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Nathalia Jones

Each time Dr Madhu Thottappillil meets someone, he is introduced as the "doctor who has a new and very interesting concept." And, each time, he sobers up the tall claim on his capabilities as a Consultant Ergonomics Specialist with the same plainspeak. Whether or not conversation picks up after that is anyone's guess. But the fact, says the doctor who is also an orthopaedic surgeon and sports medicine consultant, is that "ergonomics is a science that has been around for 50 years. It is nothing I've conjured up. It basically means injuries around the workplace and any newness about it here in India is due to a lack of awareness."

He too ran into it quite by accident. Along with the usual cases of sprains and strained hamstrings, his corner clinic at Chennai's CIT Colony began registering more alarming complaints like `spondylitis', as his patients referred to pain in the upper back or neck region. "Now, any medical professional knows that you don't get spondylitis in your early 20s. Our bodies are a little more resistant than that. Any pain in the upper back or the shoulder has basically got to do with posture and not taking breaks."

Dr Madhu started hunting down similar cases — he camped out at companies, capturing the work environment on his handy Polaroid, to get a better picture of the symptoms employees experienced. The end result was one of intimidating figures and injuries that distributed the onus evenly among the monitor, chair, keyboard and mouse, but mostly on the user. Even less consoling was the fact that most of the employees did not associate the problem with their work area.

"Sixty per cent of them think that it is normal. That's why computer-related injuries are often nicknamed Nice Person's Disease because it mostly affects someone who is diligent and hard working; these persons would just endure the symptoms and continue to work. They don't think it is something that can be rectified or, even better, prevented," he says.

"Do you know, for instance, how to manipulate the levers in your chair to suit your comfort," he asks. A second's hesitation this side of the table answers his question. "I'm sure you don't. Well neither did I," he smiles ruefully. "But still, the chair is your best friend, you spend the greater part of your day in it." And understanding its mechanism better can mean the difference between a happy back and a chronically complaining one.

The solution is a simple matter of priority. "If you're going to be spending most of your time in your chair, then see that it gives you ample back support. If the arm rest props your elbows in unnatural positions, lose it."

A picture flashes across his computer screen of a person at his desk... well, that's debatable, considering that the person's desk is skewed at an angle favouring the team he seems to be interacting with, which means every time he faces the computer his whole upper body contorts unnaturally.

Another picture, this one of a woman manoeuvring her mouse that is placed over an arm's length away on her table; the phone lies at an equally inconvenient distance — a posture that spells trouble for the upper back and shoulders. "Here's one simple rule," says the doctor looking up from his terminal. "Just hold up your arms to your side and make an arc, everything that you use should be within that arc."

He suggests what he calls the "20/10 rule" for computer vision syndrome. "For every 20 minutes in front of the video display terminal, take a 10-second break... look and focus elsewhere. There are also special stretches for your arm and back, which you need to practise regularly."

The incidence of work-related muscular disorders in the BPO sector is greater. "At call centres, headsets plus irregular working hours and the concept of role-playing even lead to stress. These psychological triggers accelerate the progress of muscular skeletal disorders (MSD)."

Even where there are provisions for working out, the company's snooker nook wins over the gym. "Very often the equipment is only for show. Another question is, when do employees find the time to use the facility, especially if he's the average IT worker who works about 12 hours a day," asks Dr Madhu. "It's not that the company insists employees overwork themselves, but with so much pressure to perform and deadlines looming, they are left with little choice."

The first step to tackling the issue is awareness. In his experience with companies, Dr Madhu has found that "in organisations, concerns are different at different levels. For a person higher up, stress and stress management are top priority, but lower down the pecking order I think MSDs are the concern."

The organisation must have trained people who can provide timely aid to employees. Other corrective measures could include developing Intranet-specific software and keeping tabs on employees' health status and fitness levels through questionnaires and workshops that highlight the importance of ergonomics.

"You needn't employ people like me full time. Adopting the train-the-trainer kind of programme, for instance, spreads awareness by educating company staff. There is a solution for each company, depending on its size and budget. It all depends on whether you are willing to invest your time and money and, above all, how much of these, for your employees." Well, from what Dr Madhu says, that's not much.

"When I conduct workshops people tell me specifically not to talk about costs. True, it calls for a certain amount of financial outgo and structural planning, but we are talking not about revamping office structures or investing in ergonomic furniture, but investing in the knowledge of ergonomics.

"There is a huge amount being spent on concepts like interpersonal relations, employee brand building, anger management, negotiation skills, confidence building and other so-called buzzwords in the industry." But mention something like ergonomics, he says, and first reactions range from genuine ignorance of the "we've-not-heard-it" kind to eyebrow-raising condescension — "we don't see how it applies to us". He's even had HR people telling him right off: "It's not a priority."

In larger organisations, bureaucracy plays spoilsport to awareness and expediency, due to which Dr Madhu has received a better response from smaller companies. "In 40 per cent organisations, employee retention is a bigger issue, so naturally if an employee is not fit it affects their schedule. By contrast, even if 100 guys leave one of the Fortune 500 companies, no one's affected because there are so many others waiting to take their place."

Given this scenario it will be a long time before ergonomics merits the attention it deserves. "Individuals recognise the problem but making it genuine enough to warrant the attention of the top management remains a hurdle. Unless it affects a company's productivity enormously it will go unrecognised for a long time. As long as it exists at the sub-terrain level, nobody cares and nobody takes notice. There has to be some kind of trigger, like, for instance, the trigger that put sports medicine on the map was Tendulkar's injury." But to expect a similar kind of trigger here is unrealistic, he says, because the people who experience these problems are the nice guys who still keep working.

Picture by Bijoy Ghosh

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