Eliminate and prevent workstation aches and pains

Prevent and eliminate your workstation aches and pains

Neck pain, back pain, upper limb pain and headaches are all common complaints that are associated with working long hours at the workstation.  For workers who are based out of the office or at home, the office set up, work tasks and behaviours are all factors that can contribute to the development and aggravation of neck, back and upper limb complaints.  

 For many office workers the workstation set up is often the number 1 cause of aches and pains.  Typically individuals lack of knowledge and understanding on how to optimise the set up to suit both their needs whilst ensuring they can complete their work tasks results in a build up of tension over time.  The other most common cause of aches and pains developing is a lack of consideration and planning around how tasks are performed and the duration of exposure to performing these tasks.  In simple terms, performing repetitive type tasks in awkward working postures for long periods of time without breaks and variety can cause aches and pains.  

When it comes to delegating responsibility for workplace ergonomics, it is both the business or company the individual works for, but also the individual themselves who must show a duty of care to ones health and safety.   Each and every workplace has a duty of care to their workers to ensure their health and safety and this should include providing workers with the appropriate work equipment to allow them to perform their job as well as undertake regular risk assessments and training in ergonomics assist in minimising their risks of developing musculoskeletal aches and pains.  The worker should also be pro active with regards to their own health and safety and this means making every effort to set their workstation up to suit their needs and enable comfortable working postures.  This also means workers should be pro active in taking regular breaks from the workstation to avoid static awkward postures for prolonged periods of time.

Sitting and standing workstations.  What do the facts tell us? 

Sitting facts

• Sitting for more than 1 hour can result in physiological changes that leads to the deposit of fat in adipose tissue rather than these being metabolized by muscle.
• Research is unclear as to whether prolonged sitting causes an increased risk in one developing coronary heart disease and kidney disease or whether people with these health problems sit more than healthy people.
• Sitting uses less energy than standing.
• Sitting helps to stabilize the body and fine motor tasks are more easily performed.

Standing facts

• Standing is more tiring than sitting.
• Standing for men with ischemic heart disease incrases the progression of carotid atherosclerosis because of the additional load on the circulatory system.
• Prolonged standing increases the risks of varicose veins.
• The performance of many fine motor skills also is less good when people stand rather than sit.
• Standing requires 20% more energy than sitting.

A quick summary

• Every 20 minutes stand for 2 minutes and MOVE.
• Build frequent movement variety into the normal workday.
• If you have a job that offers little variation in work postures and is largely computer based in nature, consider getting yourself a sit stand desk so that you can vary your working postures throughout the day.
• If you have a sit stand desk, when standing, wear comfortable supportive shoes.  
• An anti fatigue mat may be useful if you are predominantly standing the majority of the day because sitting is specifically a problem for you and your musculoskeletal complaint.
• If you have recently purchased a sit stand desk, start standing for short periods i.e. 10-15 minutes every 60-90 minutes and build your capacity for standing slowly over time
• Make sure you switch between sitting and standing multiple times throughout the day instead of working from one position for 1/2 the day and then the other for the other 1/2 

Top tips for selecting the right office chair to improve comfort, wellbeing and prevent aches and pains

When it comes to selecting the right office chair and setting it up, there are many factors to consider.  

Selecting the right chair

Selecting the right office chair and asking how to set it up correctly are two of the most commonly asked questions that I get as an Osteopath when dealing with clients who work in an office and when performing ergonomic risk assessments and training in the corporate environment.  Selecting the right office chair is almost as difficult as selecting the right bed.  Individuals are always wanting to know which chair is best for them.  Rather than giving individuals a recommendation on a specific chair brand that they must buy, often I will give them recommendations of what they should be looking for in a good chair.

Features that I recommend that a good ergonomic office chair should have include:

• Swivel feature.
• Height adjustable base/stem.
• Adjustable base tilt.
• Back rest that can adjust up and down in height.
• Back rest that can tilt back and forth in angle.
• If the chair has arm rests, the arm rests must be adjustable in height.
• Most importantly the chair must be comfortable to sit on and safe and stable.

Most offices these days are littered with a mixture of office chairs that they have accumulated over the years.  Chairs can range from very simple standard office chairs to expensive and stylish chairs.

How to optimise your set up utilising a laptop

Many workers are now required to perform work tasks on the go and therefore often have a laptop as mobile computer.  This is often used at home or for travel related work.  As a result of this, workers will often take their laptop into the office work environment and use it as a secondary screen.

When it comes to setting up your workstation in the office and using the laptop as the secondary screen, typically we will advise the worker and the company to provide them with a laptop riser which will allow for the laptop to be raised to a more appropriate working height.  For workers that already have a large monitor and use the laptop as the second screen, typically we will also advise them to sit in front of the larger primary monitor and place the secondary monitor to the side for occasional use.  This will often suit workers who view the primary monitor in front > 70% of the time and the secondary laptop <30% of the time. For workers who view both the laptop and larger monitor equally, we would suggest the company provide two monitors of the same size and use the laptop to dock into the monitors.

The image below is a good representation of workers who will primarily use a larger monitor the majority of the time and the secondary laptop for occasional use.

What is your wrist doing when you are using a mouse?

When it comes to adopting an ergonomically sound wrist position when using the mouse, it is important to assess for the size of the mouse relative to the hand, wrist extension and ulnar/radial deviation.  Prolonged use of the mouse when the mouse is the incorrect size and the wrist is placed in awkward postures may increase your risk of developing musculoskeletal aches and pains.

The image below represents some of the more common awkward postures adopted by computer users.  Some of the key tips that I recommend when reviewing mouse ergonomics is:

• Ensure the hand can sit comfortably on the mouse.
• If your wrist sits in an extended position when using a mouse, a wrist support might help create a more neutral position.
• When using the mouse, assess your mouse use and see if you use it with your wrist in a deviated position.  Sometimes this can be habit or simply how you use the mouse.
• Where possible, use short keys if your job requires high levels of mouse button use.
• Try swapping the mouse from left to right side to give each hand/arm a short break.
• Take micro pauses from the mouse (10 seconds every 5 minutes) to give your smaller hand and wrist muscles a break.
• Try a vertical mouse or ortho mouse if you find yourself having ongoing issues with the mouse.  These types of mouse allow the worker to adopt a more neutral arm and wrist position.

Keyboard considerations

Keyboard position is important when it comes to minimising the risk for developing wrist, hand, elbow and upper limb pain.  Learn more about keyboard set up in the video below by Osteopath Heath Williams. 

Conclusion

When it comes to preventing and eliminating aches and pains when working from home or the office, it is important that you consider both the physical environment, equipment set up and also the tasks you perform and break behaviour.  Each of these facets can impact on ones health and wellbeing.  If you are unsure if your setup is appropriate or perhaps is contributing to the cause of aches and pains, then email us at info@principle4.com to arrange a quote for both face to face and virtual Telehealth office and home office ergonomic assessments. 

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About The Author

Heath Williams

Heath graduated from Victoria University in 2003 with a bachelor clinical science and master’s in health science (osteopathy). Since then he has had a varied work career in the health sector.

He lectured at the British School Osteopathy, London School Osteopathy, Victoria University and Southern Cross University within the osteopathy departments. Teaching roles have included 9 years teaching exercise rehabilitation, 8 years ergonomics and 16 years clinical education.

In addition to this Heath also teaches post graduate training to health professionals in office and vehicle ergonomics, manual handling training and strength and conditioning.

Heath has worked extensively in the occupational health and safety industry, firstly with Health Response UK in London and now with Corporate Work Health Australia.