Ergogenesis.com Blog

“Body mechanics can get quite complicated. Especially when it all starts with your feet.”
About.com really sums it up with this first statement. Shoes are one of the most unexpected but vital advances in Ergonomics, especiallu when things like balance and posture are all the responsibility of your feet. In a world so obsessed with the way things look, it’s rare to see a shoe that favors Ergonomic advances over looks. The Vibram FiveFinger shoe is the exception to this standard, they certainly do look… well… weird.

The shoes are made by Vibram, a company known for it’s high end soles for hiking boots. The genius behind the creation of these frog-esque shoes wasn’t thinking high end though. The shoes are sometimes described as ‘gecko feet’, but the term more preferred by the company is ‘barefoot’. People claim that the shoes give “improved balance, agility and grip” and that they improve “heel strike: the main cause of back pain”. If you look at the facts, these claims can’t be too far from the truth. The shoes give induvidual toe pockets, which does improve footing, balance, and grip. Other claims about the shoes are more scientific: they can improve posture and lessen body/joint pain. The shoes still serve their original purpose though: the ’second skin’ like quality of them allows runners to run without the pain and differences of running with a typical shoe, they also give wearers an advantage when doing crazy things like… mountain climbing? Overall, the shoes pose a serious Ergonomic advantage. They eliminate some of the unnatural barriers and motions posed by traditional shoes, and therefore allow feet to move in more natural motions. That’s really all Ergonomics is about, the most natural motions possible. Kudos to Vibram for ignoring the weird looks and helping to make a shoe that is a true innovation.

To read a runner’s success story and more on ‘barefoot running’, go to http://michael-hodges.com/blog/?tag=five-fingers

To read the about. com article on FiveFingers, go to http://ergonomics.about.com/od/running/fr/Five_Fingers_Shoes.htm

A multitude of factors affect computer Ergonomics, and that’s widely known (I saw that, and I mean widely known in the Ergonomics community. Just to clarify.) But Microsoft, trying to regain it’s place at the front lines of technological innovation, just reported on a study they recently conducted concerning the affects of typeface on Ergonomics.
Typefaces are important, don’t get me wrong. There is a certain level of netiquette that every tech-savy business person knows; for example, sending in a resume in the font Comic Sans might not send the exact message you want to convey. According to the new study by Vision Ergonomics Research Laboratory (funded by Microsoft) though, there is more than professionalism at stake if you repeatedly chose the wrong font. The study claims that Verdana is the best font to set your computer to, because it is easiest on your eyes. Set at 10-12 points, using Verdana can help reduce your risk for computer vision syndrome (CVS). It makes sense, the study showed that, when set at too small of a typeface, your are leaning in closer to read and are hunched over in an uncomfortable position. How many times is it harped that your body needs to be in it’s most natural state when working, in order to prevent frequent motion injuries? As much as this part of the study seems logical, the other point they made seemed questionable. It wasn’t clear how Verdana is ‘easiest’ on your eyes, or how exactly it could reduce CVS. The symptoms, according to TechEye.net, are “The most common common symptoms of CVS are tiredness, sore eyes, eye strain, dry eyes, red eyes, fatigue, repeated headaches, burning in eyes, pain in and around the eyes, glare sensitivity, difficulties in focusing, excessive tearing, contact lens discomfort, double vision, periodic blurring of near and distant vision, liking Craig David and death (we made the last two up).” I laughed at the last bit, they seemed to be as skeptical as I was. While the first glance at the study seems legitamate, a comment on TechEye.net summed it all up: “MICROSOFT pays for an ‘unbiased’ research in what is the best font, and, WOW… one of the ones MICROSOFT owns, wins… The research company takes the MICROSOFT money for totally unbiased results that favor MICROSOFT.” That’s exactly what I was thinking.

To read more: http://www.techeye.net/internet/scientists-claim-that-verdana-is-the-best-typeface#ixzz0wntRHVca

Yesterday, I mentioned a point that a certain furniture designer made about how people “equate cost with quality”. Well, reading an article on CO Design certainly beat that idea into my brain a little bit more..
Herman Miller has a reputation as a luxury furniture maker. More specifically, it’s Aeron chair has quite a reputation. Herman Miller’s website claims that the Aeron has “a look so distinctive that it’s probably the only office chair that people can identify by name” and that the chair “moves effortlessly with your whole body, as if your body were telling the chair what to do.” Sounds like quite a chair, doesn’t it? The more you look, the more you see that the Aeron chair may be no more than talk.
If a chair was so perfect, then why exactly would Yale professor John Morrell and grad student Ying Zheng be hard at working outfitting a prototype to improve you posture? CO Design calls the Aeron chair the “symbol of corporate idleness everywhere” and they could not be more correct. As I learned yesterday, it’s not a good idea to equate price with quality. The Herman Miller chair may look pretty (it’s displayed in the Museum of Modern Art, if I’m not mistaken), but CO D esign said it all: “while the chair might make your heinie feel like it’s floating on air, it won’t outright fix one of the biggest problems vexing workplace drones, tremendously bad posture.” If your Ergonomic chair can’t fix your posture to avoid workplace injuries, what’s the point of having an Ergonomic chair at all? The HM Aeron chair might be luxurious, but it misses the point (and the heart of the problem.) With ErogGenesis chairs, you don’t need a high-tech prototype to help improve your posture. If you get an Ergo chair, expect the best, Ergonomically.

As a side note: researchers at Yale have done something pretty genius, even if the chair they used isn’t the best. They rigged a series of cell phone vibrators in the chair so that whenever the chair senses bad posture, it vibrates.
From the Yale Daily News:
“When a person slouches, the tactor in the lumbar vibrates. When a person leans back, the two tactors in the shoulder region vibrate. When a person leans too forward, the whole back pulsates. When a person crosses his or her legs, lifts a leg or leans to one side, the tactors under the legs pulsate.”
That sounds like the single most distracting thing anyone could ever have in their workplace. But.. maybe that’s just me.

Read the full article here:
http://www.fastcodesign.com/1662093/bitchy-aeron-chair-scolds-your-slouchy-posture

When Abigail Perkins said, “To me, the ideal work setting fits the task to the user as opposed to trying to fit the user to the task” it’s like she was talking about ErgoGenesis. I love reading about someone with similar ideas on Ergonomics, and that’s exactly how I felt reading Feeling at Home in the Office in the New York Times today. As an employee of a company that designs furniture, she certainly has the experience, and her knowledge of Ergonomic solutions really shows through.
While reading through some of her most interesting points, I had a stinging realization: she said, “Companies will buy a $1,500 office chair because they equate price with value. But it’s more about fitting the chair to the individual. You wouldn’t buy a pair of shoes that didn’t fit, so why buy an expensive chair that isn’t really right for you?” ErgoGenesis is a perfect example of this. It’s more important for everyone to find a chair that suits them. For example: maybe our highest grade of leather Management chair doesn’t suit you, but a Petite Task-Back does. If you don’t take the time to test a chair and do research, then you won’t know how much more Ergonomic comfort you could be enjoying.
She also presented a range of other interesting points, but one really caught my eye. Apparently, research shows that many employees find it invigorating to stand up for at least a portion of their time while working, especially after lunch. Said Perkins, “It’s like an afternoon pick-me-up.” I decided to test her theory in my own way, but standing and leaning over a kitchen counter simply wasn’t as Ergonomic. (It could be the fault of the laptop, but they’re working on creating an Ergonomic laptop. I’m crossing my fingers!)
One of the more lighthearted ideas she had was something I think everyone could do. “It’s important to have a space of one’s own, even in an open environment. Bringing in items from home and adding color and textures helps the office aesthetic.” Who knew that bringing in your pictures and pieces of home could actually improve your workspace?
I love seeing Ergonomics get the spotlight it deserves, and this article was very well-written. Props to Abigail Perkins, she really knows what she’s talking about.
Her closing sentiments: “My goal is to provide a healthy work environment from the start, to catch someone before he or she needs an ergonomic solution for a specific problem.” Now that’s dynamic thinking.

Over at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Ergonomics are serious business. So serious, in fact, that they have been working hard to alert of the dangers of poorly designed work spaces-in the form of a poster on the bathroom wall.
Luckily, they really know how to bring Ergonomics home: they used a well-known American public figure.

The poster warns about Spock’s poor posture while using a computer and advice’s a posture more similar to Uhura’s.
While it might seem like a joke to those of us who might not be Trekkies, it’s a great way to spread the word about workplace health and Ergonomics. After all, if you suffer from Repetitive Motion Injuries you might not live long, and you definitely won’t prosper.

To read more at Wired click the image.

Hospital workers, nurses, firefighters, 911-technicians: what do they all have in common? They work 24/7. People are working all day and all night, in chairs. For the typical 8-5 office worker, there is a chair. For the light office worker, there is a chair. For an office worker that doesn’t want to sit at all, there is a stand up desk. Companies boast chairs that are healthy and Ergonomically designed that can help prevent Repetitive Motion Injuries (RMI), and that’s all well and good. Like us, other companies boast a range of fabrics and materials. But today, I want to address something other companies don’t cover, in a thousand different materials or otherwise. Jobs that require day and night work require a multitude of different tools, including a chair.
Ergonomic chairs have a long lifespan. They can withstand a lot of sitting without losing support, but when they are being used quite literally all the time, a stronger, more durable chair is needed.
Enter the ErgoGenesis Intensive Staff Chair. Designed using steel plates to withstand the kind of work needed, this chair will keep giving support in multi-shift workplaces.

I mentioned this in my previous post, but I’m excited about a series of products, Keyboard Mechanisms! I plan to go more in-depth about the advantages of using these, but for now I just want to feature the 3 existing styles.

Click on each image to learn more about each mechanism!

Very exciting news is coming from the University of Utah. I had no idea that researchers in Utah were even working to develop Ergonomic products, and I feel so uninformed. Researchers have developed a prototype of a new product called the Active Hand Rest. According to Ivanhoe.com, the prototype is currently made of “aluminum, plywood, geared motors, and a piece of foam rubber” but will be more fine-tuned in the future. The apparatus has the obvious advantage of steadying your hand, especially helpful for “surgeons and artists”. It can help reduce strain on the wrist by limiting the amount of movement it does unsupported, which can work to prevent Repetitive Motion Injuries, if I understand the use of this new product correctly. On another note though, researchers hope that this can do more than help steady hands of people doing precision movements: help steady the hands of people with conditions like Cerebral Palsy.
The tool is working to reduce shaky hands, but one of the doctors in charge of producing the prototype says there are uses he hasn’t even imagined.
All credit (quotes, prototype information, ect.) goes to Ivanhoe.com. To read the full story and contact the researchers, go to http://www.ivanhoe.com/science/story/2010/07/740a.html

While ErgoGenesis hasn’t yet developed this mechanism, you can protect your wrists from frequent motion injuries with an Ergonomically designed keyboard mechanisms, available at www.ergogenesis.com

Ever since I’ve started working extensively on my laptops, I’ve been complaining about a sore neck. I try to keep proper posture and elevate my head like all of the Ergonomists say I should, but it’s difficult! It’s easy to slip into the old habits that feel good now, but will hurt you later. Personally, I love working on laptops, but I hate the accompanying sore neck! Now, designer Vincent Liew has designed a laptop to satisfy the Ergonomic needs, while maintaining the convenience of a laptop! It looks pretty crazy,

I love how futuristic it looks. Sadly, it’s not in production yet, but the idea is phenomenal, I think.
Click on the image to read a full story on tomsguide.com
The laptop swings on hinges and can be raised to an angle that allows the user to maintain proper head and neck positioning. It would be revolutionary!

Its so good to see that Ergonomics is making headway in the design world. Way to go, Vincent Liew!

No matter which way you lean politically, you can appreciate a well-meaning piece of legislation. Lately it seems like many areas of the political arena are getting the legislation and resulting attention that they deserve, while Ergonomics and worker’s health are left in the cold. Well, not anymore! (If all goes well.) The OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Administration) are trying to pass legislation to force companies to distinguish ‘muskuloskeletal work-related disorders’ from other illness that are covered by Worker’s Comp.

Did that make sense to you? When I first read the passage from Human Resources Executive Online, it felt like I was reading a foreign language. To decode that: there are a number of illnesses covered by insurance, and for the most part up until now, Repetitive Motion Injuries (RMI) resulting from poorly-designed work environments have not been included in this list. Now, the OSHA is pushing to make these injuries a category of their own. The results could be an raised Ergonomic standard: if companies know their insurance prices could be raised due to cheaply made and designed office furniture, it is predicted that they will be more inclined to make a long-term investment.
Who knows, this could be the catalyst needed to give Ergonomics the attention it deserves.

Read a full article on the legislation at http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/story.jsp?storyId=453892714