As office workers, we spend long hours sitting at our desks. Most often, these long hours end with pain in our shoulders from hunching over the computer or paperwork, and aching muscles that have been inactive for a long.
These may not sound like major concerns, but poor ergonomics can easily lead to some major problems, like permanent musculoskeletal disorders.
The best way to alleviate the pain from all those hours spent working and avoid them in the future is to practice good ergonomics. The right ergonomic techniques help with improving the efficiency in the workplace, as well as the comfort.
But how do you know what the right ergonomic practices are?
There are plenty of courses online that you can take to educate yourself. Most people will not need a full-fledged ergonomics degree, and can do just fine with some online courses.
In fact, online courses allow you to save time and money, since full-fledged courses are rather expensive. They are also free from geographical constraints, so you can learn from industry experts without having to worry about your location or availability.
Online courses also come with lifetime access, so you can revisit the training whenever you need and give yourself a reminder.
Let’s take a look at some of the best online ergonomics training courses available.
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Posturecise
One of the major contributors towards workplace injuries and poor health is that of poor posture. There are not enough ways to explain how poor posture can have a negative impact on your health. From breathing trouble, poor circulation, to constant fatigue, poor posture can affect your work and your personal life.
This course, Posturecise, is one of the best online training courses to use for improving your posture. The best part about this is that it doesn’t need you to head over to the gym – you can do all of it just as well at home. The course includes tutorials around postural movements and positioning, as well as how you should fix your posture while standing.
The course is broken down into 40 lectures that are easy to digest and can easily be watched on your phone or laptop. You can learn how to fix your posture while commuting or eating, or even just before you head to bed.
The course offers a certificate of completion as well.
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Sit Less Move More
Many of us suffer from aches and pains from all the time we spend sitting. Sitting for long periods of time is already unhealthy, and we make it worse by sitting more than we really need to, when we could easily minimize it.
This course, Sit Less Move More, is an excellent ergonomics course designed specifically to keep you from falling into the sedentary lifestyle. It focuses on breaking free of the vicious prolonged sitting cycle, and teaches active sitting techniques and exercises you can do in the office.
The course goes over the entire body, rather than focusing on just one part of it. It starts with an overview and then works down from your head. It teaches you how to keep all parts of your body active while you work – even if you are sitting!
The course also provides a certificate upon completion and is an excellent course on ergonomics for office workers.
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Office Health A-Z™
If you’re looking for a comprehensive and balanced course on ergonomics for the office, Office Health A-Z is your go-to. As the name suggests, it goes over all the A to Zs of office health, from posture and ergonomics to food!
The course is created by an ergonomics specialist, who teaches you about all the health mistakes workers make in the office and how these can be corrected. This includes exercises to fix posture, better diet plans, methods to avoid eye fatigue and more.
The course also comes with a certificate upon completion, and is excellent as a very quick rundown on all the ways you can improve your workplace ergonomics.
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Your Shoulder & Neck Pain Solution
Most of us, as office workers, suffer from chronic pain in our back, shoulders and neck. In fact, after living with it for so long, it may feel like we’ll be stuck with these aches forever. Without proper ergonomic care, that may just end up being true, but there are ways to avoid it.
This course is focused on the pain around these areas, and provides all the tools needed to get rid of the pain. The course focuses on making adjustments in how you sit and move, as well as how you react to the pain itself. By learning these things, and changing your habits, you can get rid of the pain.
Most pain, as we’ve discussed above, starts, and most importantly, stays because of bad posture. If you don’t correct the incorrect and unnatural position you put your body in, the musculoskeletal problems it gives you will end up becoming permanent. This course puts focus on getting rid of the back, shoulder and neck pain, while also incorporating how to improve your posture and why it is important.
The course is easy to follow too. All it takes is 20 minutes a day. Within ten sessions, you’ll have everything you need to get rid of your aches and pains.
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The Sitting Solutions For the Busy Professional
Again, sitting for long periods of time is not recommended at all. In fact, very long hours spent sitting can have disastrous effects on your physical health. Many of us don’t have the option though, since office work requires long hours of sitting, and there isn’t a lot of work that can be done away from our desks.
We are truly busy professionals in need of sitting solutions, and that is exactly what this course offers. It is developed by a chiropractor doctor, and includes about 2.5 hours of advice, exercise routines and adjustments in daily sitting routines.
This course teaches stretches and exercises you should incorporate into your day if you spend a long time sitting, some simple mobilization patterns that alleviate the pain in your neck and gives important information on how the human body naturally works. By having this information, you can become better equipped to recognize stress signals your body gives out, and cater to them in time.
Again, because we are busy professionals, the course is designed with the idea that learners will not have a lot of time on their hands. The course is divided into 44 smaller lectures with further division into 13 categories. Each of these focuses on a different part of your body, and helps to undo the damage that prolonged sitting does on each of these parts.
Flexispot’s Ergonomic Mesh Chair
Ergonomics training courses can do wonders to help with problems of daily office work, but the right ergonomic furniture can make quite a lot of difference as well. If you spend a lot of time sitting at work, you should at least have a good chair on you, that will provide at least some protection.
Of course, a chair will not get rid of all the problems for you – how long you sit and your posture is, after all, in your hands only, but it can still make a difference!
Flexispot’s Ergonomic Office Mesh Chair 1839, for example, is an ergonomic executive chair designed to make your workspace more comfortable. It comes with pneumatic controls that make the height adjustment easier, and also comes with a recline mode with which you can relax a bit after doing a lot of heavy work.
There is also a rocking mechanism to increase relaxation, without compromising on the support it provides to the lumbar region. You can pull out the handle to make the chair start rocking, and pull it in to stop. The chair can easily support up to 300 lbs of weight.
The backrest is made of open mesh, which makes it well-ventilated and breathable. Since it comes with lumbar support, you can rest assured that your position and posture is correct and your spinal alignment is taken care of, even if you have to spend long hours sitting in the chair.
The chair also comes with a breathable padded seat, which is also made of mesh and high quality sponge. The seat is thick and resilient and because of how breathable it is, keeps your body heat from accumulating when you spend a long time sitting. It also keeps your hips and legs cool, and keeps sweat from accumulating as well.
In the Ergonomic Office Mesh Chair 1839, you can work comfortably, without having to worry about your posture or the heat.
