Ergonomic Issues and Products Blog

Archive for the ‘Ergonomic Advice’ Category

The other day I had a new patient shuffle into my San Diego, California office asking for chiropractic treatment.  He was bent over 45 degrees at the waist, complaining of lower back pain and saying “Doc, Why do I have back pain?  I have no idea how I got this way but I am having trouble standing up and sitting down, can you help me?”

This is a common new patient presentation in our office.  More often than not, the typical back pain patient can’t recall a specific cause of their back pain.  Sometimes the pain has advanced enough to affect the nervous system resulting in sciatica nerve pain (leg pain).

Patient’s like this always want an explanation as to how they got the way they are.  Most of my patients have followed a typical course on their way to experiencing back pain.

The joints, muscles and ligaments that allow movement, move the body and provide stability in the low back are among the biggest and strongest in the body.  This being the case, it usually takes a significant single injury to damage these structures.  A hard fall, car accident or a long day of strenuous lifting are examples of single events that can cause back pain all by themselves.

However, most cases of back pain are caused by cumulative stress.  Cumulative stress usually comes from bad posture like excessive sitting, poor lifting habits, awkward sleeping habits, etc.  Cumulative stress, also known as repetitive stress, takes place over months or sometimes years.

The bottom line is that most back injuries arise from events that seem small and insignificant by themselves but after months or years of exposure to these stresses they lead to irritation of the joints and muscles resulting in back pain.

Once this process has begun, a severe case of back pain can arise from something as simple as picking a sock up off the floor or reaching for a cup of coffee.

Unfortunately for you, the little things that you do on a regular basis that stress your back don’t become apparent until after you are in pain.  I always advise my patients to pay special attention to the specific activities or movements that aggravate their backs while they are in pain.  These are the activities that are often responsible for the cumulative stress that I discussed at the beginning of this article.

Joints are complex structures that in most cases are very durable and work without pain.  However, the process described above can happen silently, over time, resulting in severe back pain and / or sciatica for the person who has ignored proper care of their back.

We are bound to spend a great deal of time in front of our computers.  Do yourself a big favor and examine the ergonomics of your desk, chair, monitor and mouse – fixing little problems now could help you avoid major issues in the future.

Here’s To Your Health

Dr. Jones

Economic Mouse Pad
San Diego Chiropractic
Pain Relief San Diego Chiropractic

(619) 280-0554

Have you ever noticed how tight your neck, upper back and shoulders are after a long day of sitting at the computer?

There are a number of factors that contribute to this tightness. Simply the stress of deadlines, an overbearing boss or an annoying co-worker can make your shoulders rise up and your head push forward. And this stress is the result of just the emotional stress of work. When you add the real physical strains of a poorly designed work station on top of the emotional stresses that already exist you have a perfect recipe for a repetitive stress injury.

A large part of designing an ergonomically friendly workstation revolves around limiting the “reach” for items that are frequently

The distance that you have to reach for any object in your workspace can have major implications on your health. In general, workers should have the items that they use on a regular basis through the day such as the mouse and keyboard for computer users or the telephone for a receptionist or a sales person, positioned close to their bodies so as to avoid awkward or overreaching.

As a general rule, the best positioning for your keyboard and mouse allows you to operate them while your shoulders hang straight down at your sides and elbows are slightly extended. This position reduces the stress of overreaching and allows for completion of your tasks with less muscular effort.

There are many ergonomic apparatus that allow for proper placement of your computer input devices. Pull out keyboard trays, split keyboards, ergonomic mouse platforms and even foot controls help reduce the ongoing stresses of computer input.

Even with these devices, it takes awareness to maintain an ergonomically friendly work environment.

For a nice selection of ergonomic office products you can visit www.comfortkeyboard.com.

Here’s To Your Health

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Yours Ergonomically,
Steve Jones

Ergonomic Office Supplies

San Diego Chiropractor

(619) 280-0554

Who cares about their mouse pad?  Most people don’t even have one – but they should.  Mouse use is a major contributor towards the development of numerous repetitive stress syndromes and the kind of mousing surface that you use can either reduce or contribute towards your level of stress.

Originally mouse pads were a simple fabric covered piece of neoprene that was intended to provide traction for the “roller ball” type mouse.  The fancier pads had pictures or printed designs on them but didn’t really address the impending ergonomic needs of the person who would be using the mouse with more frequency than they ever imagined.  

Later on, as mouse use started to contribute to / cause carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis and other symptoms related to excessive mouse use, some companies started to make mouse pads that have a gel-filled wrist rest that was intended to eliminate some stress that mouse use was causing.  The one major flaw design that these mouse pads carried was the wrist rest itself which hampered movement of the mouse and caused direct pressure over the carpal tunnel, compressing the delicate nerves that feed the hand.

Another short fall of the current ergonomic mouse pads is that they don’t address the most stressful issue of mouse use which is reaching for the mouse.  When I first started developing the idea for my Ergo Nav Mouse Pad, the sole intent was to eliminate the reach to the desk for the mouse.  After speaking with the patients that I was treating for carpal tunnel syndrome, I found that reaching for the mouse was the common thread that all of them found to be at least a moderate if not severe source of aggravation of their symptoms. 

A good ergonomic mouse pad has to be adaptable in order to reduce stress and help eliminate or prevent symptoms.  Since the Ergo Nav Mouse Pad not only places the mouse close to your body to eliminate reaching stress, but also is adjustable regarding tilt and rotation, it does represent a truly ergonomic mouse platform.  Please click here if you would like to know more about the Ergo Nav.

Happy Mousing!

Dr. Steve Jones

Chiropractor

www.ergonomic-office-supplies.com

Remember the guy who said work smarter not harder.  That is how we need to approach our work stations.  I am not talking about work per se, but the tools we use to perform our work – the mouse, the keyboard, the telephone, etc.  Of course, the reference here is to ergonomics.

By eliminating as much of the computer related stress as we can – in general we will assure ourselves more productive and more rewarding working careers.  Simple improvements such as an ergonomic keyboard, a comfortable mouse, comfortable positioning of your mouse and keyboard and proper placement of your phone and / or ten key pad can make a big difference in the aches and pains that you take home from work with you.  Most of these improvements are inexpensive and some are free.

A quick look around the internet (as well as a quick look through my other blog posts) will produce volumes of information regarding the basics of ergonomics and how to apply them to your particular work environment.

Since I am a practicing chiropractor I can tell you that I see more patients now who complain of injuries related to computer work than those related to any type of heavy labor.  Most if not all of these patients could have avoided their injuries by making a few simple ergonomic changes to their work stations. 

In these tough economic times you have to be proactive with your health and how it relates to your ability to work.  We have seen many injured workers over the years lose their jobs – don’t become one of them!  Many larger companies have ergonomics specialists who will properly set your computer for your height and body dimensions.  If you don’t have access to these specialists through your work consider hiring one.

Take Care,

Dr. Steve Jones

Chiropractor

(619) 280-0554

Ergonomic Solutions

Posture, stress and computers go hand in hand. 

Computers encourage poor posture which in turn causes stress.  Stress is that word that we use describe the muscle tension, headaches, neck pain, back pain and wrist pain that we feel as a result of all the demands we put on our bodies and brains on a daily basis.

There are a number of ways in which we can control our posture while we hack at our computers.  The first thing that we need to do is to focus on our posture.  Ask yourself some basic questions such as:  Is my head craned forward toward the monitor?  Does my neck feel stiff or tight after any specific job tasks? Are my shoulders rounded or held back?  Does anything hurt today?  If you have pain, can you associate it with any specific tasks?  How does my low back feel?  Is my chair comfortable?  Do I have any pain after work?

The first and most important action that you can take towards helping yourself regarding your own postural health is to become aware of your posture and concerned at the first sign of any discomfort.  If you feel pain or stress, address it, research it and find answers – aside from help from a professional ergonomist, there are many self help tutorials that will help you find solutions to the ergonomic shortfalls of your work station.  There is a simple guide here that will take you through basic dos and don’ts of computer work station set ups.

If you think you need an ergonomics specialist to identify the problem areas in your work station you should know that they are available and for what you get for your money, it is well worth the expense.   An ergonomics specialist will evaluate your work environment and prepare a report detailing problem areas and recommended changes.  The changes that they recommend could make a significant difference.

Yours in Good Health,

Dr. Steve Jones                                                                                                                                                                             (619) 280-0554                                                                                                                                               

 www.ergonomic-office-supplies.com

Anyone who has gone to an Office Depot or Staples or any of the other countless office supply stores has seen how many different office chairs that are available.

The question is, which one should you choose? One thing is for certain, as far as your back and neck goes, the color doesn’t matter. However, plenty of other features do matter and can determine how your back feels at the end of your work day.

There are specific brand names that manufacture high end chairs that cost in the thousands of dollars. If you decide that a chair like that fits your needs by all means buy it.

On a regular basis I hear patients comment in a negative way about the expense of ergonomic office products. My response usually draws a correlation between the costs of their vehicle versus the cost of a good office chair. Very few of us spend more than 8 hours per week in our cars that we spends tens of thousands of dollars on yet we often scoff at spending more than a few hundred bucks on a good office chair that we sit in for 8 hours per day. That is some backwards logic isn’t it?

That being said, you don’t have to spend a small fortune on a good office chair. My chair fits all of my needs and I found it at Costco for about $100.

What features does a $100 chair need to have in order for it be the right chair for you?

This is a short list of general features that should be present in a good ergonomic chair.

1. It should have a high back
2. It should have arm rests
3. The backrest should recline and be slightly concave and include a 5 cm lumbar support
4. The seating surface should be able to tilt from front to back
5. The height of the chair should be adjustable
6. The armrest height should be able to adjust
7. You must be comfortable in it. A chair with all these features is worthless if you don’t find it comfortable.

Here’s To Your Health

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Yours Ergonomically,
Steve Jones

Ergonomic Office Supplies

San Diego Chiropractor

(619) 280-0554