Healthy Life: (4) Ergonomics (494)

Healthy Life: (4) Ergonomics

蘇鎮邦 (Christopher So)：
舒整物理治療師 (Manipulative Physiotherapist) 人類工程師 (Ergonomist)

In the Greek language, the word Ergonomics comprises of two words: Ergo which means work and nomos which means natural law or system. In the early stage, Ergonomics begins its development in military designs especially in seat design for vehicles and jet fighters. Later, Ergonomics is applied to commercial designs especially in car seats and mechanical tools. Nowadays, Ergonomics is widely used in domestic appliances, traffic and road safety, hospitals, schools and sports as well. However, the ultimate aim is the same: to make work or life easier for humans, to make the task suit the person involved.

Ergonomics embraces a lot of areas. It may be grouped into a few factors: light, humidity, temperature, noise and vibration which affect the work of people. However, mechanical factor which involves the link between humans and the tools or works as the most common factor e.g. Human Factors in Engineering and Design.

For instance, too bright or too dim will affect our vision. If our eyes cannot be relaxed, it can cause strain to our neck as we try to adjust our distance between our eyes and the object concerned. You can read more in the article about neck pain and exercises. The worse thing is that the adjustment is so fine that we are unaware of our neck muscles being strained. In turn, we can develop tension headache. Such condition can be cured by manipulative therapy. However, appropriate exercises and correct posture are keys to long term relief and management. Also, it is important to adjust the workstation and light intensity of the workplace. For people who have to wear glasses must check whether they have the right spectacles. To fix the cause of the problem not just the symptoms is the long term solution.

If the temperature of the working environment is too high, it will cause early fatigue. In turn, it can cause mistakes or worse of all – fatal accidents. However, it is very difficult to regulate outdoor temperature. People need to drink more and rest more regularly to allow the body to become more tolerant to harsh working conditions. Even indoor environment which can be regulated by air-conditioning , we need to realize too cold especially with cool draft to the back of the neck can cause similar neck problems as in the case of light intensity.