FAULTY OFFICE CHAIRS.

Waikato Times, Volume 112, Issue 18807, 1 December 1932, Page 9

FAULTY OFFICE CHAIRS.

BLAMED FOR MUCH ILLNESS. AMONG SEDENTARY WORKERS. Bad dispositions in office workers, unnecessarily poor health and a re--1 duction of efficiency that may amount I to more than 10 per cent, result from | standardisation of office furniture, j that causes improper posture, Dr. i Ralph 11. Williams of Rochester said I at the annual convention of the New ! York State Osteopathic Society, j “Office furniture is made to an j nvorage standard and no thought or i consideration is given to the tall or j the short individual who does not (It i into that standard," he said, "the reI suit being that they acquire postural j defects in fitting themselves to equipI men!, rather than adjustment, of the ! equipment to their physique. Little or no effort has been made to adjust office equipment to the' individual worker as lias been done in tlie schools, and yet thero is no place where it is more needed.” Postural Maladjustments. lie cited postural maladjustments that result when a short individual lias to elevate his or her arms at a standard desk and when longer persons have to "slump down over” their decks.

In one office employing forty persons his advice was taken as. to the furniture and changes were made, he said, “and at the end of a year the employer advised me that he had kept a careful record and found that there had been over 20 per cent less absence for minor illnesses and colds than during the previous year and that the general efficiency of the office force had been very much im- . .proved, an improvement that lie estimated at over 10 per cent even after . taking into consideration the lessened absence for illness. Ho also said that the disposition of the force had been improved, including that of the boss.” A Waste of Time, I i He also asserted that much of tiie j time spent by those who take "daily j dozen" exercises was wasted and j somotimos caused trouble when poo- j pie "overdo” them. Forty seconds j night and morning was sufficient, lie said, if the right kind of exercises are taken. hr. V. 0. Purdy of Milwaukee, Wis., president of the- American Osteopathic Association, said of the osteopathic profession that “we are a growing and going. concern in spile of any depression.” '