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16 November 2012

ergo i need help i posted on askme but i'm not getting any bites. looking for advice on how to find/hire an ergonomics consultant to come to my office, but i have no idea where to start. also, in Harrisburg, PA not someplace like NYC where there are probably ergonomics consultants all over the place. can anyone offer some advice?
sio I know this doesn't directly answer your question but I suffered with these problems when I was younger up until I got a proper sports massage therapist. Not a "touchy-feely" spa massage person but an OW! HOLYSHITOMGDON'TSTOP kind of sports massage person that will break up the knots in a "hurts so good" way. Look for someone who specializes in trigger point therapy. Alternatively you can go your own route and get some books on Amazon about trigger point / myofascial release.

Other good tips - take a ream of paper and raise your monitor to eye level. You should not be hunched forward / looking down. Most of the pain and angst I had from desk related issues was from sitting in a forward-head position.

Take frequent breaks and do micro-stretching at your desk - link your hands together behind your back, look up, and stretch your arms behind you (linked) as high as they'll go. Get up and walk around every 30 minutes. Set a timer if you have to.

I got a sit-stand desk and it helps a lot, but nothing helps more than actually being mobile, getting up and getting papers from the printer upstairs instead of printing it next to my office, walking over to the other building to drop off invoices rather than using interoffice mail, et cetera. Static muscles lock up and hurt, and sitting is one of the more harmful positions for the human body to remain in for lengthy periods of time.

If you have a yoga ball at home, try lying over it backwards and stretching the fronts of your pecs/shoulders out. When I get that trap knot you're talking about, and I know exactly the one you're talking about, something that also helps is to take a little massage "knobble" thingie I got for like 8 bucks on Amazon and dig it into the front of my shoulder joint, kind of around/under the collarbone, and stretch stuff out there. If you sit hunched forward / head forward, you shorten the fronts of your shoulders / pecs, and the traps and back of your neck get conversely lengthened and weak and all unbalanced, and the front attachments in your shoulder joint get tight too, which is partly why it all hurts.
posted by lonefrontranger 16 November | 12:20
Have you used the directory search on the Board of Certification of Professional Ergonomics website? I have never heard of this organization but it has a decent list of people in PA.
posted by mullacc 16 November | 12:27
My old office had an in-house specialist and her training was in sport physio as well. So maybe a physical therapist might know?
posted by geek anachronism 16 November | 22:23
All this is good to know. I wasnt sure where to even start but now I do. Hopefully something will pan out in my price range. Thanks MeChas!
posted by sio42 16 November | 23:55
The Board of Certification in Professional Ergonomics will tell you who is certified near you.

The org used to be a client of mine. They are the goto place for ergo hoc post certficatum.
posted by warbaby 17 November | 02:05
Puppy blanket || This is neat: Rare Robert Johnson record turns up at local record store.

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