| Like so many Americans, you probably work in an | | | | better posture, with chairs that support such posture |
| office, spending up to 80 hours a week, cranking out | | | | will be able to do more, to be more productive, or to |
| the numbers, diligently working and, contrary to what | | | | fly through in search of "Star Trek: the next |
| your boss thinks, not merely downloading videos. | | | | generation" DVDs with extra verve. |
| Well, okay, there was that one isolated incident, but | | | | What it boils down to is the concept of shaping the |
| come on, everybody had to see that beatbox flute | | | | work environment, in this case the chair, to the |
| guy clip, right? And like so many Americans, you | | | | needs of the worker and not the other way around. |
| probably spend these full time hours seated, oblivious | | | | A brief perusal of ergonomic chairs may be a strange |
| to the fact that this seemingly benign activity, | | | | experience. They often look like lofty and |
| according to "exerts great stress on the back | | | | uncomfortable apparatuses. For instance, the |
| because it transfers the full weight of the upper | | | | Australian Kneelsit ergonomic chair looks like a piece |
| body onto the buttocks and thighs." Of course, you | | | | of exercise equipment: not only is its seat angled |
| probably realize that something is up when your | | | | forward and down, but it features an additional pad |
| mid-back aches or feels numb, when your knees | | | | to support the knees. But they seem to work well, |
| throb, when that midmorning headache has some | | | | according to their website, their funky looking chairs |
| extra bite. Typical chair design, most chairs in most | | | | were shortlisted for the 1997 Australian Industrial |
| work places, provide inadequate support for the | | | | Design Award. More to the point, the chair, and |
| seated body, which can lead to back pain, fatigue, | | | | others like it, coerces the body into an open posture |
| and as a result, can decrease work performance. | | | | that supports the lumbar vertebrae. You can say |
| But there is a science to the rescue: ergonomics. Not | | | | goodbye to those aches and pains, and look forward |
| merely the concept of bending at your knees versus | | | | to comfortable work days and a retirement without |
| your back when lifting heavy objects, ergonomics is | | | | the need for a cane. |
| the science of "equipment design... intended to | | | | Of course, proper ergonomics, and the benefits |
| maximize productivity by reducing operator fatigue | | | | associated with it go beyond chair design. It is |
| and discomfort" (the American Heritage Dictionary, | | | | advised that the office worker take occasional |
| Fourth Edition). I guess it is comforting to know that | | | | stretch breaks, stay hydrated, and rest the wrists. |
| somewhere in Sweden, there is a team of scientists | | | | As I sit here, on a decidedly non-ergonomic stool at a |
| thinking about sculpting and molding chairs that | | | | coffee shop, I can actually feel some soreness in the |
| support the proper S-curve of the spine, as well as | | | | shoulders, as well as a dull ache in my low back. As |
| proper blood flow to the low back and buttocks. | | | | October is national ergonomics month, it is high time |
| However, it is well documented that something as | | | | that I personally looked into a proper ergonomic chair. |
| simple as proper ergonomic design reduces fatigue | | | | It would make one more efficient worker, and a host |
| and minimizes the stress on the body. Workers with | | | | of happier Swedish ergonomic engineers. |