Workplace Assessment

Workplace Assessment – (NAME) Prospect SA 5082 Assessment Date 31/03/2020 Performed by Andrew Darcey, physiotherapist Presentation Summary of presenting problems: Nathan has been instructed to work at home. He has been working at home full time for the past 2 weeks. He has a different chair to his normal workplace chair. He has the same monitor screen; he has the same mouse and same keyboard as he does at work. His laptop is paired to two monitors, and the chair he is using at the moment is a standard office chair from Officeworks. It has an adjustable height; it does not have an adjustable back rest. Nathan feels that his hip flexors are working to hold himself from leaning back. Summary of findings. Seating Ergonomics Image 1 – Seat height

Looking at the seat height, we would expect while Nathan is sitting in his normal work position that his knees are bent to approximately 90 degrees, and his feet are flat on the floor. It would seem that the seat height is the correct height for Nathan. Image 2 – Sitting posture Looking at Nathan’s sitting posture and looking at the back rest of the seat, the backrest of this particular chair is tilted back quite significantly so that when Nathan is in his normal office working position, he is slouched back and slumped back in the chair. This is not ideal, and it results in Nathan adopting a flexed posture through the spine, which may load his upper and lower back, and Nathal also adopts a forward head posture, which can be seen in the next still shot. Image 3 – Sitting posture

We can see from this still shot that in Nathan’s normal sitting position that a line drawn directly up from the tip of his shoulder goes behind his ear.

Image 4 Nathan’s hip flexion while he is seated is outside the 70 to 90-degree range that we are looking for. It is significantly less flexed from 70 degrees.

Image 5 We can see from this still image that Nathan’s hip flexion is approximately 52 degrees. If Nathan’s trunk was a little bit more upright, his hip flexion angle would increase a little bit and that would bring him into the 70-90 degrees, which we consider ideal.

Image 6 It can also be seen from this still shot that the chair Nathan is currently using has no armrest, so Nathan’s elbows are in the air and his forearms are resting on the desk, which makes his elbows being slightly lower than his forearms in his normal working position while he is typing on the keyboard. Recommendations ● Seat height: To maintain the current seat height. ● Posture: To adopt the posture where the line from the tip of the shoulder going up is in line with Nathan’s ear. ● Backrest: To either consider purchasing a new chair with a more upright or adjustable backrest, or using a lumbar support roll or a small cushion or rolled-up towel to put in the small of Nathan’s back so he can adopt a slightly more upright posture. ● If he would consider a new chair, to have a chair with armrest that are adjusted to the appropriate height.

Desk Ergonomics The height of the undersurface of the desk from the floor is 67cm, and the height to the top of Nathan’s thighs is 62cm, allowing Nathan a clearance of 5cm in his normal seated working position. Image 7 – Desk Ergonomics Legs Under Table Recommendations ● The chair height and desk height are adequate for Nathan at this stage and to maintain those.

Computer Ergonomics We can see from the still shot that in Nathan’s not current working position that drawing a straight line from his eyes to the monitor, his eye level is higher than the top of the monitor. Taking measurements of the monitor and Nathan’s eye level, there appears to be approximately a 1cm difference between the two. Image 8 – Monitor and Eye Level

Image 9 Nathan has a laptop, which is feeding into two monitor screens, and our recommendation for Nathan is to maintain that. We can see in this shot that for Nathan to access the laptop, he is rotating the trunk and leaning forward in the chair.

Image 10 It can be seen that Nathan has an ergonomic keyboard and an ergonomic mouse. In Nathan’s normal seated position, drawing a line from the tip of Nathan’s shoulder straight out, we can see that Nathan’s right arm is externally rotated approximately 12 degrees, so that Nathan can access his mouse.

Image 11 We can see from this shot that Nathan’s monitor is slightly further away than the length of his arm while he is in his normal seated position. Recommendations ● Monitors: To increase the height of the monitor by 1-2cm, ensuring his eyes are level with the top of the monitor. Should Nathan follow our recommendations regarding the chair setup, Nathan’s eye level would be higher again and he may need to increase the screen height even further. ● Viewing laptop: To swivel in the chair so that his trunk remains straight on and is not rotating. ● Keyboard and mouse: To continue to use an ergonomic keyboard and an ergonomic mouse. ● To maintain approximately 12 degrees of external rotation; 12 degrees is well within a reasonable limit rotation for Nathan’s arm. ● To bring his monitor screen slightly closer to him so he could touch the screen with the tip of his finger.

Phone Ergonomics Looking at Nathan’s phone and communication ergonomics, Nathan has adopted the use of a headset for conference calls and communication. That is excellent. Image 12 – Headset for communication Recommendations ● To continue using the headset. Other Workplace Setup

Image 13 – Workplace setup Looking at other aspects of Nathan’s workplace setup, we can see from the above shot that Nathan has adopted the use of a plastic floor mat. Recommendations ● To continue using the plastic floor mat. This allows the chair to slide easy over the ground without getting caught, which will take pressure off Nathan’s lower back and legs. Conclusion and sign off: In summary, our recommendation is for Nathan to consider purchasing a new chair with an adjustable back support, which will improve Nathan’s sitting posture and go on to reduce his forward head posture position. Our recommendation would be for Nathan to increase the height of his monitor by

1-2cm and bring the monitor screen slightly closer to his body; otherwise, Nathan’s ergonomic setup is quite reasonable. If you require further information regarding this workstation assessment, or recommendations, please contact Name, Position via email: j​ [email protected] James Trotter Physiotherapist Leading Edge Physical Therapy 76A Kensington Road Rose Park SA 5067