Blog 2/6: Ergonomics

Caulton & Dickson (2007) explain why having understanding of ergonomics is important as they discuss the importance of making adjustments to an activity to ensure it works for the intended purpose.  

Running on a treadmill is not ideal for me, I always feel as if I am about to fall off the machine, but today it is out of my control. The weather outside is abysmal; pouring with rain (environment) so therefore my (person) run (occupation) needed to be adapted. This is an example of how the person, occupation and environment fit together to enable the end product, which for me was the ability to perform my activity even though the environment wasn’t permitting me to run how I usually would run.

So I didn’t fall off the treadmill today, although I am sure one day I will. How did I prevent myself falling off? Well I didn’t run as fast as I usually would, I turned the speed down low so I could keep at a steady pace. I shortened my running time too as I felt my legs getting tired and heavy which meant I didn’t have as much control as I normally would running on pavement which I felt increased my chances of falling face first on the treadmill.

So in summary the run wasn’t my ideal run and all goals were not met but my main goal was met and that was to run 4/7 days per week so I felt great afterwards and also felt a sense of pride knowing I conquered the treadmill (this time anyway) Sarah 1 Treadmill 0. If I had to run on the treadmill every week I don’t think my fitness would progress as much as it does being outside as I can’t run as fast or far as I do when I can run outside. Therefore I rely heavily on the right environment so that my running is successful.

Caulton, R. & Dickson, R. (2007). What’s going on? Finding an explanation for what we do. In J. Creek & A. Lawson-Porter (Eds.), Contemporary issues in occupational therapy (pp. 87-114). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.