Are You Comfortable in Your Workplace?
Combat Workplace Injury with Ergonomics
If you are like many Americans, you spend thirty to fifty hours a week working at your job. Many individuals have tightly defined work duties and spend much of those hours repeating similar tasks or maintaining similar positions. Repeating any posture or activity for a long period of time increases your risk of developing a musculoskeletal injury. To combat this risk, an entire industry called ergonomics was created. According to the U.S. Fire Administration, “The coining of the term ‘ergonomics,’ derived from the Greek words “ergon” meaning work and “nomos” meaning natural law, was officially accepted in Britain in 1950. Later in 1952, Britain formed The Ergonomic Society. The United States followed shortly thereafter, forming The Human Factors Society in 1957.” Ergonomic principles were initially developed during the time following World War II when efforts were made to enhance the efficiency, safety and effectiveness of human and machine interactions. Eventually, ergonomics became what it is today, the process of designing or arranging a workplace, its products or systems to fit the users who engage with them in order to lessen the risk of workplace-related musculoskeletal disorders.
OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration defines several ergonomic risk factors that employers should consider when designing a workplace: forceful exertions, heavy lifting, pushing or pulling, carrying, gripping, awkward or prolonged postures, repetitive activities, overhead work, contact stress and vibration. These are considered risk factors as the prolonged or repetitive engagement with these situations or activities can lead to musculoskeletal injury. Just imagine how your neck feels after a couple days of painting your ceiling or how your back feels after a marathon day of sitting at your desk. Even seemingly benign activities, when performed repetitively or with suboptimal positioning or mechanics, can lead to an injury or musculoskeletal symptoms.
HOW DO PHYSICAL THERAPISTS FIT IN?
If ergonomics is all about the workplace, you may be wondering how physical therapists fit in the picture. Aside from the most obvious, which is that physical therapists frequently help their clients heal from work-related pain or injuries, some physical therapists go a step further to obtain training in how to perform ergonomic assessments. As part of an ergonomic assessment the therapist will select from a variety of well-respected outcome measures and ergonomics assessment tools available to them that can help them gather objective data about the workspace and its effects on the worker. The information gathered from the assessment allows them to advise employers and their employees on how to optimize the workplace to lower injury risk.
Strategies to optimize the workplace in order to lower injury risk is individualized to a given industry, however, in line with OSHA’s recommendations, there are three large categories of changes that employers (or if you are self-employed, you!) can make.
Engineering improvements is the first category. These changes involve modifying the tools, equipment, workstations, parts, packaging or products an employee uses. These things may need to be replaced by better options, rearranged, or even redesigned to lessen the impact that working in these spaces and with this equipment has on the musculoskeletal system.
Administration improvements can also be important. These changes happen at the administrative level and include adjusting work practices and workflow. Some examples of administrative improvements include adjusting workers schedules and the pace or productivity requirements, allowing recovery and rest time during the workday and allowing employees to have more variety in their work duties.
Finally, personal protective equipment is very important and an easy change that employers can make to lessen the risk for injury when their employees are at work.
ARE YOU CONSIDERING THE ERGONOMICS OF YOUR JOB?
If you are employed and working on site, you should talk to your employer if you feel your work duties are causing any musculoskeletal symptoms like pain, strain or injury. Hopefully they are quick to recommend some changes in line with ergonomic principles, but if not, you now have some information with which you can educate them.
If you are self-employed or work remotely at a desk, for example, you are in charge of your workspace. While space, finances and time can be a limiting factor to how you perform your job, it is worth it to be aware of any musculoskeletal symptoms that you are experiencing due to your work. By examining your workstation and work practices you can identify the ergonomic risks in your workflow and seek out help to ameliorate them. Changes such as ordering a standing desk that allows you to change position throughout the day can be enough to reduce symptoms associated with a desk job. Ordering knee pads so that you can kneel while you work instead of squatting or bending can reduce strain on the joints. Even planning regular, brief stops to get out of your car and walk around could make a world of difference for someone who spends their day in a truck.
If a quick adjustment to your workstation or tools doesn’t do the trick, it's time to call our team at Evolve Physical Therapy. As physical therapists, we are highly trained in the assessment and treatment of musculoskeletal injuries and commonly work with clients whose jobs have caused or are contributing to their symptoms. In these situations we can offer help in two ways. First, we will create a comprehensive rehabilitation program to address your symptoms. Second we will discuss with you about the aspects of your workday that may be contributing to your symptoms and suggest changes to reduce your risk of future musculoskeletal injury. If you are ready to get some help with your ergonomics, call Evolve Physical Therapy today to schedule an evaluation.
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