First of all, what comes to mind when you see the word Ergonomics? Does your spine shiver?..Ok so it isn’t exactly something to be scared of…But you should definitely be concerned about it and aware of the consequences it poses to your health! Blah blah blah, yadda yadda…No. Seriously. FO REAL HOMIES!
Let’s face it, if you’re going to be working at a computer workstation for an extended period of time every day of the week then you need to make sure that you’re not only comfortable in your environment but also that your work environment is as ergonomic as possible to place your health and safety first, before you start enjoying the wonders of the Internet.
Possible health risks that you are putting on the line are the likes of:
- Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI)
- Osteoarthritis
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
- Eye Strain
- Neck and Back Pain
- Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT)
Unfortunately I suffer terribly from back pain! Infact it was just today that I went into the Walk-In Health Clinic to see someone about it, not that they did much except prescribe me some anti-inflammatory tablets! (That’s the NHS for you eh! Haha) But hopefully everything will be fine. I mean, today in college it was so bad that I couldn’t even lean down or bend down to pick my bag up! I had to ask my tutor to pick it up for me! How bad is that?!
There was one time around a year ago when I woke up with sever neck pain / stiffness. I was worried I had woken up with a broken neck and had paralysed myself because I couldn’t move and was in such terrible pain! (It never happened before so I didn’t know what was happening to me! ) But thank god that hasn’t happened since…Actually thanks to some neck exercises I do. Just the simple neck turning and so on. Nothing major.
I could go on forever with computer ergonomics but you guys and girls probably know all about it already! So what I’d like to know is, despite being aware of computer ergonomics and the problems, do you consider it or ignore it? I bloody well do now!
But if you just so happen to want to know more about computer ergonomics then guess what? I’ve got some nice (but to be honest, fairly boring!) links for you to read! So have a look at the Understanding ergonomics at work PDF document from the Health and Safety Executive (UK Government) and the [URL=“http://www.cdc.gov/od/ohs/Ergonomics/compergo.htm”]Computer Workstation Ergonomics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US Government).
Andrew Cooper