your body feels like you've just run a marathon

It's Friday afternoon, and your body feels like you've just run a marathon.

What's going on?

Maybe it's time to notice the physical toll your workplace is taking.

"If you hold yourself for eight hours a day, five days a week in a micro-tensioned way, at the end of the week you're going to be wiped out," says ergonomics consultant and therapist Gilly Thomas.

And in the long run - pun intended- office strains can be harder on the body than marathons, because we don't consciously prepare ourselves to cope.

"Your muscles' small actions, done over and over with bad mechanics, can build tremendous tension and pain," says Thomas. "And it becomes such a habit that you aren't even aware why your shoulder's in a knot, or your wrists are swollen."

The office is fairly stressful to begin with, and often people hold their stress like a spring on a clock, winding tighter and tighter as the week progresses.

"Sometimes I make people more aware of their pain. Which is good," she hurries to add, "because then they can take care of it!"

To illustrate, she gets me moving a single finger on the hand that isn't holding the phone. I scoff - what can moving one finger possibly do for me?

"Hold your wrist with the other hand while you move that finger," she instructs.

The amount of movement is striking! There's a lot going on in my wrist as that single digit wiggles. Hmm, maybe this 'ergonomics' is on to something. Gilly laughs. She's had this reaction before.

"Waking up to your body is like that," she says. "People become numb to how they move. Often their first reaction to a change is 'this is a bit awkward', because the body almost forgets what comfortable, pain-free movement is like."

Instead of taking drugs to dull the aches and pains, she suggests treating your work like an athletic activity, and learning better ways to move in your office space.

Solutions often lie in changing the habitual motions you do in the office. Marilee Lmeke, a client with Read Jones Christoffersen Consulting Engineers, tries to answer the phone with her opposite hand, for example.

How you sit, the placement of monitors, keyboards, or even coffee cups - all can impact your tension levels.

Gilly gave a one hour presentation to a few brave souls at Read Jones initially. Word spread, and almost a third of the one hundred employees at the company have since signed up for sessions. With them she does small group presentations, followed up by short one-on-one consultations at individual's workstations. According to Gilly, twenty minutes one-on-one is usually enough time to clearly see some patterns of movement that need addressing, and to help the individual become aware of, first, the pattern, and then the alternatives.

"The engineers here certainly appreciate her," says Marilee. "People have come up to me and thanked me for getting her here, and even more want to participate the next time she's in our office."

The eyes as windows.

Spending time with Gilly, who focuses with a quiet attention that can be unnerving, one can't help but become more conscious of the body's tensions.

"She starts off by looking you in the eyes, like right inside of you, and she can tell...she somehow tells what's wrong with you," notes Lemcke. "I don't know how she does that, but a lot of people have mentioned it to me."

"My job is to observe," acknowledges Gilly. "To see how people move and to show them ways to do it with less micro-tension. When I help relieve the physical stress by introducing new movement, it allows people more latitude of response, both physically and emotionally."

Oh, so there's an emotional component to all this?

"If someone is used to having something a certain way and I change it, it's necessary for them to not only see but, just as importantly, to feel the difference it makes - so they can own the changes! I work with people on whatever level they're open to, whether it's physical, emotional, or even spiritual, and they often see a release of tension immediately."

The results to date are impressive. "She's amazing," says Marilee.

Not a bad testimonial.

For more information on Gilly and ergonomics, visit www.evolutionergonomics.com.

Allen R. Gibson is a Vancouver writer who has written about many forms of bodywork and healing, when he's not addressing business and investment. September 15, 2006

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