Headsets make your Business Safe and Sound.

 Two recent independent field studies show that the frequent problem of neck and back pain experienced by office workers can be significantly reduced and even eradicated by replacing telephone handsets with headsets.

 Ergonomics is Economics

 Interest in office ergonomics has radically increased in the past decade, boosted by rising costs associated with ergonomic injuries among office workers known as musculoskeletal disorders (MSD). The importance of organizing office workplaces to match human physical abilities is now widely acknowledged, and traditional desks, chairs and computers are being replaced by new ones that better comply with the human anatomy and working routines performed by today’s knowledge workers. The time has now come to take a closer look at the role ‘phone ergonomics’ plays in this context.

 In today’s workplace telephones are indispensable, since telecommunication is a crucial and growing part of office work. However, using a traditional telephone handset often involves strenuous movement and unnatural postures such as cradling the handset between neck and shoulder, and having to stretch to reach for things. Research in office workplace ergonomics (e.g. NOISH 1997¹, SJoWE & H, 1992²) clearly indicates that use of a classic telephone handset by office workers is a major source of work-related neck and back pain. The US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) defines “work-related” musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) as those injuries created and/or worsened by the work environment. WMSDs can be severe and painful - ranging from tingling to numbness, and resulting in time off work, reduced productivity and temporary or permanent disability. Consequently, WMSDs are also believed to have financial consequences in the form of increased compensation costs to office workers.

 New user studies identify headsets as “pattern-breakers” Evidently, many office workers have “adapted” their motion patterns and work routines to the telephone handset and its apparent limitations - not vice versa - resulting in uncomfortable and harmful postures, that in the short-run inflict pain, typically in the head (headaches), neck, back and shoulders, and in the long-run potentially cause permanent damage to the tendons, tissue, muscles, nerves and supporting structures.

 Such negative patterns are not easily broken without some kind of physical intervention, where replacing the telephone handset with a headset provides the most obvious, effective and well documented improvement that can be obtained.

 Danish/German field test demonstrates instant improvement A recent field study in and equipped more than one hundred office workers in different office workplaces with the GN 9120 wireless headset. The study showed that for new headset users with 2-4 hours daily phone use, physical comfort can improve drastically by replacing the telephone handset with a headset. 30% of the test group experienced a significant improvement in physical comfort directly related to pain in the neck or back during the test period of two working weeks.  

To sum up, the telephone handset becomes the center of the user’s radius of action limiting physical movement and capabilities. The headset on the other hand moves communication to the head, making the user the center of activities which offers the most natural pattern of motion.

This group represented many different job types which means this finding indicates that, once identified, problems with phone- related neck and back pain can be reduced and even eradicated almost instantly by breaking the negative patterns associated with  a telephone handset. The very rapid effect could also be influenced by the fact that the test group tried the GN 9120 wireless headset, which offers total freedom of movement. The aforementioned Swedish study of an equally diverse group of users indicates that the percentage experiencing improvement in the long run can be even higher than 30%. After using a headset for approximately one year, more than half (52%) of those interviewed who had experienced problems, stated that the problems have “significantly improved” and 26% stated that they have “totally disappeared”. 

The long period of study also indicated that headsets do in fact solve the problem permanently and not just shift it to another part of the body. No new pains or inconvenience were reported. Those interviewed in the Swedish study experienced severe strains and pain before replacing telephone handsets with headsets, and no new problems arose after they started using a headset. After they started using a headset 5 % feel that the problems improved a lot, % feel no change 6% feel that the problems disappeared, 0% felt that it has gotten worse

Of course, wireless headsets offer the ultimate freedom of movement and therefore present an ergonomically optimal solution. The extreme freedom offered by wireless headsets adds ergonomic value if work routines allow the user to get up and walk around in the office or office area. The variation between sitting down, standing up and the movement of the entire body that increases blood circulation suits the natural needs of the musculoskeletal system well.

Modern wireless headsets with a working range of up to 100 meters (300 feet) increase the user’s radius of action far beyond the desk, and this freedom not only apparently increases in task-solving capabilities, but also allows users to move both upper and lower body more freely, which is ergonomically beneficial.

However, the cord on a corded headset does not constrain the upper body movement to a physically counterproductive level, which is by far the most important concern with regard to neck and back pain. The cord is very lightweight and is practically unnoticed by the user, who can even stand up and move around in a smaller area depending on the length of the cord.