What is it?

What is Power Ergonomics?

To answer this question it is best to ask, How does Power Ergonomics relate to Ergonomics in general?

Modern Ergonomics (and Human Factors) is about improving the ‘fit’ between humans and the tasks they perform. This means working from two directions:

improving the design of artefacts and systems (tools, cars, cell phones, websites, control panels, work flow, logic flow, etc) so that they are easy to use
improving the way we use the body, which includes also the way we adapt it to perform new tasks (learning to lift patients for the first time, learning a golf swing, using weights at a gym, improving the posture to improve singing, etc)

A great deal of work and development has been done to improve results in both areas. While much has been improved, it is still a fact that some video/DVD players still require us to get a degree in industrial psychology before we can understand how to use them. Also, far too many people still suffer from back, neck and shoulder pain, despite mammoth efforts to improve posture, lifting technique, and general awareness of the need to exercise.

Power Ergonomics

Power Ergonomics is concerned with the second of these two areas - body use - for the purpose of improving general well-being as well as performance when performing tasks. It differs though from conventional approaches by the way it approaches ‘body use’ from an apithological (well-being and healthy function perspective) rather than pathological (disease oriented) perspective (read an excellent paper on the differences here).

How is ‘body use’ perceived differently? Many of us have been taught to perceive health and ‘body use’ as an ‘absence of disease’ - if the doctor can’t find anything wrong with you, then you are ‘healthy’.

But this is a poor definition, as an absence of disease does not really tell us anything about how to actively promote well-being and healthy function.

We fail today to deal with things like lower back pain (which is has now reached epidemic proportions) because we are stuck in ‘disease avoidance’ thinking. We are experts at understanding the diseases themselves, their causes and origins. But as for the causes and origins of well-being and healthy function, we are still generally fumbling in the dark. So...

while conventional interventions begins from a ‘parts’ perspective (anatomy), Power Ergonomics starts with the natural state of unity that is inherent in every living body; this is easy to work with because it is
easily assessed (using MUBA) and provides a natural guide or ‘benchmark’ for well-being and healthy function around which all Power Ergonomics interventions are designed.
while conventional interventions teach alignment of posture (standing ands sitting only), Power Ergonomics teaches alignment of power in any action (because expression of power, and not ‘straightness of posture’, is what is truly useful in life).
while conventional interventions stress the importance of ‘being balanced’, Power Ergonomics defines clearly the different choices of balance that lead to postural elevation or oppression; Power Ergonomics discerns between correct balance and incorrect balance.
while conventional interventions teach upright, Power Ergonomics teaches us to identify two kinds of upright - elevated and oppressed; it then teaches us how to choose elevated upright and how to avoid oppressed upright.
while conventional interventions encourages us to position body parts relative to one another (shoulders back, tummy in, etc), Power Ergonomics teaches how to unify the body so that we can forget body ‘parts’ .
while conventional interventions use complex methods to evaluate posture and body use, Power Ergonomics uses a fast, hands on approach that creates the immediate clarity required to awaken motivation to change behaviours (which saves time and money for everyone)

Thanks to this shift in perspective, it is possible with Power Ergonomics to start at a more fundamental level in the simplest of daily actions - the use of the body from a unified perspective when standing, sitting, walking, lifting and carrying things. And thanks to being able to work at this basic level, it is possible to address any form of body use (posture, movement or action), however complex, in the same relatively easy manner.

The relevance - ‘improvement’

Improving the design of things is something that we have been doing ever since we sat in caves and shaped stones and sticks so that they could be held comfortably when used as tools.

Improving the way we use the body is something we have been less good at. So far we have tended to focus on improving the way we use it when there has been an obvious need. For example, soldiers have to learn to use the body well, as do horse riders, dancers, singers and farriers. For the most part though part we have just tended to use the body ‘as it is’. Then, if we use it well it is because we are ‘lucky’ or talented - or genetically advantaged (e.g. many Jamaicans are genetically predisposed to sprinting faster than the rest of us). And if we use it poorly then this is just ‘bad luck’ - or we were born clumsy and inept.

It is easy to attribute disorders such as lower back pain (LBP) to ‘having a weak back’ - something that cannot be changed because ‘that is the way it is’. A common ‘cure’ for this is hope - hope that some kind of treatment will get rid of the problem.

It is also relatively easy to connect LBP with lifting heavy objects incorrectly. The ‘obvious cure’ for this is to improve lifting technique - which many people do. Unfortunately, despite training, many still fail to rid themselves of back pain.

The hardest thing to see is the connection between LBP and the fundamental way in which the body is used in every daily action. This is hard to see because it is not obvious. For example,

It is not obvious that poor use arises from the way the body is incorrectly balanced and held; nor is it obvious that 90% of us are incorrectly balanced when standing and sitting.
It is not obvious that the way we use the body is influenced by ideas we have about the way the body should be held that are incompatible with the way the bodch as ‘keeping the back straight’).
It is not obvious that carrying heavy things is made harder when the body itself is carried in a manner that automatically makes it heavy for its owner to carry
It is not obvious that the way the body works is directly related to the way we hold and direct the body - even if golf players, horse riders and singers, for example, already know that the best action arises when they stop consciously trying to align and coordinate all the parts of the body.
It is not obvious that it is up to us to balance and direct the body in every action, from getting up in the morning to going to bed at night. We think for example that we ‘know’ how to stand and sit and walk, and therefore we need pay no attention to these actions, because if we can already do them, how could they possible be improved? We assume - incorrectly - that the body will keep good balance, etc, automatically.
It is not obvious that LBP is cannot be avoided by teaching lifting technique IF the way the body is carried and held when standing and walking is not first improved. What is the point of teaching how to lifting an

while conventional interventions begins from a ‘parts’ perspective (anatomy), Power Ergonomics starts with the natural state of unity that is inherent in every living body; this is easy to work with because it is easily assessed (using MUBA) and provides a natural guide or ‘benchmark’ for healthy function and body use, around which all Power Ergonomics interventions are designed.
while conventional interventions teach alignment of posture (standing ands sitting only), Power Ergonomics teaches Alignment of Power in any action (because the expression of power, and not ‘straightness of posture’, is what is truly useful in daily life).
while conventional interventions stress the importance of ‘being balanced’, Power Ergonomics defines the way different choices of balance lead to postural elevation or postural oppression; in Power Ergonomics balance is either correct or incorrect.
while conventional interventions try to get people to sit upright, Power Ergonomics teaches us to identify two kinds of upright - elevated and oppressed - as well as understand why conventional ideas about upright correspond to oppressed.
while conventional interventions encourages us to position body parts relative to one another (shoulders back, tummy in, etc), Power Ergonomics teaches how to unify the body so that we can forget body ‘parts’.
while conventional interventions use complex methods to evaluate posture and body use, Power Ergonomics uses a manual testing method that in seconds sorts the body use that works well (i.e. it is unified, elevated, correctly balanced, comfortable, and even enjoyable) from the use that works less well or not at all.

It is not obvious that poor use arises from the way the body is incorrectly balanced and held; nor is it obvious that 90% of us are in fact incorrectly balanced when standing and sitting.
It is not obvious that the way we use the body is confounded by many of the ideas we have about the way the body should be held (such as ‘keeping the back straight’ or ‘plumb line aligned’).
It is not obvious that carrying heavy things is made harder when the body itself is carried in a manner that automatically makes it heavy instead of light
It is not obvious that it is up to us to balance and direct the body in every action, from getting up in the morning to going to bed at night. We think for example that we ‘know’ how to stand and sit and walk, and therefore we need pay no attention to these actions, because if we can ‘already do them’, how could they possible be improved? We assume - incorrectly - that the body will keep good balance, etc, automatically.
It is not obvious that LBP is cannot be avoided by teaching lifting technique IF the way the body is carried and held when standing and walking is not first improved. What is the point of teaching how to lifting and carry things if we still do not know how to carry the body strongly and lightly (elevated) when not carrying things?

It is equally hard to see the the connection between the way we use the body and the way the body naturally becomes more unified, thus increasing our power or strength.

For this reason, people who apply Power Ergonomics at, for example, a gym are often astounded by the increases in performance - which are apparently ‘inexplicable’ (“It can’t be this easy! Where’s the catch?” is a common reaction).

When we don’t see the connection between use, function and dysfunction, when we don’t see the difference between elevated and oppressed upright, when we don’t see that there are different choices of balance, then any improvements become ‘amazing’, ‘miraculous’ and ‘unbelievable’.

When we see the connection and when we see the differences, it all becomes very obvious and normal.