Thought Bytes...
July 2002

The Ergonomics of Doing Nothing

(The inspiration for this article came from Rona Maynard's editorial in July 2002 issue of Chatelaine magazine... which I read last month while sitting in an adirondack chair on my deck, enjoying the shade of the umbrella....)

When was the last time you sat and did nothing? I have to admit, those opportunities are few and far between. And, given the number of hobbies and interests I have, quite rare. However, I do find more time to reflect on life in the long summer days. When half the staff is on holiday, my clients prefer to wait until the Fall to look at their ergonomics training and assessment needs. That leaves me more time...

During these slow (and hot) days, I seem to spend more time sitting - in lawn chairs, adirondack chairs, on couches. Oh, I know I have said it before: we were not designed to sit. And yet, relaxation seems to be synonymous with sitting. You travel 500 km to visit a friend and the first thing you do is sit down. I sometimes think that the Romans had the right idea with the artist's renditions of them lying down.

Lying down is really the only way to unload the spine - unless you have taken to space travel. Even when we are sitting correctly, gravity continues to compress the disks. The problem with lying down is that I immediately fall asleep. If I don't fall asleep, then my hands get tingly from holding up a book over my body. The compromise? Propping yourself up can work, but needs to be done properly. A few incorrectly placed pillows can increase stress to the spine and neck, making relaxation uncomfortable.

As always, the goal is to maintain the natural curve of the spine. That means keeping the lumbar curve and supporting the thoracic (chest area) spine. A couple of strategically placed pillows will do the trick. The hard part is finding the right amount of head support. When we are upright, the head balances quite nicely on top of the spine. The upper postural muscles make subtle contractions to maintain balance. In a reclining position, the alignment between the head and torso is lost as the chin moves toward the chest.

The head tilted position of reclining flattens the natural curve of the neck. This places the posterior neck muscles in a slightly longer fibre length. Because the muscles are still being used to balance the head, they quickly adapt to this longer fibre length. Over time, or with prolonged and frequent exposures, this could lead to the muscles becoming weaker. A weak muscle is more prone to irritation and injury.

The solution is to support the muscles when they are not being used at their ideal fibre length. Try placing a pillow behind the head and rolling the bottom edge over so that it comes in to the neck. When the head is supported, the neck muscles will not have to work as hard to keep the head balanced. The support at the neck should not be so large as to force your head forward, but just enough that you can feel the support.

Even when supported appropriately so that they are not in continuous use, the muscles can learn the incorrect fibre length. For that reason, a variety of activities is very important - back to that old "hunting and gathering" idea. Exercising the muscles at their ideal length helps to program correct postures into them, making the muscles healthier, more functional and less prone to injury.

Whether you are sitting propped up in bed, flaked out on the couch or reclined in an adirondack chair the key is to support the neck and head. This will help the muscles maintain their "programming" for correct working postures while making the job of relaxing that much more enjoyable.

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