A worrying trend

Submitted by Little Me on February 6, 2009 - 10:28am
Body: 

At work today we all had to complete an online training and short test for Display Screen Equipment and workstation assessment. The section, in regards to 'good posture' whilst sitting at a computer screen stated 'At all times you must sit with your back supported by the backrest of your office chair. You must never sit on the edge of your seat.' I work in local government with approximately 3,ooo employees, the majority of which are female office workers. Although this training is happening now, and no doubt all over Britain, it's training I have been obliged to learn and adhere to all my adult working life in a number of establishments over the last 30 years. Thus I am convinced this is why my own rectocele, (2 large babies and episiotomy aside), has progressed much further downwards than it might have done.

I honestly believe 'The men in suits' are convinced they are doing the right thing and protecting their workforces with this outdated and misguided way of thinking. Apparently the course was designed after consultations and years of research. The Powers That Be are never going to change their attitudes and understanding if education of the female form is anatomically incorrect. This scares the hell out of me! During the course, several of my female colleagues were following the 'correct' way to sit as shown by this training course. I could almost sense their pelvic organs sliding through that gaping hole!!

I myself, continued to sit on the edge of my seat and was 'told off' by a manager (female) for not practising 'good posture'! I tried to explain the reasoning behind my own wholewoman posture (without going into too much detail about my POP!) but was told if I didn't adhere to the rules I would fail the course. So I lied when giving my answers, I said I always sit with my back against the backrest - I scored 100% in the test!

This attitude is so wrong, how many impressionable young girls are starting on the road of employment with all this crap being taught in businesses across the world!

Not too sure if the training website we were using is available to outside users (as opposed to County Council employees) but just incase, I've attached a link for your perusal. http://elms.praxis42.com

Update on my progress - I've been (not religiously) practising wholewoman posture for over 15 weeks now, still don't think I've got the walk quite right yet though. My rectocele was starting to become less obviously protruding (you all refer to it as peeking, but mine definitely protrudes a couple of inches!), when about 2 weeks before Christmas I contracted a bad bout of flu, all that coughing and sneezing, which lasted right through to early January, meant I'd taken 1 step forward and 3 steps back! I'm back to where I started 15 weeks ago.

I'm taking double the recommended daily dose of Vitamin C and now all the aches and pains of the flu have gone, am continuing with the posture, so here's hoping!

alemama

February 6, 2009 - 10:27pm

that is so goofy! What a pain. It must have been like sitting there being told 1 plus 1 is 3 when you know for a fact it is 2. Annoying.
Hey Little me- sorry you have been sick- glad you are on the mend
I think you would probably benefit from the new DVD- start working on the exercises there- maybe you will take 3 steps forward again and quickly.

louiseds

February 8, 2009 - 9:08pm

Hi Little Me

I would have done exactly the same as you re the questionnaire, just play the game. Who knows? The woman who ticked you off may be just 'playing the game' too.

Back in the 1950's when four hourly feeds for babies was de rigeur, a few women have told me that they cheated and fed their babies when they wanted to be fed (horror of horrors!), then obediently told the Child Health Sister that they only fed four hourly. This is what people do when forced into a corner! My darling mother just walked the floor with me until the four hours was up. Such a dutiful, honest woman! She only lasted 3 months with breastfeeding. I wonder why????

I have recently read a couple of nutrition books from the first half of the 1900's. They were stressing getting enough salt and fat in your diet. Not just those working physically - everybody! There is always something that 'The Experts' are not yet aware of, despite observing people of primitive societies for centuries!

We all have to make our own judgements about what we think is best for our bodies. I agree with you. I rarely sit against the back of a chair. It is only if I am sitting without a chair back that I can tell if I am slouching. I too 'play the game' with these OHS people at work.

I think the only way to protect the younger women is to educate them about Wholewoman. How about downloading some of the brochures off the main website and covertly distributing them to younger women during lunchbreaks? After that, it is up to them. You can take a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink. Hopefully they won't have to learn the hard way.

Cheers

Louise

louiseds

February 14, 2009 - 10:20pm

Hi LittleMe

My mind returned this morning to your post, and to sitting posture. My previous post was pretty scathing about Occupational Health and Safety courses where the trainer insists on the person sitting right back in the chair with the back supported hard up against the chair back. I am no different.

My thoughts this morning were as follows.

1 I do not think that the human spine needs the support of a chair back. It has its own internal support system called muscles, bone, ligaments and other connective tissue. Humans have used it successively for tens of thousands of years.

2 When I sit on an office chair I have a choice as to how I use it.

I can sit right back in a chair with my back up against the back of the chair if the base is horizontal or tilted downwards slightly towards the front; and if there is sufficient height to keep my thighs sloping slightly downwards towards the knees; and if there is sufficient space at the sides and back of the base for my butt to spread out and not be pushed forwards; and if there is support at the right height for my lumbar curve; and if the top of the back rest is low enough for me to get my shoulders back far enough to feel stable; and if it is high enough at the bottom to fit my love handles under it.

Or, I can sit on the edge of the chair allowing the structure of my spine to support itself, regardless of what the rest of the chair is like.

Unfortunately, many office chairs do not allow the degree of adjustment needed to meet all the requirements of my body. Also the seat base is often contoured into a kind of S shape so I cannot plant my butt flat on it. Some office chairs simply do not work for my body.

Some workers do not sit on the same seat all the time, and much time is wasted by workers continually adjusting chairs to get them just right, only to have the next occupant need to readjust it again. This drives everybody nuts!

I can sit on the edge of almost any chair supporting my own spine in very good posture by anybody's standards, even if I have to spread my knees wide apart on a really low one, and semi-squat. If my back is hard up against the back of a chair it is too easy for my to slump my shoulders and let my chest drop, so I am only fooling myself and the OHS examiner into thinking I am sitting up straight. It is much harder to fool myself it I am sitting on the edge of a chair. A slouch is a slouch.

While I think most OHS trainers are on the right track they lack sophisticated understanding of the female pelvis and spine and are unable to *think* past the very black and white way in which they are trained. They are also often constrained by the characteristics of the chairs available to the staff they are training, and have to do the best they can with what is available.

The fact that they are wearing a badge labelled "Trainer" also means that the "Trainee" does not have the right to challenge them because their label says that the trainee knows less about the topic than they do. This is where 'playing the game' comes into it. You just have to make the call yourself about how you respond to the requirements of the training.

My guess is that the organisation does the training, then gives everybody their certificates and that is the last anyone will hear of it for a few years. They have fulfilled their 'quality workplace' requirements by giving the training and ensuring that all workers 'understand' good practices, which are put in place to ensure that the organisation is not making workers in conditions that will precipitate repetitive strain injuries, crook backs etc, and protects the organisation itself from financial claims against them. If you go against the practices you have been taught at this course you may find yourself up against it if you injure yourself sitting at your desk in the non-prescribed manner. This is a risk we all take if we go against the flow.

eg I find crossing busy roads as a pedestrian confusing at a set of traffic lights because there is traffic going in all different directions which may or may not be prepared to give way to pedestrians, so I go up the road a bit where I can see clearly all the traffic going in two directions *only* and I feel I can cross more safely without being hurried by phases of the traffic lights. My safety is therefore in my hands cos I am crossing in the wrong place according to the rules.

Ultimately each of us is responsible for our own health and wellbeing.

Cheers

Louise