest fits into the arch of your back.

•      The edge of the chair should be about 5cm away from the back of your knees.

•      Knee angle should be between 90 and 100 degrees.

•      Adjust the armrests so that elbow angle is between 90 and 100 degrees.  When resting your forearms on the armrests, you should feel that your shoulders are relaxed.

--Monitor Adjustment (Preventing Eye Strain):

•      Your eyes should rest at the top of the monitor or up to 10cm below eye level.

•      Distance between your eyes and the monitor should be between 55 and 70 cm according to personal preference.

•      Monitor should preferably be tilted 5 degrees relative to vertical.

•      Adjust monitor lighting and brightness to optimum setting.

•      Periodically clean your monitor to remove dust caused by static electricity.

 --Keyboard and Mouse Adjustment (Prevents Wrist Pain):

•      While using the keyboard, bend all of your fingers slightly and try to avoid excessive strain on any finger.  Tap the keys lightly.

•      Do not rest your wrists on a pad or any other surface; your fingers should float above the keyboard.

•      Keep wrists straight, both horizontally and vertically.

•      Keep your upper arms perpendicular to your body and close to your sides.

•      Keyboard should be parallel to the desktop.  When typing for long hours, keyboard should be at an angle of -5 degrees to the surface of the table.

•      Rest the palm of your hand on the mouse and click on it lightly.

Work-site health programs, which include exercise, benefit companies by decreasing health care costs, decreasing  occupational injuries, improving employee performance, boosting morale and decreasing employee turnover and absenteeism. 

Chiropractic care boosts your energy levels so you may perform your daily work activities with more umph!

It is one of the simplest ways to maintain the health of your body.  Numerous studies have shown that people who receive regular chiropractic care suffer fewer illnesses, injuries and degenerative diseases, and they report a better overall quality of life.