A DIY Ergo Challenge

I just wrote this entry for an Ergo Story Challenge contest and thought I'd share it here as well. It was a case I'll never forget, encouraging me to think in creative ways when it came to resolving particularly interesting client challenges.

While years in the field have presented many challenges, one of my favorite cases was a wonderful, young software engineer at a tech company. I was very used to helping the employees there with the standard aches and pains coming from working on computers all day, but I knew his situation was going to take some extra attention and creativity. A medical condition left him with a severely curved spine and dwarfism. He was about 4'11" and, predictably, suffering from back, neck, and shoulder discomfort. The adjustable desks in his location were nice, but only served the standard height range. He was unable to stand to work, a common intervention strategy in this location. He had a great attitude, but no idea where to begin. Reaching up to his keyboard was uncomfortable and he desperately needed neck support.

We installed an adjustable height keyboard tray to accommodate his ideal typing height and offer a variety of positions, as needed. We traded his standard keyboard for a model without a number pad to minimize over-reaching for the mouse. Trading his chair, a Steelcase Criterion Mid-Back, for a Herman Miller Embody to provide adjustable support got us closer. The real coup, though? I couldn't find the right shape for adding neck support until I serendipitously saw a Fellowes Professional Series Back Support in our storage closet. The wider section at the bottom, normally for lumbar support, was perfect! I cut the cushion between the upper and lower sections which left me with basically a firm lumbar roll with adjustable straps. I sealed the cut seams with electrical tape and was happily surprised to find that the straps fit perfectly over the top of the Embody chair backrest, upside down from the usual installation, providing the perfect neck support roll at the just the right height. It worked like a dream!

I followed up with this employee quite a few times over the next months and he always said the same thing: the interventions were perfect and he's never worked so comfortably.

Success!