Microsoft Hardware Blog

Hello! I am Dan Odell, the Certified Professional Ergonomist working on mice and keyboards here at Microsoft.  I just got back from some travel where I had the opportunity to chat about ergonomics issues and computer use with a number of journalists.  It was a great experience and reminded me that there are lots of questions out there about ergonomics.  So, I thought I’d try to take on some of the common questions about ergonomics with this blog.

Some of the recurring themes that came up were:  What exactly is ergonomics and why is it important?  What is Microsoft’s approach to ergonomic design?  And – what are the barriers to ergonomic products (why doesn’t everyone use them)?  That’s a lot of material.  So, I’m going to break this into three posts to address each one separately.

What exactly is ergonomics and why is it important?

There are a lot of misconceptions about ergonomics out there.  A common view seems to be something like “Oh, ergonomics, that’s what you need to deal with once you’ve been injured.”   The implication there is that ergonomics is a hassle, and you only worry about it when you really need to.  As an ergonomist – I have to say that it shouldn’t be that way.

In actuality, ergonomics is just a field of science that studies the way people work.  In Latin, ‘ergo’ means work, and ‘nomos’ means natural law.   So, ergonomics is the study of work principles.  Understanding how people work enables us to help people work better.  This doesn’t just mean ‘treat injuries’ – but encompasses all aspects of work: help people get more done, get more enjoyment out of their work, as well as stay healthy.  When something is properly ‘ergonomically designed,’ it should mean that the task or device matches the capabilities of the person.

Fortunately, a lot of work has already been done to make computer work productive and enjoyable.  So, as ergonomists, we do tend to focus more on the comfort piece.  But it’s when we forget the other pieces that ‘ergonomics’ gets a bad name.  I can’t tell you how many computer input devices I’ve seen where the designer states that their design is “ergonomic.”  Meanwhile I’m thinking to myself “yeah, but it takes twice as long to get your work done.  So, no one’s going to want to use it.”  That’s bad ergonomic design since it doesn’t consider the whole picture.

Now, let’s focus on why injury prevention in computer use is so important.  One of the main risk factors for injury is exposure time (repetition, frequency, duration, etc…).  Well, you won’t be surprised when I tell you that people spend a lot of time on computers.  Previous work found that people self-reported spending an average of about 6 hours a day on the computer. When exposure time is high, it  means that risk of pain or injury is high.  One of the most interesting studies that looked at pain associated with computer use was published by Gerr et al.  in 2002.  Those researchers followed almost 600 new computer workers from their date of hire through their first year of employment.  One of their key takeaways was that “more than 50% of computer users reported Musculoskeletal Symptoms during the first year after starting a new job.”   When I see that statistic, I’m always surprised that people don’t take computer pain more seriously.  The truth is – if you spend a lot of time on the computer, you’re at higher risk for pain or injury.  Pay attention to your body and take a few simple steps to improve your long-term comfort.  There are a number of great resources available with information on computer comfort, including: the National Institute of Health, HP’s safety and comfort guide, and of course the  Microsoft Hardware comfort page

People who have had injuries in the past tend to be strong advocates and good resources for learning about computer related pain.  For me, an injury is what launched my interest in ergonomics in the first place.  I was working designing exercise equipment on CAD all day, every day.   I didn’t know it at the time, but my desk was set too high causing me to shrug my shoulder as I worked with the mouse.  That was over 12 years ago, and I still have some chronic pain in my right shoulder as a result.  If I knew then what I know now, the injury would have been quite simple to prevent.   Yes – it’s much easier to prevent these types of injuries than it is to treat them.  Fortunately, my computer setup these days is really good so I’m able to manage the injury well.  But, the injury did inspire me to launch a career in ergonomic design and hopefully help other folks.

OK – that’s it for this installment.  If you have a story about pain at the computer, or if you have a story about a product that has helped you, I’d love to hear from you.   Next time I’ll write about my approach to ergonomics here at Microsoft.