Ergonomics

[squirmelia]

I'm currently studying ergonomics and on Wednesday I went to the University of Surrey to attend the Ergonomics Society Student Conference and found that possible careers in ergonomics can involve designing remote controls, various things to do with trains, ergo-gnome-ics, and oh, nuclear bombs.

I consulted Ergonomics, Work and Health by Pheasant and it mentioned that "Victorian public houses commonly had a brass rail around the bar about 6 inches (150mm) from the ground, allowing the drinker to rest each foot on it in turn", so I then went to a pub to test that out.

Ergonomics, Work and Health also has some fascinating information about RSI and writer's cramp:
"Willis (1986) described RSI as a "metaphor for alienation" ".
and
"Crisp and Moldofsky (1965) go so far as to regard writer's cramp as a psychosomatic manifestation of repressed anger."

Comments

Re: All in the mind

[modulatorium.livejournal.com]

I absolutely fundamentally agree that all forms of mental and physical suffering should be taken seriously by doctors. However, I think that conditions which are entirely psychosomatic are, in practice, less likely to be taken seriously than conditions which have a genuine physiological aspect. That's why I'm pleased that RSI is viewed more as being physiological rather than being 'in the mind'. I'm not saying that it oughtn't to be treated properly if it were entirely psychosomatic, I'm saying that I think it's less likely that it would be.

Are RSI sufferers especially blasé about it? Not in my experience. In my small company of about 25 people, we have two RSI sufferers including myself. Both of us try to be quite sensible about it, e.g. we have software installed that reminds us when to micro-pause, when to take breaks, etc.