DVD Excerpt: The science of ergonomic studies is how best to fit the work environment to the worker. Engineers design equipment and tools that work well with the human body, but we are each different in so many different ways, taller, slimmer, shorter arms or fingers, longer legs, that creating a workstation that fits just us is virtually impossible. Other factors can affect how we relate to our work environment as well. Physical fitness can play a major part. Our state of mind can even have an impact. In this program we’ll bring all of these diverse elements together to see how a little ergonomic knowledge can improve your health, your work performance, and even how you feel about yourself. First, we have to understand something about how the human body works. The human body is amazingly adaptable, whether it’s the heat of the tropics, or the cold of the arctic. There are just a few environments we can’t adjust to. Some environments are tougher than others. In fact, you enter one of the most challenging every day, your office. If you’re not careful things that you do in your workplace on a daily basis can injure, even disable you. The reasons for this involve your body’s ligaments, tendons, muscles, and nerves. Ligaments are coarse bands of tissue that join individual links of bone together. Together bones and ligaments form the joints.
