How to Prevent Lower Back Pain at Work Through Ergonomics

Lower back pain is becoming an ever increasing work-related health problem and not only stems from heavy lifting but general bad posture caused by sitting in office chairs. The principles of ergonomics help to improve the workplace, bettering the standards for employees. Looking in more detail at lower back pain, we can discuss some of the ways to prevent it through work ergonomics and make the working environment more comfortable and in turn, more efficient in terms of output.

Here are some guidelines and advice to prevent employees from suffering with lower back pain in the office:

First and foremost, one must identify the causes of lower back pain in any given work environment and then take steps to eliminate each of the causes. Prolonged periods of static posture are one of the major causes we are seeing today as many office workers spend hours upon hours sat at their computer desks. In truth, the body should change position every twenty minutes so there is some benefit in frequent breaks or an office set up where employees are required to move between stations. Even stretching from time to time can help prevent the stress a static posture can create on muscles, ligaments and tendons.

Although a little expensive at the moment, ergonomic balance ball chairs are proving incredibly beneficial to the office worker who would usually be required to stay static for hours in their standard office chair. These revolutionary chairs help to align your spine and give the user an opportunity to change positions regularly - you have to or you might lose your balance and fall off!

Yoga is another revolutionary exercise for the office worker; despite being around for centuries, yoga is only recently being recognized as a key preventer to lower back pain. If you want, you can even tie in your yoga practice with the balance ball! As an employer who needs to look after their workforce, the thought of providing a yoga class and/or yoga breaks during the working day is not so much of a crazy idea any more - there is no denying that even two sessions of ten minute yoga can enhance the physical and mental state of employees who will be able to work more efficiently in the long run.

Workstations must be set up with individuals in mind; this might mean buying office furniture that can be altered accordingly and helping each employee to set up their workstation. Positioning of the chair, desk, keyboard and computer are basic but vital principles of work ergonomics. It also depends on the task being carried out as an architect may need a slightly higher desk than a clerical officer.

The guidelines above touch on many areas within good work ergonomics and the prevention of lower back pain; all in all, the importance lies in practicing good posture throughout the working day and by exercising the muscles so that they can provide you with all the support you need.

I've been practicing yoga for many years, and now that I'm teaching yoga too, I'm excited about sharing everything I've learned. I'm interested in being able to not just teach yoga to others, but to really help people to live better lives outside the yoga studio (like in the office!). I love how yoga can enrich people's lives more than any other form of therapy. One of my favorite resources for learning about yoga therapy is Jill Miller's Yoga Tune Up® site. You should really check out her site, especially for the tips on yoga for lower back pain.

Original article

Does Every Computer Session End in Neck, Shoulders or Lower Back Pain? Try Supporting Your Forearms!

Do you ever suffer from lower back pain or shoulder girdle pain while or after working on a computer? Chances are, those pains are caused by a lack of support for your forearms.

What is the best position for the forearms when working on a computer?

Ergonomics experts differ regarding this issue and their approaches fall into several categories - Floating, using your table or the chair arm-rest as support, or using a special padded forearm support. This article presents those various approaches, discussing their advantages and disadvantages in an objective way, so as to let you decide which approach is most suitable for you.

Floating - The Pianist Approach

This approach consists in letting the palms of the hands hover over the keyboard. Specialists favoring this approach argue that shoulders should be relaxed and simulate the movements of piano playing, leaving the joints free of load. But this demands a keyboard situated very low and keeping a constant high awareness to your posture.

The table Support

Using the table itself to support your forearms might be the most common way. This method is self explanatory, easy, gives a full support to the shoulder girdles, and naturally creates a neutral posture of the palms. On the down side, the table's sharp edge or hard surface edge can cause discomfort and sometime result in an inflammation in the elbow area. In addition, this solution is impossible to implement on narrow tables, and with tables lacking an ergonomic niche, laying the forearms on the table forces the user to extend his or her forearms further, which creates a certain load on the shoulder girdles.

Chair Armrest Support

Instead of using the table, you can rest your forearms on the chair's own armrest. This insures a correct anatomical posture of the shoulders, and is suitable also for straight edged narrow tables, which lack depth. But this method cannot be implemented when the armrests are too narrow, not adjustable and not padded.

The Padded Ergonomic Armrest Board

In this method, the forearms are laid on a special padded surface connected to the table, with an ergonomic niche. The ergonomic pad affords full support to the forearm and it's comfortable, as it neutralizes any pressure points. It creates a correct sitting posture, and leads to a relaxed and optimal posture of the shoulders. Correctly built ergonomic armrest boards enable every user to find the typing position most suitable for his or her body shape and shoulders width, so they are suitable for all users, regardless of their height, or weight (yes, even during pregnancy, when back pains can be a real issue). The ergonomic armrest board enables users to upgrade non-ergonomic environments, as it can be easily attached or transferred to another table.

Let's summarize:

Floating, resting your forearms on the table or on the chair's armrest or using an ergonomic board - deciding what is best for your depends on your physical characteristics, as well as on the work surface at your disposal, the type of work you do and the ergonomic accessories you already have in your work environment. Whichever method you choose, we advise you to consider carefully what is appropriate and remind you that prevention is always better than treatment! So make sure you do whatever you can to prevent those pains in your shoulders or lower back!

Dalit is a renowned ergonomics consultant who serves Fortune 500 companies as well as smaller corporations and organizations.
Having experienced the world of ergonomics first-hand, she designed the ergocloud - an innovative ergonomic arm rest.
Go to http://www.ergocloud.com/, to see how the ergocould and additional ergonomic products can help you prevent pain and discomfort at your workplace.

Original article