Ergonomics

COVID-19

Psychosocial risk is an ergonomic aggravator for the skeletal muscle system. The work shows how stress and exhaustion influence the outcome of a work. The week of March 9-15, 2020 was especially intense for me. The outbreak of cases of SARS-CoV-2 (Coronavirus or COVID-19) meant that during the 12th and 13th of March could not stop work activity, having started early morning with telephone calls, visits and managements until past the afternoon and beyond. Since then, the work has been intense until mid-May, affecting this situation on a psychological level.Stress has a physical effect on the tension in the muscles of the face, neck and back as a preparation for reacting to a stimulus that is dangerous and relaxes once it has passed. In the case of chronic muscles, it is constantly tense, which causes a decrease in blood flow to the muscles, thus reducing the supply of oxygen and nutrients, generating a greater accumulation of toxic waste and lactic acid. which entails a limitation of movement. Stress is involved in coordinating muscle groups while maintaining posture and balance during movement. This process involves headaches, chronic pain, contractures … so manual dexterity is also affected.

COVID-19. March 2020. Mixed media on paper.

Wild flowers

An unfavorable ergonomically element is the use of inappropriate elements; such as personal protective equipment that does not fit the body dimensions in precision tasks. My size is small, I usually use S or XS sizes. In this work I used some XXL size gardening gloves to draw. Using them requires greater muscle tension to maintain control of stroke or movement, which decreases comfort and increases muscle exhaustion, forcing recovery breaks.

“Wild Flowers”. Ink drawing made with XXL size gardener gloves. 65×50 cm.