Ergonomic Tips for Management

I have been in management to one degree or another for 26 years (yikes), I have studied it, and I have worked with or known hundreds of other managers throughout my professional career. One outstanding quality that the most successful managers and leaders have is a profound sense of caring for the people that work for them.

I learned a long time ago that if I worked hard at making sure my employees had everything that they reasonably needed to do their jobs well, my job became easier. If I did that really well, all I had to do was stay out of their way. Focus is always on employees' production and what can be done to ensure it remains unencumbered.

Well this newsletter is for the wonderful managers out there, who may not take the necessary time to ensure that their needs are being addressed.

We run departments, divisions and maybe whole companies. We are valuable due to our education, experience and innate skills that make us who we are. We had better ensure that OUR capacity to work and function is also unencumbered--remaining healthy is a top priority.

  
Raise your hand if you know what each knob of your office chair does? Keep it up if you know what position your body should be in while sitting, keyboarding, handwriting, or speaking on the phone? Have you ever really been taught how to lift that box at work, or lift laundry, children, and groceries at home? Do you know what specific stretch to do if you start getting a dull headache while looking at your monitor?

Amazingly we have never been taught basic life skills that could have a dramatic effect on our physical health and quality of everyday living. The following will put you at more "cause" over your well-being and less "effect" of your daily routines.

After all, a keyboard does not attack, it is just how we choose to use it that can be the difference in how we feel at the end of a day.

Repetitive stress injuries (RSIs) per definition do not happen overnight. They are a series of innocent physical stresses that add up over time to cause fatigue, discomfort, pain, and for the very unfortunate, painful and life-altering injuries. The symptoms may be insidious as one may feel mental fatigue caused by tired and strained muscle groups then wrongly assign the cause to emotional work-related stress.

What a difference you will feel when you eliminate the source of tense neck and shoulder muscles and learn how to keep the tension away. If you suffer from dull headaches, fatigue, a feeling of being overwhelmed, and one day seems to run into the next, this info may be just what the doctor ordered.

  
Most people that work at a computer don't realize that unfortunately, due to a lack of some simple training, their neck and shoulder muscles are unknowingly being asked to stay "flexed" most of the day. These muscles will inevitably rebel in the form of discomfort or pain that can, if long ignored, lead to a lost time injury.

PHYSICAL STRESS RELIEF TIPS

The best solution of course is to prevent the physical stress from occurring and accumulating in your body. This is really simple. There are postures that your bodies like better than others.

  
I will leave you with these few tips for now. If you follow this advice you will feel terrific in no time. It is so simple and can prevent so much pain it is well worth your attention to make these adjustments.

We have had many examples of long time pain medication users for headaches and neck aches, not needing these pills any longer, in just a short time. We have had Carpal Tunnel surgeries cancelled due to people learning our concepts and what we all should have learned as youngsters.

Repetitive Stress Injuries are really simple to prevent if people are taught correctly what is assumed we already know. Having someone read a pamphlet or read a computer based training module seldom works to change behavior. The key is teaching body management principles in a fashion that arouses participation and gets people to realize that they can control how they feel.

  
What good is ergonomic furniture if one doesn't know what positions their bodies should be in when working? Your employees can now experience all the comfort and benefits of their office furniture and your company can save on workers comp for years to come.

Prevent Tomorrow's Injuries Today!