Ergonomic Seating Guidelines and then some...

Most of us working people can spend at least 5 focused hours a day in front of a computer. While it is obvious that this is necessary for our work, it doesn't necessarily mean that we have to suffer for it later on i our lives. Every now and then, I'll try to put a few ergonomic tips for safety at work and at home. As Alekos adequately puts it: literally kinareer ko ang ergonomics.

Today, I'm posting about seating guidelines. There are two important players, the worker's posture and the properties and characteristics of the seat.

He mentioned in his post something about natural positions. He is actually referring to neutral postures. These are body postures that put the least pressure and tension to your muscles and nerves. For example, the neck is at a neutral posture if the head is balanced on the spinal column. It is not tilted forward, back or to either side. It is not rotated to the left or right.

While seating, the spine should follow to its natural S curve (Shown above)

The buttocks should be fully supported by the seat pan with both feet planted on the ground. The angle between the trunk and thigh and the thigh and legs should be at least 90 and 60 degrees, respectively. Refer to the figure below.

Deviating from this can cause restricted flow of blood to your lower extremities that in the immediate term can cause numbness. Long term effects are too painful to describe.


In choosing your seat, keep one thing in mind: Everything should be adjustable: back rest, arm rest and seat height are among these. For the vertically challenged, if adjusting to the proper seat height causes your feet to hang in the air, use a footrest. A chair fitting this criterion would look like this:

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In other news...

• Does dating to you feel like a burned-out circuit? You might achieve more success if you actually treat your dating life as a circuit! Thanks to Jemai Ty for this link.
• I now have a Multiply account (which I haven't fully configured yet) and a Flickr account for my photos. I've already uploaded some pics from my recent travels and then some. If you wanna see some pics from the HK and China legs of my trip, my mother's friend Tommy Ooi has uploaded the pictures he took. I spent my birthday in Shenzhen and Dongguan, China and it was my best birthday ever! Thanks for the wonderful time in HK and Shenzhen Tommy!
  

Also, thanks to those who greeted me that day!