Issue link: https://www.ascpskindeepdigital.com/i/253819
Body Awareness by Denise Stoner Basic Principles for Ergonomic Wellness Ergonomics is a topic that's crucial to your career longevity. Once you explore the concepts below, your body can approach its tasks with harmonious, well-aligned movements. You can enjoy having your client and tools placed in an equally harmonious relationship with the body's planes of movement— minimizing stressful actions and making every day a little easier. Most people think of ergonomics in terms of correct placement of chairs, tables, and other work equipment to better fit the user, improve productivity, and increase safety. These are important aspects of ergonomics, to be sure, but they are only half the picture. Arranging your furniture correctly is an external solution; we must also pay attention to ergonomics from the inside out, placing more importance on true body awareness. Mastering this ever-present awareness—an understanding of being in the body— is key to finding comfort and ease in all our daily tasks. Each of us has an individual somatic, or bodily, sense of being in the world. While all of us know this sense of embodiment, the individual experience is unique, based on how we come to know the abilities and movement habits of our own body. Four Physical Systems of Support Most of us feel a sense of familiarity with how our muscles move and work, but have less sense of the three other physical systems that are essential to our movement patterns: the skeleton, organs, and fluids within the body. Fluids support our internal organs, organs support the skeleton, and the skeleton supports the muscles. Each of these physical systems interacts with all the others. Horizontal and Vertical Planes Along with an awareness of the body's structure, the integration of better body mechanics into daily tasks is best achieved by understanding the planes through which we move. Actions like holding, lifting, pulling, pushing, and reaching are carried out in the vertical plane. Actions like twisting at the waist or turning the head are carried out in the horizontal plane. The body's base horizontal plane, and the anatomical cornerstone for correct vertical support of the spine and torso, is the pelvic floor. This soft but sturdy diamond-shaped structure is comprised of several muscles in the space between the deep bones of the buttocks, tailbone, and pubis. Whether sitting or standing, consciously thinking of this area as your body's base of support will lengthen the lower back, center the torso, align the spinal curves, and create a sense of being uplifted. 30 ASCP Skin Deep March/April 2014 The trapezius muscles are often held in a tense, half-shrug position when holding tools or equipment over a client. For a more efficient way of holding, allow the shoulder blades to drop. Soften the muscles and release weight down the ribcage into the skeleton for support.