We share our research-based knowledge with our customers to help them understand and apply ergonomic principles to their office, healthcare, and learning environments. Read or download these research summaries in PDF format.
All Thumbs: The Ergonomic Implications of Text Messaging (99KB)
People send short text messages from one handheld device to another to keep them and their businesses or social relationships moving. The speed of text messaging is one reason why it's becoming so popular with business people--it lets them communicate with colleagues and customers at lightning speed across multiple time zones. However, thumb typing text messages on a tiny keyboard can put people at risk for Text Messaging Injury, the term currently used to describe this musculoskeletal disorder. Ergonomists recommend limiting text messaging to about an hour and a half every 24 hours. And as with any repeated use of a work tool, they suggest stretching before and after the activity.
Body Support in the Office: Seating, Sitting, and Low Back Pains (846KB): Clerical workers stood on the job until around the middle of the nineteenth century. When employers concluded that their workers might be more productive in a seated position, people began to sit at the office.
Cross Performance at Work: What New Roles Mean to the Chairs We Sit In (295KB): Companies today are faced with adjusting their office environments to the activities and demographics of a changing work force. The people responsible for making these adjustments may soon be speaking in terms of "cross performance."
Ergonomics: Good News for Healthcare Workers (67KB): Research shows that when ergonomics programs are applied correctly in the workplace, when jobs are redesigned to reduce risk factors, and when interactive training is used, injuries and illnesses caused by musculoskeletal disorders can be reduced significantly.
Ergonomic Principles in the Design of Healthcare Environments (713KB): In addition to protecting workers, healthcare organizations can reap financial benefits by incorporating ergonomic principles in the planning of healthcare environments.
Everybody Deserves a Good Chair (162KB): A chair is a chair, right? Well, not quite. First, people who sit down to work for long periods of time run a high risk of low-back injury, second only to those who lift heavy weights; and the risks increase with age. Also, the total number of lost work days and the cost of each back injury are increasing.
If the Chair Fits (279KB): The old adage, "People come in all shapes and sizes," is a tired cliche to a lot of people. To those who design and manufacture office chairs, it's a daily reminder of the difficult task they face: making chairs that fit a tremendously varied population.
Musculoskeletal Disorders (769KB): The term "musculoskeletal disorders," or "MSDs," refers to a large category of disorders of the muscles, tendons, or nerves. In order to be an MSD, these disorders must be caused, precipitated, or aggravated by repeated exertions or movements of the body.
Primed for Injury (475KB): Today's youth are the digital generation. What will be the effects of increased use of computer, game, and other information communications technology equipment?
Vision and the Computerized Office (1.0MB): When people rely on a VDT screen to do the majority of their work, for extended periods of their workday, vision symptoms often result. The symptoms occur in 75 to 90 percent of computer workers.
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