BIOKINETIX’s Medical Ergonomists record data to extract trends and mitigate at-risk behavior in real time. They then use this data to develop best-practice job training and medical ergonomics programs prioritizing operational efficiency and low-risk behavior.
Who are Medical Ergonomists?
Medical Ergonomists are licensed medical professionals. They specialize in identifying at-risk behaviors and improper body mechanics and correcting them through ergonomics programs. Medical ergonomists bring comprehensive instruction on how to engage in job-specific body positioning and an understanding of why doing so is beneficial to each employee.
By incorporating demonstrations of techniques and establishing personal value.
Among other strategic services and capabilities, professionals developing medical ergonomics programs will:
- Heighten awareness
- Educate employees on what ergonomic risk factors are
- Train employees on safety techniques and body positions
- Ensure high-risk behaviors are recognized and mitigated in real-time
- Identify trends, patterns, and behaviors for job-specific education
What Are the Advantages of Body Mechanics Ergonomics?
While a traditional ergonomics program generally concerns improvements to the work environment, physical therapy ergonomics programs strive to improve the fit between workers and their job tasks.
This approach recognizes that engineering controls — physical changes to the work environment — can be cost-prohibitive and impractical and that in these instances, medical ergonomics combined with regular exercise offers strategies to mitigate these risk factors as well as improve productivity and morale.
A medically based ergonomics program approach is all about the human factor: putting workers first by considering their anatomical capabilities and limitations and ensuring that tasks, equipment, and the environment are appropriate given these abilities.
In practice, it involves ensuring that workers:
- Leverage physiological advantages
- Know what ergonomic risk factors are
- Avoid forceful, repetitive, or awkward movements
- Adopt practices that utilize proper body mechanics and ergonomics
By delivering this targeted expertise to workers in such a way, medical ergonomics programs can help businesses reduce the risk of occupational injury.
The Role of Medical Ergonomists
Medical ergonomists possess a unique expertise that is incredibly actionable in the context of occupational health. Their training and education encompasses biomechanics, anatomy, and physiology. It involves a comprehensive level of knowledge that can mitigate workplace ergonomic risk factors.
Medical ergonomists can evaluate the physical demands of virtually any job task from a clinical standpoint. They can then use this knowledge to develop a suitable physical therapy ergonomics program and help workers properly utilize their bodies.
With a medical ergonomics program, organizations can see the following benefits:
- Healthier and safer employees
- Overall boost in employee morale
- Reduction in compensation claims
- Decreased risk of employee injuries
- Tailored training programs for specific job roles
- Improved employee retention and job satisfaction
- A more cost-effective approach to ergonomic solutions
- Enhanced productivity through optimized work processes
What Are the Most Common Ergonomic Risk Factors?
Our ergonomists have extensive knowledge of ergonomic risk factors and different ways to address them. Here are some of the most common risk factors we encounter across industries.
Repetitive Motions
Repetitive movements like typing on an office computer or working in an assembly line can lead to musculoskeletal disorders.
Our medical ergonomics programs emphasize proper workstation setups, regular breaks, and dynamic stretches to combat this risk factor and prevent repetitive motion injuries.
Repetitive movements like typing on an office computer or working in an assembly line can lead to musculoskeletal disorders.
Our medical ergonomics programs emphasize proper workstation setups, regular breaks, and dynamic stretches to combat this risk factor and prevent repetitive motion injuries.
Awkward Postures
Heavy lifting and awkward postures in manufacturing and construction industries can lead to discomfort and injury over time.
Physical therapy ergonomics programs address this risk factor by providing training on proper lifting techniques, implementing mechanical lifting aids, and designing workstations that promote better posture.
Static Positions
Workers in healthcare and retail industries often have to stand for long periods, leading to issues like back pain and fatigue.
Our medical ergonomics programs address this risk by recommending regular breaks, stretching exercises, and the incorporation of sit-stand workstations to promote movement throughout the day.
Establishing Value
Demonstrating proper techniques is just one part of an effective ergonomics program focusing on workplace body mechanics. Extensive expertise and skill sets make medical ergonomists the most qualified people to explain the benefits of proper body positioning in an occupational setting.
One potentially problematic aspect of medical ergonomics programs is compliance. How must an organization ensure its employees are following these best practices on a daily basis?
In the context of a physical therapy ergonomics program, constant supervision to ensure individual compliance with ergonomic standards is impractical, not to mention nearly impossible for larger organizations.
What’s the Solution?
Instead of strict managerial enforcement, the focus should shift toward a proven approach: motivating employees to learn about ergonomic risk factors and choose compliance.
It is crucial to educate employees in such a way that they will understand the personal benefits of such behaviors to bring positive, sustainable behavioral changes within the workforce.
Contact BIOKINETIX to learn more about how ergonomists and medical ergonomics programs can help turn injury prevention and safety into a science for your business.
Contact BIOKINETIX