WHAT IS THE OFFICE EFFECT?

In today's fast paced society more and more people are finding themselves working long hours at their desk, plugged into their computer, and permanently connected to their PDA's. This type of work wouldn't normally be associated with extreme physical consequences such as pain, injury, and organ damage. After all, it's not exactly pro football, logging, or crab fishing on the Bering Sea. But even though that 9 to 5 job doesn't involve being smashed by a linebacker the size of a Volkswagen or wielding an 80 lb. chainsaw, it can be hard on the human body. Hours of stress, poor diet, not enough water, lack of sleep, and a host of other factors all conspire to impact the body in ways that are quite alarming. But in our work as fitness professionals we found that one factor stood out from the rest in its ability to cause pain…repetitive stress. Hunching over a computer, holding a phone with your shoulder, texting, and crossing your legs are just a few examples. It's a silent enemy that flies under the radar, slowly wreaking havoc at a pace that is easy to ignore. It tightens muscles, weakens joints, and even changes the shape of our body. This negative impact of work related repetitive stress on the body is what we call The Office Effect.

The Office Effect as a concept came about after many hours of conversation, during which we kept finding that our clients had many of the same aches, pains, and posture problems. Some of these conditions were so severe that clients had to undergo surgery and dramatically change their lifestyle in order to cope with the damage that their bodies had been subjected to. The similarities and consistencies were striking. Almost all of our clients that complained of neck, shoulder, and back pain, numbness and tingling in the extremities, headaches, Sciatica, and blurred vision shared a common thread…they were professionals who spent many hours on the computer and PDA. Given the number of people in the world who work in that way, we knew we were onto something. We found it odd that most of these professionals would be the first to admit that they spent much of their waking hours in some kind of pain and that they simply took a pill to relieve it or got the occasional massage or adjustment. That didn't make sense to us. It was like our clients were keeping a rock in their shoe day after day and taking a pill to deal with it. As fitness professionals, we knew there was a better way.

We decided that The Office Effect was important enough to tackle as a national health issue on par with obesity and smoking. We have one goal: to bring an awareness of the problem to the working world, along with a comprehensive system for feeling, finding, and fixing The Office Effect. With more and more people becoming dependent on computers and PDA's, including children, we can no longer afford to ignore what our lifestyle is doing to our bodies. The good news is that although the problem is severe and widespread, the solution is relatively simple. A few minor adjustments and some simple exercises can help alleviate and even prevent The Office Effect.