As a person, whose primary day-job of Software Engineering involves almost exclusively clacking away at the keyboard, I find that words like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or Wrist-Tendinitis carry special significance. Based on the way a computer-user sits, rests his/her hands and types on a keyboard, these wrist based injuries can be pretty debilitating resulting in the inability to continue to work unless some kind of surgery is performed.

Such a predicament was faced by David Kuckhermann,a world percussion master and he has produced a Youtube video giving the details of how he managed to overcome the stress-related injuries in his wrist. Check it out below:

This tip is courtesy of the Lifehacker Blog which also has a separate post on “How to avoid carpal tunnel syndrome“.

Do check out the video and this article especially if you spend a considerable part of your day in front of a computer.

Just got back from a relaxing vacation and after a brief hiatus, it’s time to get back to business! As a person whose primary day-job involves sitting for long hours in front of a computer, I am always looking for ways to enforce proper posture while I sit. A good chair with adjustable lumbar (lower back) support is most often a given in modern offices and I am lucky enough to have the amazing Aeron chair which, I assume, is adjustable in 30 different ways including a setting that will allow me to work upside down! I am just kidding, of course, but the point is that a chair that offers you good support for your back is extremely important.

But the best chairs in the world will do you no good, if you continue to stoop or slouch while in a sitting position. Swiss Balls substituted as chairs can go a long way in helping you regain your posture. Based on your height, you choose the right sized ball and simply use that instead of a chair. But what do you do when you already have an office chair and rolling a Swiss Ball into office is not an option? Well, you can now use the next best thing: a FitBALL Seating Disc that sits right on your chair while still offering the benefits of a Swiss Ball.

Disclosure: I was sent one (1) FitBALL Seating Disc directly from the manufacturer (Ball Dynamics) to try out and then present a product review on FitnessMantra. You can be assured that my reviews will always be unbiased, irrespective of whether I purchase the product or receive it to review.

Product: FitBALL Seating Disc
Manufacturer: Ball Dynamics International, LLC
Presentation: One 15-inch inflatable Seating Disc with an extra air-hole-plug and a plug-removing tool.

First Impressions

The Seating Disc has a strong rubbery texture and has the feel of a good quality product that should last for a long time. You don’t require a pump to inflate this disc and the air-hole plug does an excellent job of keeping the disc at the right inflation level even after extended periods of usage. When first inflated, the Seating Disc warped a little bit near the edges, but after a day’s use and adjusting the inflation level, these disappeared.

One sure sign you probably don’t have a good posture while sitting? It hurts when you sit right! And this is exactly what I felt within 10 minutes of using the Seating Disc. It’s amazing how much my lower back started to resist my sitting on the Disc although it might be true that continuing to use this product will eventually resolve that issue. It takes a few attempts to get the inflation level just right for you. It’s probably not a good idea to over-inflate the Disc to avoid extreme instability while seated. At the same time, under-inflating the Disc will make it too stable and chair-like and so won’t really enforce a change in your posture.

How the Seating Disc Is Supposed To Help You

So how does this thing work and why is it supposed to be good for your (lower) back? The key is a word I have been using many time in the past few sentences: stability (or rather “instability”). Every small (mostly unnoticeable) movement that you make to stabilize yourself on this Disc while sitting utilizes the smaller muscles around your lower core (abdomen) and lumbar region. The eventual strengthening of these muscles is supposed to go a long way in alleviating the lower-back pains most commonly associated with extended periods of sitting. Also, by enforcing a good posture, you will most likely gradually learn to sit erect and keep your lower back curved inwards which is the right way to sit.

Working On The Ball

Along with the Seating Disc, I also received the book “Working On The Ball” by Jane Clapp and Sarah Robichaud – a guide to achieving fitness in the office by working on a Swiss Ball. The book describes various little exercises you can perform on a Ball while using it as a chair in the workplace. Granted, most of these exercises will make you look and feel a little silly, but they are supposed to help you get through the day without that nagging pain in your lower-back by evening. Since most of the exercises described in this book deal with a Stability Ball, only a few of them could be adapted to work on a Seating Disc.

Prolonged Use And Discomfort

While the initial effects of enforcing posture are all well and good, prolonged use is an altogether different story. I personally had to get off the Disc after about 15-20 minutes because of soreness I felt in my lower-back. While I am sure this may have something to do with my incorrect posture before using the Disc and it’s possible that extended use may very well reduce this soreness, I would like to hear from other users of Discs or Swiss Balls as chairs. If you use such devices for sitting the whole day, do comment on whether you had any discomfort during the early days of usage. For now, I plan to use for about half-an-hour at a time – once in the morning and once in the afternoon.

Science Behind The Seating Disc

Finally, I would just like to mention a couple of points from a scientific perspective. I tried to look up research concerning the usage of Swiss Balls as chair-replacements and while most do not disapprove of their usage, the results as far as benefits go have been quite inconclusive. For example, a study titled “Stability ball versus office chair: comparison of muscle activation and lumbar spine posture during prolonged sitting” finds that although there is a slight increase in muscular activity, there is increased discomfort as well, causing the study’s authors to come to the following conclusion: “The small changes in biological responses when sitting on a stability ball as compared with an office chair, combined with the increased reported discomfort while on the ball, suggests its use for prolonged sitting may not be advantageous”.
Another study, “Sitting on a chair or an exercise ball: various perspectives to guide decision making“, tried to discern the cause of possible discomfort: “Sitting on a ball appears to spread out the contact area possibly resulting in uncomfortable soft tissue compression perhaps explaining the reported discomfort.” and concluded that “The results of this study suggest that prolonged sitting on a dynamic, unstable seat surface does not significantly affect the magnitudes of muscle activation”

Conclusions

So it certainly looks like the jury is out on the real benefits of using Stability Balls or Seating Discs. But one thing to keep in mind is that if the discomfort is only caused because we have been sitting with a wrong posture until now and are trying to correct that, extended usage might indeed help fix the problem. I would welcome comments from users who have tried such devices for longer periods and have experiences (either positive or negative) to share. As for the answer to the question “Is the Seating Disc right for me?”, well, you’ll never know until you try one for yourself, will you?!

Welcome to “FitnessMantra Weekend”, your once-a-week health news update. As always you can also stay updated with the latest in fitness news by subscribing separately to the Fitness Mantra del.icio.us feed.

Some stories are simply too bizarre and fall under the “you can’t make this up” category. This week’s story about the WalkStation is one such. SteelCase, the company you thought made only office furniture has now decided they need to bring your gym to your workstation – by putting a treadmill right under your desk. Introducing the WalkStation, apparently the first truly mobile office.

Seriously, though, I am not sure how great an idea this is. First, I concede that people with desk-based jobs tend to get less exercise than others. But there have been many recent reports suggesting that unless exercise is strenuous enough, it’s unlikely to make any difference to you (weight wise). Then there is the whole concept of spending countless hours on your feet which by itself is not such a great idea in the first place (of course you can always pull up a chair and risk being called that “treadmill person” – oh wait, that’s what they would call you anyway!).

Check out their demo video that shows people using this while using the computer, talking on a cell phone and even writing stuff down. I don’t know about you, but there are countless people who can barely point and click at the tiny icons on computer screens or write a line of legible handwriting these days, without the added challenge of doing those same things while moving at 3.5 mph!

My suggestion? Take a break from your work, head out to a gym and get some serious workout done. I feel the WalkStation will end up letting you get neither work nor workout done right.

More from this week’s top stories follow …

1. NYC tries again to get calories on the menu: “People deserve to have more information when they are ordering food,”
2. W.Va. hopes doctors can stop obesity: “We all know somebody that would have given everything to have their health, [...] And they could have, if they had taken the right precautions.”
3. U.S. launches school commute exercise plan: “Safe Routes is potentially the tipping point to increasing opportunities for kids to be physically active [...] The trip to school is happening anyway.”
4. Boxed rice is convenient – but comes at a cost: Boxed rice may be convenient, but these products offer little more than refined grains and lots of excess sodium.
5. Product Combines Workstation, Treadmill: Steelcase Inc.’s newest product combines an office workstation with a treadmill so workers can burn calories while earning a paycheck.
6. Pregnancy Food Pyramid: The USDA has expanded on the popular “my-pyramid” nutrition guide to include pregnant and nursing women.
7. Does Grunting Improve Workouts?: People who grunt while exercising may offend nearby patrons instead of improving their overall endurance during workouts, according to a new study.
8. A 6-minute shape-up: Who isn’t pressed for time? That’s why we need quick, efficient ways to work out for those days when we can’t swing a longer bout of exercise.
9. Researchers: Staying Single and Chewing Gum Helps Shed Extra Pounds: Single individuals and those who chew on gum may hold the secret to shedding off those extra pounds, according to researchers.
10. High Waist Circumference Independently Associated With Cardiovascular Disease and Especially Diabetes: Findings [...] confirm that a high waist circumference (WC) is strongly associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes independently of body mass index (BMI) and age.
11. New York program gets kids up and running: The [Mighty Milers] program, which targets childhood obesity, is in more than 100 New York City schools plus 20 schools in other states and 20 in Cape Town, South Africa, where a non-governmental organization became interested.
12. U.S. obesity ads called ‘namby-pamby’: [...] critics complain that the three new spots premiering this month are a wimpy attack on the costly and deadly explosion of obesity in America.
13. 8 tips to cancer-proof your body: Straight from the lab: Stealth strategies for keeping the Big C at bay
14. Researcher: Vibrations Help Slim Abdomen: A Maine researcher says standing on a vibrating platform for 15 minutes a day could help people achieve washboard abs.
15. Whole grain cereals cut heart failure risk: study: Eating whole grain cereals has already shown promise for lowering blood pressure and warding off heart attacks, but it may also significantly reduce the risk of heart failure
16. Study Shows How Exercise Helps Women’s Hearts: About 60 percent of the protection provided to women by exercise against heart disease and stroke comes from its effect on a few specific risk factors
17. Weight Gain Ups Breast Cancer Risk: Throughout adulthood, especially in the years before and during menopause, weight gain raises a woman’s risk of breast cancer.
18. Obesity ‘epidemic’: Who are you calling fat?: We’re told there’s an obesity ‘epidemic’. Yet there’s not a shred of evidence, says Professor Patrick Basham – and this crusade is harming our children
19. The Global Problem of Obesity: In one of the largest studies ever to examine obesity rates across the globe, researchers found that more than 60% of men and 50% of women were either overweight or obese.
20. Food cravings battle ‘pointless’: Women who tried to stop thinking about chocolate ate 50% more than those who were encouraged to talk about their cravings.
21. Check children’s weight from year one, says expert: Children should be weighed and measured from the age of one in an attempt to tackle the growing obesity epidemic, a leading expert said today.
22. Too much sugar causes wrinkles: It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but experts now believe that a lifetime of overeating sugar can make skin dull and wrinkled.
23. Diabetes up amid rising obesity: Rates of obesity and diabetes are rising across England, although people are living longer than ever, government data has revealed.

Get the best health and fitness stories of the week in your RSS inbox.

Have a great weekend!

Technorati Tags: health, fitness, health news, fitness news, health links, fitness links, del.icio.us, steelcase, walkstation

Chalk one up for companies that are making a difference in enforcing Wellness in the Workplace. I wrote about my opinion that wellness should determine health benefits more than a year ago and this week I found out that Clarian is answering this clarion call!

Clarian Health, a large provider of health care services to the residents of Indianapolis, Indiana began 2007 with a new Mission Strategy, “A Call To Change”, urging the residents of the Hoosier State to take charge of bettering their health. In addition, Clarian is boldly going where pretty much no other company has gone before. Putting it’s money where its mouth is, the company is tying employee compensation and benefits with the individual’s health and habits.

Clarian Health is announcing changes to employee medical insurance plans in order to promote healthier lifestyles. Beginning in 2008, all employees wishing to enroll in Clarian-sponsored plans will have to report all potential health risks, including whether they use tobacco. A health risk charge of $5 per paycheck will be assessed to employees who have used tobacco within six months of their health risk assessment completion date. Beginning in 2009, employees will also have to participate in a complete health screening.

-Inside Indiana Business

Now, that’s what I call getting serious about making people value their health insurance (often provided free or at reduced premiums). When the individual employee realizes that there are no rights without corresponding responsibilities, everyone benefits. It goes without saying that a company’s group insurance premiums would reduce considerably if the average health-levels of its members increased and if no member smoked or was overly obese.

Workers who were moderately obese had health-care costs that were 21 percent, or $670 a year, higher than workers with normal weight, according to a recent study by Thomson Health Care. For those with severe obesity, annual health-care costs rose 75 percent, or $2,441 per person.

- IndyStar

From 2009, Clarian will begin to charge employees $30 every two weeks if certain serious issues are not brought under control. Employees will be screened for 5 major health indicators: Body Mass Index, LDL (bad) Cholesterol, Blood Pressure, Blood Sugar (Glycemia) and Smoking Status. While the company will provide for free smoking-cessation and wellness programs, employees who still don;t make an effort will see themselves being hit where it hurts the most – their paycheck.

But is it legal? Well, while employees cannot be discriminated against (by being provided less coverage than others), …

employers, who typically pay the bulk of employee health insurance premiums, are allowed by law to use financial incentives in wellness programs to motivate workers to adopt more healthy lifestyles, said Mike MacLean, a partner at Indianapolis law firm Baker & Daniels.

Kudos to Clarian for leading the way for large companies that are making an exceptional effort to bring America’s workforce onto the fitness bandwagon.

As always, it looks like nothing will make a person sit up and listen like money can!

Technorati Tags: health, fitness, exercise, overweight, obesity, Clarian Health, workplace wellness

When you pick up an issue of BusinessWeek magazine you expect to see news about the latest twists and turns in the stock market, maybe even some good old fashioned corporate corruption. But the cover of the February 26th edition grabbed my attention when I realised it focussed squarely on workplace wellness (just one of my many obsessions).

Scotts Miracle-Gro of Marysville Ohio is, by this account, a great example of a company that has gotten workplace-wellness programs right. Get Healthy-Or Else describes the efforts made by this lawncare company to not only get its employees to eat and live well but also makes them accountable for their actions. During the middle of last year I asked if Wellness should determine health benefits and I was heartened to see many similarities between what I wished for and what is already being done at Scotts.

Getting employees involved

Just like household budgeting which works best when the kids are involved in the whole money-in money-out equation, Scotts’ wellness program began with CEO Jim Hagedorn’s honest and straight-forward approach with his employees.

Hagedorn wanted employees to know what he was up against. Using a PowerPoint presentation, he showed that his annual health-care bill had soared 42% since 1999, to $20 million, which amounted to 20% of the company’s net profits in 2003.

Getting employees policed

Enforcing workplace programs especially related to such personal matters as smoking and eating is always a tricky issue, but Hagedorn, a former F-16 pilot was not one to be discouraged. Hiring a third-party firm to prevent managers from discriminating against subordinates, he managed to institute a smoking ban with the understanding that “If people understand the facts and still choose to smoke, it’s suicidal,” he says. “And we can’t encourage suicidal behavior.”

A little extreme? Sure, but then so is the problem.

Getting employees the resources

Well, talk about fitness is cheap, but Hagedorn puts his money where his health is:

During one of Hagedorn’s straight-talk sessions, workers told him a company gym would make wellness easier to swallow. “Done,” Hagedorn said. But his vision went far beyond installing some StairMasters and throwing up health pointers on the Scotts intranet. Hagedorn built a soup-to-nuts medical and fitness center across the street from headquarters. Operated by Whole Health, the 24,000-square-foot facility cost $5 million and can meet pretty much any health-related need an employee might have, including a drive-thru for free prescription drugs.

When employers don’t stop at just making recommendations, but go that extra step to actually provide a convenient, usable service, everyone benefits.

Get employees accountable

Of course, you can provide the world of benefits to employees, but that benefit is only going to be as good as its usage. This is why:

Scotts employees are now urged to take exhaustive health-risk assessments. Those who balk pay $40 a month more in premiums. Using data-mining software, Whole Health analysts scour the physical, mental, and family health histories of nearly every employee and cross-reference that information with insurance-claims data. Health coaches identify which employees are at moderate to high risk. All of them are assigned a health coach who draws up an action plan. Those who don’t comply pay $67 a month on top of the $40. “We tried carrots,” says Benefits Chief Pam Kuryla. “Carrots didn’t work.”

As I have said many times before, insurance companies work like that – the safest, most responsible people pay the least. It’s time health insurance followed suit. Complacence that one’s individual habits don’t matter because someone else is paying for health insurance is the root of irresponsible eating behaviour. It’s time people (especially at the workplace) realise that their habits don’t affect just themselves but others too. “Why should you care whether other people are healthy or not?” – well you can stop wondering now.

Getting employees motivated (and rewarded!)
Often Hagedorn will walk around motivating people and making sure people are on the right track. And with rewards aplenty for good behaviour general wellness at Scotts is only going one way – up:

The nudging begets peer pressure. Gym rats earn special pins they display on ID badge lanyards; these have become a coveted status object. Competition for trips to Hawaii, free massages and facials, and other cash and prizes is fierce. One group of employees started having lunch together every day to keep each other from peeling out of the parking lot for a smoke. Doughnuts have disappeared. “The message is: If you’re not trying to do something to make yourself better, then you’re going to pay more,”.

Getting employees results

The best part of any program is seeing the results right before your eyes and employees of Scotts are luck to be able to do so:

So far, the company says, more than 70% of headquarters staff belongs to the fitness center. The smoking-cessation program has already had a 30% success rate. The wellness program, which costs $4 million a year to run, is a financial drain. But the company expects it to pay for itself in three to four years.

The Challenges From Tough Decisions

The guy on the cover? He is Scott Rodrigues who was fired on his 30th birthday because he didn’t stop smoking … and promptly filed a discriminatory lawsuit against the company. While Scotts Miracle-Gro agrees it’s a difficult decision it believes it can get the case dismissed.

Path-breaking policies are never easy to implement – but kudos to Jim Hagedorn for making the effort, sticking to his values and making a real difference to his employees. Do read the complete article which also links to a tips page on How to Launch a Wellness Program.

How does your company rate at motivating its employees to lead a healthier life? Do you have any tips for making it easier to implement similar policies at work? Do let other readers know by commenting!

Technorati Tags: health, fitness, exercise, workplace wellness

Today, at work, we received what can only be described as the first sign that health care benefits would further be negatively impacted next year. It came in the form of a survey asking us such ominous questions as “What would you choose between higher co-payments and higher deductibles” and “Would it be OK if we restricted you to a smaller network of doctors”.

The last question, though, was in a free format, asking us our opinion of how the company could improve health care and provide meaningful benefits to every employee. I took the opportunity to vent some of my feelings regarding the level of health and fitness in the organization and I am sharing with you the exact text of my response (nothing has been changed except for names). It took me only 5 minutes to type this and hit SEND, maybe because I feel so strongly about this:

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I strongly believe that there is a certain degree of responsibility regarding health and fitness that lies with every employee.
If there is an annual increase in the cost of health care it is almost solely because of the increasing lack of health and fitness in the participants (employees). The smokers, the obese, the non-exercisers … these people bring up the cost of health-care and literally “ruin it” for the rest of us.
Would these same people drive rashly or commit a theft? Not likely because the consequences are direct and immediate. An increase in insurance premiums or a criminal record both have immediate repercussions. But the same people have no qualms in reaching for the 5th pizza slice or for that second pack of cigarettes. “Hey, I have free health insurance from my company”, is the attitude.
A Wellness Exam with a direct consequence on the individual deductible and copay would be an excellent motivator to improve the individual fitness and make him/her more responsible employees. Smokers should have to pay higher premiums (if it comes to that) than those who abstain. One would only think that is fair since car- and life-insurance companies work like that. Why should those who are sincere in their health and fitness regimen, who exercise regularly and who show restraint in their eating habits have to pay the consequences for the irresponsible employees around them?
I use the office gym everyday and this is the number of people I see from our company: 2. That would be funny if it was not such a serious issue. Granted, some are members of programs like Weight Watchers while some might use a home gym or exercise elsewhere, but the bottom line is that bottom-lines and waist-lines are on the increase and hitting people where it hurts (the wallet) is probably the only way this problem can be solved.
A few of the obesity cases could be genuine health-related problems and nicotine addiction is also a genuine phenomenon. This is where more company-sponsored initiatives and incentives to lose weight or quit smoking could go a long way in motivating employees. Currently I see not a single such program.
There are numerous side-benefits to having fitter and healthier employees too:
1. Number of sick-leaves will reduce.
2. Employees will be more alert and focussed at work.
3. They will be more confident and this will boost their morale.
4. And of course the most important consequence: with a company-wide Wellness profile that is way above the national average, our company can command lower premiums and increase benefits to its employees.
I hope the company would seriously consider a “fitness-related or wellness-related benefits scheme” because that is the only way a fair system of premiums and benefits can be established. The car-insurance and life-insurance companies work that way – why shouldn’t the health-insurance folks?

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What do you feel about this? Should health care costs depend on the wellness level of the recipient?

Technorati Tags: health, fitness, health insurance