What is ergonomics?

Athletes and Mathletes

When I began my career as a biokineticist, I assumed I’d be mostly treating athletes who had pushed themselves too far during training or competition.

In fact, athletes know the dangers that come with bad form and a lack of mobility. For them, injury is an ever-present possibility. Meanwhile, knowledge workers assume they are perfectly safe sitting at their desks, sipping tea or coffee from their favourite mug and tapping away at their keyboards.

The injuries I see in practice aren’t from athletes. They’re from mathletes. My clients are data scientists, computer programmers, accountants, bankers, lawyers and CEOs who come to me with back injuries, neck strain and wrist pain all gotten on the job. The heavy lifting may have been intellectual but the physical injuries are very real. In fact, it’s precise because mathletes don’t think of themselves as athletes that they overlook the good form, stretching and proper equipment that is essential to avoiding injury.

Don’t fool yourself into thinking that knowledge work isn’t physical. It is and even tiny problems with your form become huge problems over years and decades of doing that labour. Fortunately, the discipline of ergonomics is here to help protect everyone from on-the-job injuries.

What is ergonomics?

The word ergonomics comes from Greek and it means the rules of doing work. It is the discipline of ensuring good form when conducting any physical task. It’s what protects construction workers, typists and pianists from injuring themselves over decades of doing their jobs.

Regardless of what work you do, there are three things that remain true whether you’re an athlete or a mathlete:

1. Good Form: Our bodies can handle an immense amount of strain and effort if we have the right form. Lift through your knees and you can lift many times your own body weight. Lift improperly and even very small weights can throw out your back. This applies to any task. Type with poor form for years and slowly but surely you can end up with carpal tunnel syndrome.
2. Resetting Your Body: It’s estimated that the average human will spend nearly nine years of their life staring down at a cellphone. This trains the body to conform to this position. As a result, we have to reset the body by doing the opposite motion and looking up to prevent permanent changes to the spine and muscles. In the same way, hunching over your laptop causes your shoulders to splay outwards. Resetting your body means doing the opposite motion and pinching your shoulders together. These easy “stretches” will help keep your body from contorting itself to fit your workstation and avoid permanent damage.
3. Proper Equipment: Athletes know they need the proper equipment. They get the best rackets, shoes and nutrition to ensure they can perform at the highest level and avoid injury. In the same way, a knowledge worker needs a proper workstation that can be customized to their body. Adjusting your desk, chair, monitor and keyboard to conform to your body rather than the other way around is a relatively small financial commitment that will more than pay for itself in avoiding surgery, painkillers and lost productivity. A professional in any field need professional equipment. Don’t cut corners when it comes to your health and livelihood!

So, what is ergonomics? It’s the discipline that will keep you healthy, productive and pain-free for years to come. Moreover, it’s simple to do. And it all begins with realizing that body and mind are connected. Athletes know they have to get their head in the game. Mathletes need to recognize that they need the good form, stretching and proper equipment to perform intellectually.

You’re a professional and ergonomics will help you stay competitive and keep you off the bench.