Ergonomics

Wikipedia defines ergonomics as “the scientific discipline concerned with designing according to human needs, and the profession that applies theory, principles, data and methods to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance”.

Please let me redefine it for our conversation as “making adjustments in order to interact with the world’s objects in such a way that it causes you the most comfort and the least pain.”

By my definition, ergonomics is closely associated with tactile intolerance. Let me state again that what bothers one person may not bother another.

Early in my fibromyalgia experience, I was plagued by a reoccurring pain in my back on the right side, between my shoulder blade and my spine. I used to tell my husband that it felt as if someone shoved a compact disc into that space. I chose that imagery because the pain was like a knife, but less at each extension as if the offending item were curved. It was actually my husband who arrived at the reason for my pain. The cause of this particular pain was aggravated by a modern technological device that I use extensively both at home and at work, the computer mouse. My husband likes to give things cute names, and this particular area of pain in my back he dubbed my “mouse muscle.”

Ergonomics as I have defined them means stopping or minimizing movements that cause pain. In the case of my mouse, stopping use entirely is not an option. I work with a computer on my job, and my continued employment depends on it. But minimizing is quite possible. For me, that meant limiting my computer use at home. It meant learning and using keyboarding shortcuts to replace the mouse use. It meant occasionally using the mouse with my left hand instead of the right one. Am I still plagued by this pain? Well, plagued might be too strong a word. But yes, it occasionally bothers me. When it does, I go cold turkey on my computer use at home & I monitor my use of the mouse at work with the question, “how can I do this without using the mouse?”

Ergonomics as I have defined them also includes being a detective for movements that are causing you pain. I had a pain develop in my left arm that seemed to increase over time. I watched myself every day for what I did and how I did it. If I suspected something was causing the problem, I changed my approach. I came to the conclusion that it was carrying my dogs refilled water dish to the kennel in the garage every morning that caused the pain. I was carrying it one-handed with my left palm flat under the dish, the way a waiter might carry a tray of food. It left my right hand free to open the door on the way out. But that one little thing created pain for me. When I started propping open the door and carrying the dish with both hands (fingers, with no flat palm under the dish), the pain disappeared.

Now you could get the idea from reading these last two entries that fibromyalgia is just repetitive motion pain and being ultrasensitive. That isn’t correct, and I don’t think that at all. Fibromyalgia can cause you pain when you did nothing to aggravate it. It might show up somewhere that makes no sense at all based on what you come in contact with or how you move. But, fibromyalgia does also make you ultrasensitive. It does cause you to experience repetitive motion pain sooner and more severely than someone without fibromyalgia.

When you have pain, put on your detective’s hat. Ask yourself what you do with that area of your body that might cause it. Watch yourself. Keep in mind that it doesn’t have to be anything very dramatic. Carrying my dog’s water dish outside once each day certainly isn’t what we would ordinarily view as exertion.

If you identify a habitual motion that might be causing you pain, change it and see how you feel. This will likely take days of doing it differently.

Changes in how you interact with the physical world can reduce your pain. Keep watch. Think things through. Test your theories. You’ll feel better.