Pain from Sitting Too Long? The Anatomy behind Prolonged Sitting 

(Video Credit: Muscle and Motion, June 7, 2020, 2:08)

Healthy Work Solutions to Prolonged Sitting

Prolonged sitting can cause a variety of physical problems, including pain. Here are some of the common types of pain that can be caused by prolonged sitting:

1. Lower back pain: Sitting for long periods can put a lot of pressure on your lower back, which can cause pain and discomfort. This is especially true if you have poor posture or a chair that doesn’t provide proper lumbar support.
2. Neck and shoulder pain: When you sit for long periods, you may slouch forward, which can cause strain on your neck and shoulders. This can result in pain, stiffness, and even headaches.
3. Hip pain: Sitting for extended periods can also lead to hip pain. As your hip flexor muscles can become tight and strained from being in a seated position for too long.
4. Leg pain: Sitting for long periods can also affect blood flow and circulation in your legs, which can lead to pain, numbness, and tingling.

To alleviate the pain caused by prolonged sitting, you can try the following:

1. Take frequent breaks: Get up and move around every 30 minutes to an hour. This can help to relieve pressure on your back and improve circulation.
2. Use an ergonomic chair: Invest in a chair that is designed to support good posture and provide proper lumbar support.
3. Stretch regularly: Take breaks to stretch your neck, shoulders, back, and legs to help relieve tension and improve circulation.
4. Exercise regularly: Regular exercise can help to improve posture, strengthen muscles, and improve circulation, all of which can help to reduce the pain caused by prolonged sitting.
5. Use a standing desk: If possible, switch to a standing desk. Also, you can alternate between sitting and standing throughout the day to reduce the amount of time you spend sitting.

More Tools & Resources from Peak Ergonomics

 

 

 

 

 

 

Workplace Stress Resources

We wanted to make sure you were aware of OSHA’s Workplace Stress Safety and Health Topics Page, which provides resources to help employers support the mental health and well-being of their workforce. The webpage includes resources for both senior managers and front-line supervisors—including “Getting Started” guides and checklists. Here are three workplace posters offering tips on how employers and workers can work together to address stress and mental health in the workplace.

The Workplace Stress page complements OSHA’s existing pages on Worker Fatigue and Preventing Suicides. As a reminder, OSHA’s poster, Suicide Prevention: 5 Things You Should Know, is also available in English and Spanish.

Mental Health Challenges

Stress can be harmful to our health and increase mental health challenges. Mental health challenges can include clinical mental illness and substance use disorders as well as other emotions like stress, grief, feeling sad and anxious, where these feelings are temporary and not part of a diagnosable condition. While there are many things in life that induce stress, work can be one of those factors. However, workplaces can also be a key place for resources, solutions, and activities designed to improve our mental health and well-being.

Workplace stress and poor mental health can negatively affect workers through:

• Job performance
• Productivity
• Work engagement and communication
• Physical capability and daily functioning

Loneliness. Isolation. Uncertainty. Grief. Fear. Stress can increase these and other mental health challenges and can be harmful to our health. The amount and type of stress experienced varies from person to person due to many factors, including those experienced at work.

While there are many things in life that induce stress, work can be one of those factors. Workplace stress and poor mental health can negatively affect workers through their job performance and productivity, as well as with their engagement with others at work. It can also impact worker physical health, given that stress can be a risk factor for various cardiovascular diseases. However, workplaces can also be a key place for resources, solutions, and activities designed to improve our mental health and well-being.

Finally, check out our podcast on Musculoskeletal Disorders: How Muscle Injuries Take a Mental Toll

We wanted to make you aware that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has published the first issue of The Heat Source, the newsletter of the Heat Illness Prevention Campaign. Please see below. To subscribe, please visit OSHA’s Heat Illness Prevention Campaign webpage, or click here.

The U.S. Department of Labor announced changes to Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) civil penalty amounts based on cost-of-living adjustments for 2023.

In 2015, Congress passed the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act to advance the effectiveness of civil monetary penalties and to maintain their deterrent effect. Under the Act, agencies are required to publish “catch-up” rules that adjust the level of civil monetary penalties and make subsequent annual adjustments for inflation no later than January 15 of each year. This year, January 15 falls on a Sunday and January 16 is a federal holiday. Therefore, new OSHA penalty amounts will become effective Jan. 17, 2023.

OSHA’s maximum penalties for serious and other-than-serious violations will increase from $14,502 per violation to $15,625 per violation. The maximum penalty for willful or repeated violations will increase from $145,027 per violation to $156,259 per violation.

Visit the OSHA Penalties page and read the final rule and press release for more information.

To continue the mission to reduce vehicle crashes and crash fatalities – and work-related crashes and crash deaths – the Buckle Up Phone Down Business Showdown was created. Check out the website at: https://savemolives.com/mcrs/buckle-phone-down-business-showdown

The BUPD Business Showdown was created to take the Buckle Up Phone Down message to employers and employees that drive as part of their work.  It’s a competition, too!  Businesses can compete and win $$$ for participating. First place is $7,500, second place is $6,000, and third place is $5,000. The BUPD Showdown runs from January 9 to March 31, 2023 and is open to all Missouri employers with five or more employees.

Businesses can register on the Buckle Up Phone Down Business Showdown website and encourage employees to take the BUPD pledge. Employees that take the BUPD pledge are committing to driving the speed limit, avoiding distracted driving, wearing seat belts, and avoiding impaired driving.

There’s also a “BUPD Policy” in the Employer Toolkit section of the Showdown website.  Missouri companies with fleets / work-related driving are encouraged to participate!

Questions can be directed to Mark Woodward at [email protected] or (573) 289-5990.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued new enforcement guidance to make its penalties more effective in stopping employers from repeatedly exposing workers to life-threatening hazards or failing to comply with certain workplace safety and health requirements.

OSHA Regional Administrators and Area Office Directors now have the authority to cite certain types of violations as “instance-by-instance citations” for cases where the agency identifies “high-gravity” serious violations of OSHA standards specific to certain conditions where the language of the rule supports a citation for each instance of non-compliance. These conditions include lockout/tagout, machine guarding, permit-required confined space, respiratory protection, falls, trenching and for cases with other-than-serious violations specific to recordkeeping.

The change is intended to ensure OSHA personnel are applying the full authority of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA Act) where increased citations are needed to discourage non-compliance. The new guidance covers enforcement activity in general industry, agriculture, maritime and construction industries, and becomes effective 60 days from Jan. 26, 2023.

In a second action, OSHA reminded its Regional Administrators and Area Directors of their authority not to group violations, and instead cite them separately to more effectively encourage employers to comply with the intent of the OSH Act.

Existing guidance on instance-by-instance citations are outlined in the OSHA Field Operations Manual, and CPL 02-00-080, “Handling of Cases to be Proposed for Violation-by-Violation Penalties.”

For more information, please visit OSHA’s Enforcement website and Press Release.

As we gear up for winter weather, you can find info on safely using powered equipment like snow blowers, clearing snow from heights, winter driving, working around downed power lines, and more at https://www.osha.gov/winter-weather

• OSHA Winter Weather: Plan. Equip. Train.
• OSHA Cold Stress Guide
• Refrigerated Warehousing (listed under warehouse hazards)
• OSHA Safe Winter Driving

 

Remember the various hazards of shoveling snow, operating powered equipment like snow blowers and preventing slips on Snow and Ice. OSHA has resources available to help workers stay safe, including a new pamphlet on snow removal, a cold stress Quick Card in English and Spanish, and a Winter Weather web page.

 

Alliance participants resources include:

CPWR-The Center for Construction Research and Training Alliance products:

• Cold Weather Toolbox Talk. Also available in Spanish.
• Cold Weather Hazard Alert. Also available in Spanish.
• Cold Weather Infographics — Protect Yourself from the Cold (English attached)

 

Employers should assess their worksites and develop a plan prior to a winter weather emergency.  Please share this information, as appropriate.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is initiating an enforcement program that identifies employers who failed to submit Form 300A data through the agency’s Injury Tracking Application (ITA). Annual electronic submissions are required by establishments with 250 or more employees currently required to keep OSHA injury and illness records, and establishments with 20-249 employees classified in specific industries with historically high rates of occupational injuries and illnesses.

The program matches newly opened inspections against a list of potential non-responders to OSHA’s collection of Form 300A data through the ITA and reports all matches to the appropriate OSHA area office. If the area office determines that the establishment on the list is the same establishment where the inspection was opened, OSHA will issue citations for failure to submit OSHA Form 300A Summary data. In addition to identifying non-responders at the establishment level, the agency is also reviewing the 2021 submitted data to identify non-responders at a corporate-wide level. This corporate level review is being conducted for the nation’s largest employers.

For more information, please visit OSHA’s Injury and Illness Recordkeeping and Reporting Requirements website and Trade Release. Please share this information with your stakeholders, as appropriate.

Visit The Ergonomic Center Online for great Resources and Tools

Tools and Resources from Applied Ergonomics Society