Tailor Ergonomics Exercises To Your Work Situation

No matter what your job - whether you’re a police officer, clerk, assembly-line worker or mom - you need to think about ergonomics.

Here are a few suggestions broken down by job.

Clerical: If you sit at a desk for a long time, you should move around every 45 to 60 minutes - stand up, walk, stretch. Here are some stretching ideas:

Sit in your chair and clasp your hands behind your chair or back. You should feel the stretch across the front of your shoulders and chest;

Drop one ear to one shoulder, then your chin toward your chest and finally the other ear toward the other shoulder. Don’t drop your head back;

Hold on to the base of your chair with one hand and drop your opposite ear to its corresponding shoulder.

When you stand up, put your hands on your lower back and lean back.

If you work on a keyboard, stretch your arm in front of you with your palms down, then bend your fingers up, grasp your fingertips with the opposite hand and stretch them back toward your shoulder keeping your arm extended. Then point your fingers down and gently push on the back of your hand.

Driving: Folks who spend their day driving a car or truck should do the same stretches as above. Experts also caution people who drive to push the seat back before getting in and out of their vehicle.

Sit in the seat first then swing your legs into the car and adjust your seat so it’s far enough forward that you’re not extending your legs to reach the pedals or your arms to reach the steering wheel.

Assembly line: When you take a break, it’s a good idea to spend time both sitting, which takes the pressure off your feet, and to do a little walking. It’s important to have good, supportive shoes, and it’s smart to stand on an anti-fatigue mat. It’s also important to make sure when you’re standing on the line that it’s high enough or low enough so your forearms are parallel to the floor.

Lifting: It’s critical to use good body mechanics. Absorb most of the weight in your legs and hips versus the lumbar spine.

Don’t lift more than is appropriate for you. If it’s too heavy, ask for help. Assume what you lift is going to be too heavy so that you use good body mechanics.

Parents: Parents, especially moms, need to remember to use their legs and hips when lifting their kids.

It’s also best to carry kids in front of you. But if you need to perch them on a hip, make sure you alternate sides.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Julie Stafford Knight-Ridder Newspapers