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"THE HEART OF THE MATTER"
a special program of the National Emergency Medicine Association (NEMA)

Week: 573.4

Guest: Sandra Hall, Phys. Therapist, U. of Texas Southwestern Med. Ctr.
Topic: Poor posture work strain
Host/ Producer: Steve Girard

NEMA: The right work chair....coming up...

SPOT: NEMA...the National Emergency Medicine Association...fights our worst health enemies - heart disease, stroke, trauma. Call 800-332-6362.

NEMA: If you work at a desk...at a computer...you should have the right chair for you...to prevent back, neck and wrist problems. Sandra Hall, a physical therapist at the Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, says the seat should be adjustable...

HALL: ...to accommodate for your position or for the persons height so that your feet are flat on the floor when you're working. Another thing that you want to do is have the seat its called the waterfall front so that the front of the seat kind of curves down away from your thigh and that way you don't end up with like circulation problems

NEMA: You also want to be able to adjust the depth of the chair...

HALL: ...then you can adjust the back to come in for shorter people or out further away from for longer, longer legged people so that you can have a good position in that chair.

NEMA: ...and armrests are important...

HALL: you want to have an adjustable armrest again just to accommodate for the difference in people's heights.And having your forearm supported takes a lot of stress off of your neck and your upper back.

NEMA: Sandra says if you need a new work chair, make sure your employer knows that getting it may prevent physical problems and missed time at work. I'm Steve Girard at The Heart of the Matter.