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Is your work chair hurting your back?
Those trying to alleviate back pain after long hours of sitting at work may resort to painkillers, massage, acupuncture or heat therapy — but the solution may be as simple as switching out your office chair.
Lower back pain during office work is often attributed to a lack of movement, with experts advising to take regular breaks from sitting as a temporary form of relief.
A new study from University of Waterloo researchers compared dynamic sitting (involving movement) in a backless chair with a rotating seat pan with traditional (inactive or rigid) sitting in a conventional office chair with a backrest and arm rests.
A traditional office chair (left) and a "dynamic" chair.
Researchers found that compared to sitting in the traditional chair, dynamic sitting increased lower spine movement during activity-guided tasks without negatively impacting posture or evoking pain. Participants completed blocks of regular computer work and activity-guided tasks, such as games that require hip and pelvis movement, while seated.
"The best posture is a changing posture," said Jessa Davidson, Biomechanics PhD candidate in Waterloo's Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences and a co-author of the study. "When our participants were performing computer work or playing games in the dynamic chair, we found there were no changes in lower back pain, which was a big positive finding."
With approximately 619 million people living with lower back pain worldwide, there is a growing concern not only with quality of life but also with productivity and work loss.
Researchers monitored spine movement, pain and work productivity and found no changes in productivity, with participants performing just as well in a moving chair versus a traditional chair.
The dynamic chair offers stability in addition to movement, eliminating many of the risks associated with other forms of dynamic sitting, such as stability balls. It allowed for left, right, front and back tilt and was adjusted to each individual's bodily proportions before use.
A phone was attached to the back of the chair to measure movement or placed in the participant's pocket. Using an app created by the same company that made the chair, the phone provided real-time feedback of the chair's movements to the computer.
Motion capture and tri-axial accelerometers (an electromechanical sensor that calculates measurements simultaneously in three directions) were used to track the movement of the participants as they completed the activity-guided tasks.
This study measured responses from acute exposure to sitting in the dynamic chair, but Davidson would like to see how the chair could be used long-term. As the relationship between sitting, pain, and injury has yet to be fully established, additional evidence is needed to build further guidelines for using these chairs.
"Each dynamic chair has different degrees to which it can move and different levels of padding, so there are other designs that can be looked at," Davidson said.
"I'd also like to see dynamic sitting tested on individuals outside of the healthy population, for example with those who have reported concerning levels of pain, to see if it could help to decrease it."
The study, Traditional versus dynamic sitting: Lumbar spine kinematics and pain during computer work and activity guided tasks, was recently published in Applied Ergonomics and co-authored by Davidson, Kinesiology PhD student Jackie Zehr and Drs. Paolo Dominelli and Jack Callaghan.
Campus-wide ORCID pilot project launches
A message from the Library.
Key stakeholders, including the Library, the Office of Research, and representatives that participate in a Bibliometrics Working Group (BWG), have come together to support the implementation of Open Researcher and Contributor Identifiers (ORCID) across the University, starting with a two-year pilot project to explore how a campus-wide approach could support researchers.
ORCID is a persistent identifier (PI) that points to an individual researcher, similar to the digital object identifiers (DOI) that are assigned by a publisher when an article is made available electronically.
A unique, no-cost 16-digit ID number, an ORCID allows researchers to build a verified record with links to all their research, employment history, education, qualifications, conference proceedings, professional awards and more, all in one place.
Researchers can also accept a trusted organization, such as their academic institution, to add research information to their ORCID record, saving them time to focus on their research and allowing the academic institution to better understand research impact.
Read more about the project on the Library’s website
Persons with disabilities invited to take an accessibility survey
A message from the Disability Inclusion Team.
The Ministry for Seniors and Accessibility is responsible for ensuring that organizations comply with the requirements of the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation (IASR) under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA).
To allow the Ministry to prioritize the most critical elements of website compliance, it needs to better understand the current challenges and experiences of people with disabilities when trying to access websites and web content. The ministry has developed a short survey to achieve this goal.
The survey contains 5 questions and may take between 5 and 15 minutes to complete.
The ministry will use the information gathered in this survey to develop processes to assess web accessibility.
The survey link will be available between July 10 and July 31 to allow sufficient time for the link to be shared broadly and to allow recipients to respond.
Retirement reception for Sue Koebel set for August 14
A message from Human Resources.
You are invited to a retirement celebration 47 years in the making! Join us on August 14, 2024, to honour Sue Koebel, and celebrate with her colleagues, family, and friends.
After 47 years of dedicated service and invaluable contributions to the University of Waterloo, Sue Koebel is retiring! Her UWaterloo career started in the Registrar’s Office in July 1977. Sue found her passion in payroll and supporting employees when she moved to the Financial Services Department in 1979. Her final career move came in 1996 when payroll transitioned to Human Resources. Sue has literally helped tens of thousands of employees with not only their pay, but all kinds of workplace support given her deep knowledge of the institution.
Sue has seen many changes over her vast career, from issuing physical cheques and helping employees fill out their hiring paperwork, to moving to direct deposit and online onboarding. Sue has worked at Waterloo under 6 of the 7 University Presidents and has had 10 different titles/promotions over her career!
“It is not every day we have the pleasure of celebrating such remarkable achievement,” writes Michelle Hollis, the Chief Human Resources Officer. “I hope you will join us as we celebrate Sue and her 47 years at Waterloo.”
Date: Wednesday, August 14
Time: 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Location: The University Club
Please register to attend: RSVP by August 2.
Please join us for an afternoon of memories, laughter, and heartfelt thanks as we honour Sue and her incredible career! If you have questions, please contact Jelena Milenovic at jelena.milenovic@uwaterloo.ca. We look forward to celebrating with you.
Wednesday's notes
Today, on-campus Tim Hortons locations will be participating in Camp Day, where 100 per cent of the proceeds from every hot coffee and iced coffee are donated to Tim Hortons Foundation Camps. This year happens to be the 50th anniversary of the Tim Hortons Foundation Camps. Camp Day bracelets are also available for sale, with the proceeds going to support the initiative.
In keeping with the theme, the Market at CMH is having a campfire-inspired day with a hot-dish feature menu inspired by campfire foods for lunch and dinner.
Food Truck Wednesdays also continue today in the Arts Quad with offerings from Cafe du Monde and Conestoga College. This is the penultimate installment of the Food Truck Wednesdays series, so give it a try before the vendors peel out.