Common Misleading Facts About Ergonomics

More and more people are suffering from repetitive strain injuries (RSI) when our society becomes increasingly computerized. Chronic pain become part of modern American life.  Everyone who works at a computer takes Injuries include debilitating carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, and the chronic upper back neck shoulder pain for granted.  We are all sharing the same problem and the effects are showing.

So-called “ergonomic” office equipment is a booming business.  However, many people spend a lot of money on fancy office furniture without experiencing any decrease on their level of daily discomfort. It might be because the ergonomic chairs office equipment is useless, yet it is also because people are not educated about “quality ergonomic office chairs.” Most consumers don’t know enough about basic principles of movement to make educated choices. People may not realize that the act of sitting requires several back muscles to work together to support the spine. Prolonging this sustained muscle activity can cause muscle fatigue low back pain.

We need to understand some of the common misleading facts about ergonomics. There are currently no laws or governing organization in US to monitor the use of the "ergonomic" label. Practically anyone can call any product "ergonomic"-from kitchen oven to baby diper to shoes. As a result, the term has been abused. If you are spending money in ergonomic chairs and office equipment, the most effective way to get best use of them without getting caught by "ergonomic" postual injury in the long run is to actually change the way we think.

We have believed that our bodies were machines. We see illustrations that show our hearts as engines, our livers as bellows, our brains as computers, and our joints as hinges. However, I believe we are not machines. We are houseplant, instead. We have more in common with a houseplant than we do with a machine.

As living beings, we have an amazing network of organs and systems that constantly work together to keep the whole in balance and to keep the whole alive. Much of it happens without our even thinking about it.

As humans, we are a little advanced than other living beings. Being human means we have free will.  We can override our instincts, override pain and discomfort, and override illness and blindness and fear - all in service of a consciously chosen "free will." This is a huge benefit. In fact, it is so huge you could say this makes us “superior” human beings.

We human have big potential to invent new movements while other animals don't. If you watch those TV programs about animal, for example, sheeps browsing in the woods, you will probably not be able to distinguish one sheep from another sheep by simply observing its movement. Sheeps and other animals are moving for the most efficient way possible for them. They are moving in an instinctual way which is very much the same as the way every other sheep moves. People are not that way. We "learn" how to move and we choose how to move. We may sit a certain way because that’s social correct or political correct. We may stand a certain way because we think it looks cool or we want to be able to "fit-in" in the crowd. We may walk in a certain way that is how our parents did.  We may talk in a certain way because that how everybody talks in our high school back in 80s..... There are all sorts of influences on how we learn to move, while “because that is the most efficient way possible for a human to move” is unlikely to play a large part.

                                                                              In a nutshell, one effect of our ability to make choices about how we move is that we frequently choose poorly. Having chosen poorly and often unintentionally, we then come to believe that whatever movement patterns we have settled into are “natural” and “instinctive”. We mistake habitual for natural. That is if you have sat hunched over at your desk for twenty years, then that is your habit, and it is what feels “natural” to you. "Hunched over" is certainly NOT the most efficient way possible for a human to sit. The bottom line is by simply readjusting your computer screen or moving to different massage office desk chair may not change the way you sit immediately.

It is necessary to question our understanding about what is “natural”.  In order for us to truly improve the way we sit, we must first understand that much of our sitting postures happen without our even thinking about it. Sometimes watching a movement in the mirror can provide surprising new information about our physical conditions. And sometimes you only become aware of excess tension around you when you tape-recorded your workplace in an ordinary workday as an outsider. 

We can develop a more healthy and pleasant way of sitting when we learn to recognize our habits and to stop doing them "with conscious effort" intentionally. We become educated enough to notice when a seating situation is set up poorly, and we are more likely to benefit from ergonomic aids (ergonomic home chairs, ergonomic chairs and office equipment) and work in a more efficient way.  Productivity creates productivity. Even learning new skills becomes easier when your body and wellness are in balanced and stress-free.  Additionally, old skills can become more refined when you are relaxed and in harmony with yourself. The office chair actually has become a critical tool for our health in this computerize society.