Benefits of Ergonomic Office Furniture

In the fast-paced world of business ergonomic office furniture is beneficial in maintaining worker enthusiasm, productivity and overall wellbeing. The science of ergonomics has opened up new doors into allowing office workers greater effectiveness with less down time than ever before. In the long run ergonomic office furniture will reduce health related costs and medical bills saving both employee and employer money, regardless of the upfront costs related to ergonomic design.

Consider a common office ailment, carpal tunnel syndrome, and the corrective surgical procedure. Surgery is the solution available if carpal tunnel syndrome does not respond well within three to twelve months of non-surgical treatments. While an office worker is suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome his or her productivity is reduced. If surgery is required a worker will lose one or two days recovery time if the non-dominant hand is operated on, though up to two weeks is required. If the dominant hand is operated on, six to twelve weeks of downtime can be expected, depending on the success of physical therapy. For a company and employee, this is expensive.

Ergonomic office furniture includes but is not limited to the following adaptive devices: computer glasses (to reduce glare), armrests and foam pads, book and document holders with or without a line guide, ergonomic mice and keyboards, office chairs, and foot rests. Each of these devices is designed to promote proper posture and better circulation, reducing body stress levels and reducing worker injury.

In addition to these many benefits of ergonomic office furniture, the ergonomic office space can incorporate stretch break software. This customizable software runs in the background and can be programmed with periodic breaks to stretch sore neck muscles, loosen the fingers or wrists and further reduce the risk of repetitive stress injury. Also taking short breaks can help the brain refocus on in-depth projects that suck the hours away in a work day. This software is available for about $40 and is another way to enhance the benefits of ergonomic office furniture.