If you are considering going upright in your workplace or workspace, you are not alone. Companies large and small are recognizing the benefits of this healthy, spine friendly way of working and they are incorporating it into their employees’ work stations. It places the body in an optimal position, between standing and sitting to provide an ergonomic solution to working at a desk that saves space too. Or you could get a shelf or two and keep the clutter off your desk. Even home offices are getting in on the movement. These case studies tell the stories of four companies that incorporated upright workspace technology for their own organizations. 

ShapeUp

Rhode Island based start-up company, ShapeUp, is a health and technology centered small business with just employees. It manages the design and implementation of socially activated wellness programs in the workplace. They were looking for furniture that was high quality and tough enough to withstand a workforce that was very active. At the same time, it needed to promote good heath to remain consistent with the company’s health oriented ideals.

Their first step moving in that direction was to purchase several community upright workstations. This would allow employees to get upright at various points during the day. The feedback from employees was so positive that upright workstations were placed in each employee’s work area.  They reported reduced back pain and increased energy, attributing it to the simple act of going upright.

FLUX

FLUX, based in San Francisco, is a small tech company with fewer than 50 employees. The venture backed start-up created software that “reimagines sustainable building design.”

In 2012, Nicholas Chim, the company’s founder, began searching for body friendly workstations that would help keep his energy level up and help him maintain his focus. He purchased an upright station for himself to keep in his work area. Many of the employees expressed great interest in this strange, new workstation. Once, Chim came home from a business trip and found that one of the employees had taken over his upright station.

It was then that Chim realized he needed to purchase upright stations for all of his employees if he was going to keep them happy and healthy. He now offers upright work stations to all of his employees; all they have to do is request it.

Katie Rowe Mitchell

Katie Rowe Mitchell has a home office where she runs her start-up, Unfold Yoga + Wellness with her friend and partner Nicole Elipas Doherty. The company brings meditation practices and accessible yoga to organizations as a wellness measure for the companies’ employees. She left her long time corporate job that left her feeling physically uncomfortable, overstressed, and overworked due, in part, to her sedentary work style.

She recognized the link between yoga and having more energy and better focus so she left her corporate job to start her own company that would bring yoga to stressed out workers. In her own home office, Katie wanted a more active work style and an upright work station was the answer. It keeps her engaged in mind, body, and spirit. She has a newfound sense of freedom that sitting behind a desk for hours every day did not provide. Going upright opened a whole new world for Katie.

Wikimedia Foundation

Tech non-profit Wikimedia Foundation is based in San Francisco and has 200 employees. It powers several collaboratively edited projects including Wikimedia. When the company decided to redesign their office space, they decided that they wanted to create a work environment that empowered and encouraged employees to work together. They chose a dynamic environment with an open floorplan – and they included several upright stations. These workstations were grouped together so that all of the employees would have an opportunity to use the stations at different times. The upright desks also proved to be space saving and took up less room in the work area than traditional desks and chairs.

In 2014, there were 2.8 million occupational injuries. This crossed all industries, but 75 percent were in those that provided a service.

These injuries can lead to time lost at work, decrease in production, depression, and temporary (or permanent) disability. These injuries can be caused by slip and fall, vehicle collisions, electrocution, struck by hazards, and caught in or between accidents. However, work related injury can also be caused by sitting at a desk or hunched over a computer for extended periods of time. Chiropractic has been shown to help workers who have been injured on the job, so they can return to work faster. If you happen to have such injuries which were caused at work and if you feel that your company did not do you justice Workers Compensation Attorney Riverside can bring justice to you. 

Common Occupational Injuries

Occupational injuries are vast and varied with a host of causes and many different symptoms. They can range from minor annoyances to significant damage that can lead to temporary or permanent disability, according to Employment Law and injury attorneys in Orlando. Some may require surgery while others require extended physical therapy, braces, and intensive medical treatments.

• Thoracic outlet syndrome – This injury is caused by flexing the shoulder, carrying loads on your shoulders, and extending your arms above shoulder height for a prolonged period of time. It is marked by swelling, pain, dull ache, weakness, or a burning sensation in the affected area.
• Elbow tendonitis (Epicondylitis) – This injury is caused by forceful or repeated forearm rotation while simultaneously bending the wrist. It is marked by swelling, dull ache, pain, burning, and weakness in the affected area.
• Carpal tunnel syndrome – This injury can be caused by several things including vibratory tools, repetitive motion, and secondary factors. It is marked by numbness, pain, tingling, wasting of muscles at the thumb base, and burning.
• DeQuervain’s disease – This injury is caused by forceful gripping and repetitive hand twisting. It is marked by pain at the thumb base.
• Tendonitis/tenosynovitis – This injury is caused by sustained hyperextension of the knee, repetitive motion, and prolonged load overuse. It is marked by numbness, pain, and swelling in the hands.
• Back and neck pain – This injury can have a wide variety of causes from repetitive motion to accident to improper equipment. It is the most common work related injury.

Preventing Workplace Injuries

While a few work related injuries are unavoidable, many can be prevented with a little extra attention and care. The American Chiropractic Association recommends the following practices to reduce the risk of a workplace injury.

• Get regular exercise. This helps prevent back injuries by keeping your body strong, fit, and flexible.
• If you do desk work, get a chair that fits you. This means that there should be two inches between the backs of your knees and the front edge of the seat. Your knees should be level with your hips or slightly below, never higher.
• When doing computer work, use a foot rest for support and keep your knees between a 90 degree and 120-degree angle.
• If your job requires you to sit for extended periods of time, take breaks at least every two hours to walk and stretch.
• When you lift something heavy or awkward, don’t bend over to do it. Bend at your knees and hips, squatting as you pick up the object and let your legs do the work and keeping the object close to your body while your back remains straight. Do not let your body twist while you are trying to lift.

Of course, you should also follow all recommended and required safety guidelines for your workstation and place of employment which the can assist you with the right legal knowledge. Read more here on it.

Chiropractic for Workplace Injuries

Chiropractic care can help speed your recovery, improve your posture, and restore your mobility and strength. Through various chiropractic techniques, many of the occupational injuries listed here can be effectively treated. Chiropractic is a proven method for managing pain for the back and neck, but it has also been proven to be very beneficial for conditions like carpal tunnel, elbow tendonitis, and knee injuries.

Chiropractic’s whole body approach helps injured workers not only manage their pain and help heal their injury through adjustments, it can also help with soft tissue rehabilitation and other noninvasive therapies that improve range of motion. In short, chiropractic can help workers get back to work faster so less time is lost from work and the financial impact is greatly decreased by getting just the right legal guidance from the New York construction site accidents lawyer.

Contact Mike G Law for more info!

There are dangers in everyday life, from slipping in the shower to getting mowed down by the next door neighbor’s teenage driver. The risk doesn’t end once we are safely behind our desks, because… sitting is killing us!

Seriously, while not really trying to commit murder, our computer, desk, office chair and keyboard are not our friends. We spend hours each day sitting, typing, staring at the computer screen, and this inactivity is wreaking havoc on our health in a variety of ways.

First, most of us sit incorrectly

Goldilocks knew what she was doing when it came to carefully selecting the right chair. Most of us cause excess stress and pressure on our neck, shoulders, and back from the way we sit in our inadequate office chairs.

According to OSHA, a person who spends time at their computer needs to choose an adjustable chair that supports the back, buttocks, legs and arms. Be mindful of your posture throughout the day as well. An ergonomically adjusted chair minimizes the occurrences of awkward, strained positions that frequently cause injury.

Along with the way we sit, our office jobs are killing us because…

We have our desks laid out wrong

Even with a great chair, a desk that is the wrong height can cause a person to repetitively move and bend awkwardly during the day and injure themselves. Anyone who sits behind a desk needs to make certain it is the right height to comfortably reach the computer keyboard and all pertinent supplies are within a comfortable reach. Add a foot rest to decrease the stress on the lower back. Ergonomically positioning a desk offers greater comfort and less stress on a person’s body. For a proper example of a desk set up correctly, check sites like https://deskview.co/pages/space-saving-floating-desk for inspiration.

We also type wrong

Using the keyboard incorrectly can cause a ton of painful medical conditions from neck and back issues to carpal tunnel syndrome. The keyboard should sit at elbow height. Reduce the strain on your hands by keeping them in as natural a position as possible, holding your wrists up even with the backs of your hands. Avoid banging the keys by typing softly, which alleviates the stress on your fingers.

A computer mouse should be situated close to the keyboard, and it’s essential to keep the hand in a neutral position when using it. Avoid resting your hand on the mouse for an extended period of time.

Not taking breaks

According to the Mayo Clinic, sitting for long periods of time is linked to a variety of serious medical conditions from obesity to high blood sugar and cholesterol levels. Sitting in the same position for hours can put pressure on and result in back and neck pain.

Break up sitting every 30 minutes by standing and walking around and stretching if possible. Even standing for a couple of minutes at a time lessens the impact of a sedentary job.

In addition to taking the initiative to build an ergonomic office space, choosing to participate in chiropractic care is a great way to help eliminate pain from back, shoulder, and neck strain. Chiropractic treatment involves adjusting the spine, along with other techniques, offering better alignment in particular and a stronger, healthier body in general. A long-term benefit of chiropractic care is a body that enjoys greater mobility and fewer aches and pains.

An ergonomic office setup is critical in maintaining good posture that minimizes strain and repetitive motion injuries. By investing in ergonomically tailored furniture and setting it up to suit your specific needs, you will lessen the harm an office job does to your body.

If you or a co-worker suffer from symptoms related to an improperly positioned workstation, give us a call at 850-654-1850. We can help get the symptoms under control as well as guide you toward a more healthier spine and working environment.

 

It’s no big secret that exercise is good for you. Many articles and books have been written and studies completed on the subject of physical fitness. However, lately it’s been discussed as to whether that five mile run or spin class is really enough. Is our work environment undoing any positive effort we put into staying healthy?

The short answer is YES. Human bodies were not built to sit for long periods of time. Our twenty-first century workplace — working behind a desk, typing on the computer, endless video conferences — unfortunately stacks against us to keep us on our… well, not our feet.

There are four harmful results on a person’s body that stem from sitting at work.

Sitting for many hours each day takes a toll on our backs.

Working at a desk for many hours a day causes employees to stay in one position for an extended length of time. This puts a great deal of pressure on their backs. Over time, painful back problems can develop and, if left untreated, continue to worsen.

Sitting also takes a toll on our waistline.

Obesity is at an all time high in the United States, and at least a good chunk of the reason is our sedentary lifestyle. Sitting for a long period (8 or more hours a day) decreases our metabolism, causing us to burn fewer calories. The time at our desks can end up packing on the pounds.

Sitting can increase the chance of developing a life-threatening disease.

Studies show individuals with sedentary jobs have more health problems than their active counterparts. Cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes are both examples of health issues that arise more often in people who regularly sit down most of the day.

Sitting can cause premature death.

This may sound melodramatic, but it’s true. As we talked about above, sitting for prolonged periods of time puts you at greater risk of diseases that may end up killing you. A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, “found people who sat for over 11 hours a day had a 40% greater risk of dying within three years from any cause than people who sat less than 4 hours a day.”

So, what should a sedentary office person do to improve their health and decrease the risk many hours of daily sitting causes?

• Get on your feet! Schedule times during the day to stand up and walk around. If you can’t remember to do it, add an alarm on your cell phone. Even a couple minutes on your feet every hour will help balance prolonged sitting.
• Learn to sit correctly. If you must sit, make certain your chair isn’t causing more damage. Select a chair that is height and angle adjustable. The seat should support your lower body, and the back should fit the curves of your spine. Special bonus points go to chairs with lumbar support and that rock.
• Visit your chiropractor. Back problems brought on by a job behind a desk are not going to magically go away, and can get worse over time. Make a chiropractor appointment, get examined, and work to correct the issue.
• Invest in a standing desk. A growing trend is to turn a sitting job into a standing job. Desks that are taller have the ability to keep you on your feet longer, which will provide many health benefits in the long run.

Good health is one of our greatest assets, and it pays to protect it. By understanding the risks of a sedentary working environment, we can be proactive in increasing activity and promoting our individual fitness.

If you or a loved one needs more insight on how chiropractic can guide you toward a healthier lifestyle, give us a call. We’re here to help!