the ergonomic scientist
One of my colleagues had sent a
scary mail of photos of carpal tunnel surgery. That was definitely a mail to wake
up to 🙂 However I'd say the mail is a bit of exaggeration just to use fear as
a motivator 🙂 Whatever I'd found out with a good deal of research, carpal tunnel
though a very serious thing, is very rare along the same risk as being struck
down by lightning (and we know that it could happen and we read that
some people are killed by it somewhere).
with a much higher risk, is usually
tendonitis
– and that's bad enough by itself 🙂 Apart from common problems for
the wrists, we also have the risk of developing knee pain (I got it because I
was overweight) and also spondilitis (a real pain in the neck, literally) or back
problems.
fortunate that I got wrist, back and knee problems at quite a young age.
The "Undo" key wrt health gets weaker and weaker as we grow older.
I seem to be more or less of the whole mess, and so I'm investing my
lunch time in writing all this only so that other's don't unnecessarily get into
it!
there are some other reasons as well, eg one is being overweight esp for knee
problems (even if a person dosen't look overweight. Eg, now I'm overweight
by more than 5 kgs – few years ago, I was overweight by 15+ kgs). And another
is other repetitive action like driving a 2 wheeler. I've detailed all these in
the story, which is a true and real one.
In my opinion (based on my
experience) one thing is that learning about ergonomics is definitely a good thing
but is not the end. Ergonomics is based on studying a lot of people and is probably
the best thing. But each person's physical structure and placement in the body
is unique (though general anatomy is of course the same). This was hard to believe
for me until I attended an
anatomy
museum (of corpses!) many years ago and saw it for myself. But think about
the uniqueness of fingerprints for example 🙂 Sometimes ergonomics may be idealistic
and hard to implement. So each person after learning ergonomics, has to
experiment, on an individual basis, and find out what is the optimal
posture for him/her which can actually be implemented on a sustainable
basis.
read the earlier story, you could just check out the last two paragraphs which
is about correct breathing. Especially this part…
"Right
now, stop and check on how you are sitting or standing. Slouched, are you?!? If
you exist all-folded-up, you'll restrict your breathing, squash your internal
organ functioning…"
has worked so far for me:
This in my opinion is one of the simplest
ideas to achieve correct ergonomics:
Simply take your head vertically upwards towards the sky…
. The chest, stomach, etc will "unfold" automatically and fall into place:-) The shoulders can be broadened and at the end of it, one might well feel taller and stronger. Every now and then the posture will droop again, but with practice this new one can become the “normal” posture! 8)
Based on a book by Will Johnson, I'd say a key idea for correct ergonomics is that
one could try to achieve minimal/zero extra muscular tension to counter gravitational
force. If the body is slightly leaning in any direction, then we can notice we
have to exert ourselves slightly to counter this leaning. Being in the perfectly
vertical comfortable position, in alignment with gravity, is more relaxing and
resilient to time.
So an individual could become his own ergonomic scientist. Developing the ability to listen to know what’s going on within oneself is a pre-requisite for this to be possible. This is beyond sophisticated ergonomic equipment! 
sanjay,
i had suffered from back pain last year and was bed-ridden for nearly a month. i had not even touched the clothes in the bucket when i got this catch and the pain was really terrible. couldn’t stand nor sit. imm. lied down. and for a few hours couldn’t imagine getting up. those few hours, i thought i would be unable to sit for life. but after trying a lot, i could stand but not sit. i thought i would never ever carry my baby, let alone riding a bike.
the x-ray revealed that my spinal chord has become straight, whereas it ought to be like a ‘C’.
from that day on, i live in constant fear of that back pain.
hmm must’ve been quite scary! 🙁
But this is really strange I never imagined anyone’s back could become too straight, usually its the other way round (too flimsy) that causes problems. Glad you mentioned about the ‘C’ – that makes the posture clearer. I guess the main thing is that it should be natural and comfortable.
I’ve been getting increasing discomfort in my forearms, wrists and up the backs of my hands over the past several months. Have been making workstation adjustments but none have helped and when I felt a slight pain at home for the first time whilst pouring the kettle I realised something more needed to be done. I’ve just decided to ditch my mouse in favour of one of these devices (the joystick doesn’t move – instead the base is an optical mouse): http://www.pcwb.com/catalogue/item/KEYVM01
Been trialling for just 3 days and already the discomfort is subsiding. I hope the trend continues as the previous linear decline towards having unusable hands is pretty scary.
good to know the pain is subsiding, conan!
hope your discomfort vanishes soon
best wishes
ram
(remember, i had accompanied you and sanjay to ranganathittu bird sanctuary and mysore on your trip to india?)
🙂
Thanks Ram! I remember of course – wonderful memories. I hope to have the pleasure again someday.
All the photos I took are online & Sanjay has a couple of personal ones I sent (& the online link).
I hope you & your family all are well, Conan
conan,
it was really a memorable trip. thanks to you and sanjay.
yes, i saw the pictures.
my family is doing well, thank you. hope you are all keeping fine.
take care
ram
Hi Conan really nice to hear from you here! Don’t worry, whatever it is remember it won’t last forever… it won’t lead to unusuable hands. Hope you step up on your weekly badminton practice and making better use of one of those health programmes of your Bristol campus – I’ve seen several other sites and none of them come close to those. The mouse looks pretty cool… though surprisingly expensive! Heh heh in spite of what the features may say…
…I really hope it is – but it might not be the long term solution. It might be addressing the symptom more than the cause by kind of changing the problem or postponing it rather than solving it… 😉 So taking care of health is the only long term one and good luck with that!