Ergonomics
Ergonomics is all about examining a person's work environment and "fitting the work to the worker".
Most of us spend a considerable amount of our working lives at a desk or workstation, doing tasks that involve awkward postures and repetitive motions. It is important to be aware of our posture at our workstation and the injuries that may occur because of it:
Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI)
RSI is the term related to injuries arising from workstation and desktop environments. These occur most frequently in the neck, back, shoulders, arms, hands, wrists and eyes. Symptoms may include:
- Muscle fatigue
- Weakness of the hands - loss of grip strength and reduced motor control
- Muscle Stiffness
- Pain or tenderness
Bodily Posture:
To avoid putting your body under more strain than is necessary it is important to maintain a neutral body position. A good rule of thumb for achieving this is to try and maintain the "right angle rule".
- The rule is simple; keep your joints bent at natural right angles.
- This means that the bend in your knees, the bend at your hips and the bend at your elbows should all be approximately 90 degrees.
General Tips for your work station:
Physical Therapy is a "hands-on" treatment approach, each session is 50 minutes in length and patients should be aware that a thorough medical history shall be taken from all clients.
- Place the items you use most the closest to you. This will reduce unnecessary reaching and twisting.
- Right-handed people should keep the phone on the left side of their desk (and visa-versa)..
http://www.bu.edu/ehs/ergonomics/selfhelpguide/introduction.html