Ergonomic Assessment

Sandy is a 59-year-old woman who works as a bookkeeper for a farm and as the head of a company that produces animal CBD products in West De Pere. Her workspace is located in her 10 x 12 ½ foot that she shares with her husband, complete with a wooden stationary desk and cabinets, swivel chair with caster wheels, and carpet flooring. As a bookkeeper, she pays bills and does taxes. For her other job, she spends most of her time researching, developing products, and making labels. She also manages partnerships with companies that provide her supplies, such as buckets and scoops. The time she spends at her desk ranges from 1 to 10 hours a day, as she has other farm related jobs and gives riding lessons to kids. She states that she takes breaks ranging from every 15 minutes to 3 hours apart depending on the task. If she sits for too long, her legs hurt and right ankle swells, and her back and neck become stiff and achy. She also gets pain and tingling down her right arm and into her fingertips with writing and typing, a result of a car accident 5 years ago. She also has double vision and is near sighted. She sits with her neck in excessive cervical flexion looking at a computer screen, which causes her pain in the sides of her neck. She presents with forward head posture, rounded shoulders, and decreased lumbar lordosis.

Upon observation of Sandy's workspace, there were several areas I noted that could be problems. For one, her desk is stationary, which limits how much she can move around. The fact that she has to share her workspace limits how much room she has to store her things. As a result, her desk is cluttered, and she doesn't have enough space for her documents and files. She spends a lot of time searching for things she needs, which leads to extra time spent sitting at her desk. Her chair has adequate lumbar support and appropriate features for carpeting, but it has some age-related mechanical problems. For instance, the chair tips backward with little resistance, which is a potential safety hazard. Although her chair is set at the maximum height, it sinks down when sat upon and the armrests are still below the level of the desk. This can cause a person to rest his or her elbows on the desk for support, resulting in rounded shoulders and a hunched back. It also puts additional stress on the wrist. In addition, her near sightedness is likely causing her to crane her neck forward while looking at the computer. Staying in this position for long periods of time causes the chest muscles to become short and tight and back muscles to be overstretched. It can also cause low back pain. Her keyboard is angled upward and cannot be adjusted and her mouse is too short, which puts her wrists into excessive extension. Over time, the wrist extensors become overstretched and wrist flexors become short and tight. These things could be contributing to the nerve pain that she is feeling in her fingertips.

The main problems I identified was irregular rest breaks, poor ergonomic set up and chair dysfunction. I feel that Sandy would benefit most from a standing desk. This would help reduce her low back pain and promote good posture, as there is less compressive force on the spine while standing. This option would also allow her to move more freely and would decrease the swelling in her ankle. However, standing desks can be costly depending on the features and style. I decided to stick with more inexpensive options, mostly education and a couple of suggestions.

 For Sandy, many her symptoms are the result of previous injuries, which worsen with prolonged sitting. She is aware of some the changes that need to be made to her workspace. She is currently reorganizing her files and storing them into a closet, which I think will reduce the time that she spends at her desk. For now, I put another cushion on the chair to raise the height, but I strongly recommended that she purchased a new chair for safety soon. I also educated her about the features it should have for carpet flooring. For her keyboard, I put some felt fabric underneath the base to level it. However, I also suggested buying an adjustable keyboard and educated her on proper wrist posture. I really focused on the importance of regular rest breaks and the effects of sitting on muscle balance. I told her that it was especially important for her to get up and move around when she felt pain in either her arm or legs so that it didn't affect her productivity later in the day. After her car accident, she had gone to physical therapy and mentioned she received strengthening and stretching exercises for her back and neck but stopped doing them once her pain improved. After reviewing them with her, I recommended that she do the upper trapezius and levator scapulae stretch while she was sitting at her desk. I gave some handouts of some other exercises as well, including scapular retractions and chin tucks for posture, and wrist extensor and flexor stretches. I also gave her pictures of a proper ergonomic workstation and proper wrist posture.