Joint health at work – why we should care?

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You can try out the program as guest if you wish. We do recommend creating a personal login account which offers a number of benefits including:

bookmarks, so you can stop and start at your convenience, always returning to where you left off
the ability to see what chapters you have completed
saved quiz results for later reference

We hope you enjoy using this learning module. Feedback is always welcome at info@arthritis.ca

“It’s Hip To Be Square”

Huey Lewis & The News may not have known it, but they were talking about the benefits of good posture on your energy levels. Here are some quick tips to keep you feeling ‘hip’:

Support yourself: When working at a desk, sit in a comfortable chair that supports your lower and mid back (with the backrest in the small of your back), as well as your thighs and buttocks.

Stay close…but not too close: Make sure the chair is a comfortable distance from the computer. Your elbows should be at a relaxed 90-degree angle to the keyboard, and your back should be straight.

Square up: Sit upright with square shoulders. Your shoulders should be relaxed but not slumped. Your hips and knees should be at 90 degrees.

Be grounded: Adjust the height of your chair if necessary so your feet are flat on the floor – you don’t want them dangling. If you can’t lower your seat, use a footrest: your hips should be slightlyhigher than your knees, so make sure your footrest isn’t too high.

No tilt: The chair seat should be level, or sloping slightly upwards at the front – never downwards!

Be well armed: Check that your armrests are at the right height – if you have to hunch your shoulders then the armrests are too high, but if your elbows don’t reach then they’re too low.

Keep it moving: Change your body position often. For example, stand up or stretch if you have been sitting. If you need to, use a timer to remind yourself to switch positions.

Home > Joint matters at work > Introduction

Chapter 1 – Joint health at work – why we should care?

Without joints we wouldn’t move – from the ordinary aspects of life (swivelling your head, lifting a pencil, pushing a grocery cart) to the intense (running a marathon, caring for a newborn).

For most of us, work is a significant part of life – so it’s helpful to know how you can protect your joints while working.

That is what Joint Matters at Work is all about. Whether you work in the home, a factory, on a construction site, in a store, on a farm, in an office or any other place, and you are concerned about protecting your joints, this interactive online program is for you. As with other online programs we offer, you can take this course wherever and whenever it’s convenient for you.

Movement is something we take for granted, up until the day it is compromised.

The overall program will help you to:

Understand and appreciate the importance of your joint health at work.
Describe how not addressing your joint health at work can affect you and others.
Discover and adopt concrete strategies that you can do to address your joint health at work, such as planning, pacing and things you can do to protect your joints.
Assess your work environment.
Identify and use devices and tools to make certain tasks easier.
Learn about the benefits and overcome challenges of speaking up about joint health matters to friends, family, co-workers and employers.

There are 7 chapters in total. Each chapter is independent and presents different information related to joint matters at work. We recommend you take a few minutes to navigate through the different chapters and find the ones that answer your specific needs. But it’s really up to you: if you’d like to do all the chapters, or pick and choose the ones that best meet your needs.

The Chapters are: