Back

Win-Win Thinking for Office Workers

Attention, office workers and office managers! Do you use a computer? Have your workers lost time in the past year from repetitive motion injuries? Researchers from Texas and Canada announce new findings for your immediate use.

Providing adjustable chairs and training in how to use them can reduce lost time on the job because of pain and disability from overuse. Training in how to change the workspace to find the best "comfort zone" is also important. Just giving workers training in using workspace more effectively isn't always enough.

These are the results of studying 192 employees from a state department of revenue service. Workers were placed in one of three study groups: (1) adjustable chair with training, (2) training only, and (3) control group. The control group was trained at the end of the study.

The researchers thought training alone would be enough to increase understanding of office ergonomics and make workers change their habits. They expected the employees to change work postures, rest break patterns, and work layout. However, the study results did not show that. Workers in the training only group did have less pain than the control group. But workers in the chair-with-training group had the best results. Their average pain levels were reduced. Workers with neck and shoulder symptoms had the greatest decrease in pain. Workers with upper and lower back pain had the second greatest pain decrease.

The authors conclude that there's a need to know what really works in an office setting to reduce workers' painful symptoms. With more and more workers sitting six to eight hours (or more) in front of a computer, preventing musculoskeletal symptoms is very important. Symptoms, injuries, and sick days can be reduced by giving workers an adjustable chair and training in how to use it. It's estimated that each chair-with-training worker showed $354 more in productivity than other workers.

References: Benjamin C. Amick III, PhD, et al. Effect of Office Ergonomics Intervention on Reducing Musculoskeletal Symptoms. In Spine. December 15, 2003. Vol. 28. No. 24. Pp. 2706-2711.

Back