Frequently Asked Questions
FAQ Shortcuts
Who are our clients?
What is a repetitive strain injury (RSI)?
Why should you have an ergonomics assessment?
When should you seek a healthcare professional?
Sitting on a ball?
What is Ergonomics?
Who are our clients?
We find that the best clients are people who “get it”. They are:
- Individuals who are proactive and want to make sure they stay healthy while working.
- Individuals who have body discomfort or pain and realize the need for change in their work environment and work habits.
- Companies that value and care about their employees. They realize the wealth their talented employees bring to their company and understand the ROI for their employees. A company that has happy and healthy employees knows that retention isn’t just about money!
- Companies that know they could be doing better at minimizing work place injuries and want to see improvements in how the work is performed.
What is a repetitive strain injury (RSI)?
RSI is injury to soft tissues (nerves, muscles, & tendons) due to repeated trauma, typically found in upper limbs, neck and back. RSI is a blanket term for a number of injuries (e.g. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS), tendonitis, tenosynovitis). These injuries are commonly found in athletes that are over enthusiastic about training and hence names such as tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow. There is a growing epidemic of RSI within a group we like to call “the office athlete”.
Factors that contribute to RSI are:
- Awkward postures
- Repetitive motion
- Prolonged posture
- Forceful exertions
- Contact Stress
There are a variety of symptoms associated with RSI conditions. The symptoms listed below are indicators of RSI onset.
- Tingling, numbness, coldness or loss of sensation.
- Loss of grip strength, lack of endurance, weakness, fatigue.
- Recurring pain or soreness in neck, shoulders, upper back, wrists or hands.
- Tight bands felt in arm, shoulder and upper back muscles.
- Pain or numbness at night. Often early stage RSI sufferers mistakenly think they are lying on their arms in an awkward position cutting off circulation.
It is important to remember your body is a linked system (a kinetic chain) and the root cause of an injury may be located further up the linked system. A typical example is hand numbness that could be caused by a nerve being pinched in the neck or shoulder area. It is critical that RSI conditions be investigated by looking at the whole system, NOT just the affected area.
Why should you have an ergonomics assessment?
There are three main reasons for pursuing ergonomic assessments:
- You want to be preventative.
Let’s face it; “an ounce of prevention IS worth a pound of cure”. If you find that your workspace isn’t working for you, you don’t seem to feel comfortable in your chair/work environment or you have had previous injuries that you don’t want to come back to haunt you in the work place. Better yet, you want your company to stay ahead of the work place health and safety standards. Individual ergonomic assessments can create that “pound worth of cure” for you and your company. - You have symptoms of discomfort or pain when at work.
Of course this is the biggest reason for having an assessment. We are firm believers that an ergonomic assessment is a key piece to solving work-related injuries. As physiotherapists, we have found many individuals with work-related injuries have symptoms that would decrease to a certain level and then plateau. It wasn’t until we started looking at their work environments and work posture, that we realized how much this contributed or had been the root cause of their injury. - You want to maintain a happy, healthy workforce.
Workforce retention is the hot topic in the current economy. Instilling corporate values of balance, health and wellbeing is critical in order to maintain and keep your most valuable resource…..your employees. Ergonomic assessments and programs are a unique way to set your company apart from the rest of the industry, showing that you care about keeping your employee healthy in the work place. Being proactive in preventing unnecessary work related injuries will save you time, lost productivity and money for your company!
When should you seek a healthcare professional?
Don’t leave symptoms till they impact what you love to do like climbing, golfing, gardening or playing with your kids. We find that people tend to ignore their symptoms thinking they will eventually disappear. If you take the time to get treatment for your symptoms early on, it will take less 2-3 times less money, time and energy to resolve the injury than if you leave it untreated. Remember, the body loves to compensate for weakness which can lead to larger problems down the road!
A physician, physiotherapist or chiropractor can take a look at your injury. Then you can be guided on appropriate treatment, home exercises or preventative measures. BE PROACTIVE!
Sitting on a ball?
Balls in the office aren’t a good idea. I am talking about the exercise balls that people tend to think are better to sit on than a good office chair. Why? Because there is a misconception that sitting on a ball at work can also help improve core strength & stability. This may be true in your exercise class; however there are a number of reasons why balls are a bad solution for an office chair.
- Your back muscles fatigue. Yes, you can actually slouch on a ball, especially when sitting on it for longer than 15-20 minutes. Your back muscles can’t properly support you sitting on a ball for long durations because they tire and then you slouch. This can lead to all kinds of low back, upper back and neck issues.
- You NEED support. A good, adjustable office chair that fits you provides you with the lower and upper back support that you need. This allows your muscles to relax, as opposed to getting fatigued and tight.
- Balls are an office hazard. They don’t seem to stay put. So you stand up to grab a print out and before you know it, you realize that your ball isn’t there anymore. Worse yet, you try to reach for a document and find out that you aren’t as stable as your thought! Balls can definitely lead to traumatic office injuries.
- Armrests? Yes, armrests are critical, especially if you have tight/sore wrists, arms, neck and upper back. Balls don’t provide the arm support you need when working. What happens is your neck, shoulder and arm muscles over work and you need support from somewhere. So you lean your wrists and forearms on the desk surface. Definitely a recipe for RSI.
As fun as a ball might seem to use as an office chair, it’s better left for the exercise class.
What is Ergonomics?
Ergonomics is the science of how the human body functions in relationship to its work environment. Basically, it looks at the biomechanics of how work tasks are performed. At Evolve Ergonomics, the philosophy is that how we work and the work environment should be altered to, as opposed to using poor body mechanics and making our bodies to function in less than optimal work environments.