by Ronda Crenshaw, Director of Humanscale’s National Ergonomic Group
(article from Interiors & Sources, November 2004)

The technology boom of the 1990s had a dramatic impact on communications as we knew them. And from the looks of it, technology will continue to change the way we see and respond to the world. Although technological advancements over the past decade have touched nearly every corner of our lives, from medicine to entertainment to the way we buy our groceries, they have, in particular, had a profound impact on the daily life of the average office worker.

The past decade has been marked by a dramatic shift in the way we work. Only 10 years ago, when you needed to send or receive a fax, you would get up from your desk and walk to the fax machine. Today, the traditional fax is nearly antiquated. With online scanning and faxing capabilities, a couple of keystrokes is all it takes. Similarly, if you had to ask your co-worker a question a few years ago, most likely you’d get up and walk to their desk or office. Today, however, there are several less taxing ways to communicate – by telephone, of course, but also by email and online messaging. Additionally, with the abundance of relatively low-cost printers today, it’s likely you don’t even need to go very far to retrieve a document or letter you’ve printed.

Of course, the result of these changes is that office workers are spending more and more time at their desks, and more and more time on their computers. While 90% of all U.S. office workers now use computers, 40% work on their computers at least 4 hours a day. According to Dr. Alan Hedge, Professor of the Human Factors Laboratory at Cornell University, the risk of musculoskeletal discomfort increases with as little as 1 hour of computer use per day, and the risk of musculoskeletal injury in someone who works on a computer 4 or more hours per day is 9 times greater than it is for a one hour per day user. These statistics explain the growing number of work-related office injuries, and why there is an increasing emphasis on ergonomics in the workplace.

In a broad sense, ergonomics is the applied science of workplace and equipment design with the intention of maximizing productivity by reducing operator fatigue and discomfort. While that definition is pretty straightforward, its application is often open to debate. And that, quite simply, is the purpose of this article – to highlight the real issues facing workers in the modern office, and to debunk the many falsehoods that typically surround ergonomics discussions.

Most of us learn from a young age that if something is good for us, it’s likely not very pleasant. Spinach comes to mind. Vaccines too. Nowadays it’s exercise and low-fat foods. We’re taught throughout our lives that if it’s good for us, it probably must be suffered and endured.

Unfortunately, that same thinking has seeped into our ideas about healthy workplace postures and behaviors. Despite what your mother said, sitting up straight is not good for you. And despite what the old ergonomic theories proposed, sitting with your body at 90-degree angles is not the healthiest way to spend a workday. In terms of workplace ergonomics, the real truth is that comfort and health are synonymous. In other words, if you’re not comfortable at your desk, you are probably sitting and working in an unhealthy way.

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