By Cristy Shauck
Terrie Rizzo enjoys running around in circles. It's part of her job as an aerobics instructor at the Sunnyvale Community Center on Wednesday evenings.
She teaches the class, one of two she offers at the center each week, to promote individual fitness and to exercise her love for aerobics dancing. She uses some of the movements in her work as an ergonomics specialist, helping individuals and corporations re-design their work spaces to prevent injuries.
Rizzo, who manages Stanford University's Health Improvement Program, discovered aerobics in 1974 at Baltimore's YMCA, one of the concept's original developers. "I combined what I love to do with my teaching background and became an aerobics instructor," she said.
Rizzo later founded Personally Fit, an international organization that promotes aerobics, when she moved to Belgium with her husband, Michael. She was the only certified aerobics instructor in that country, she said.
Sabena Belgian World Airlines was impressed with her work and asked Rizzo for an article describing exercises travelers could perform during flights.
Rizzo reworked the article and turned it into a handy brochure she calls "Sittercise." Last year, she added more specific exercises for computer users. The brochure features toning and stretching exercises, as well as tips for avoiding carpal-tunnel syndrome and other repetitive strain injuries.
Anyone looking at the brochure can see the benefits of two decades of participation in aerobics and other fitness programs because Rizzo demonstrates many exercises in accompanying photos. Bob Ater, superintendent of the International School of Copenhagen, Denmark, also shows how to stretch and tone while sitting at a desk. "He pointed out that he was the perfect example of someone who needed to do these exercises," Rizzo explained.
The brochure includes hand exercises recommended by the Stanford Hand Rehabilitation Clinic, which has approved the entire set of exercises in Sittercise.
Rizzo had been a Stanford employee for two years when the university sent her to the University of Michigan to become a certified ergonomic specialist.
Site evaluations, a duty performed while Rizzo wears her ergonomist hat, may take 20 minutes for a simple workstation checklist review or up to an hour if an injury has occurred. She considers the location of the desk, monitor, keyboard--even the telephone--and informs employees about recommended equipment, positioning and how to create an ergonomically correct work environment.
"If someone has already suffered an injury, I insist they attend our education sessions because people often don't know what they are doing wrong. Otherwise, I can go in and change their environment for them, but they will repeat the same mistakes," she said.
Rizzo said 200,000 "repetitive strain" injuries were reported nationally in 1992.
The No. 1 workplace sin people commit that harms their bodies is sitting in static postures. "People need to take breaks and throw in a few exercises to relieve the tension and strain on the muscles, especially if they work at a computer," she said. "Static posture is one of the causes of repetitive strain injury.
"Physical fitness should become a natural, everyday part of your life, not something you reserve for a class. Think of ways to fit in exercise: at work, even in your car. Sittercise movements can be performed anywhere you sit. Do a few each hour and your back and neck will feel much better."
According to Dan DaRosa at Cal-OSHA, government has no standards in place for ergonomics issues in the work place. Each company must assess the needs of employees.
Big corporations, such as Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space (LMMS), often maintain an ergonomics program with trained staff. Lockheed has a multidisciplinary ergonomics program coordinated by its safety department in conjunction with medical, facilities and engineering support organizations.
"LMMS honors requests for site or group evaluations and requires corrective measures to be taken when potential hazards are identified," said Scott Wright, an ergonomics work-site evaluator who is earning a master's degree in ergonomics from San Jose State University.
"We provide dissemination of information regarding VDT and safety training as well as 16-hour and 40-hour courses, which teach employees to recognize ergonomic hazards and provide solutions. Part of our program includes an ongoing review of workstation accessories and furniture," Wright said.
According to Rizzo, the key to preventing injuries is education.
"In 1993, Stanford's Corporate Health Promotion program conducted a yearlong pilot study at Amdahl to determine whether educational intervention helped prevent injuries. Results of two types of experiments--one where employees received instruction from a teacher and another where they viewed taped instruction and literature--indicated that both methods of information dissemination influenced behavior patterns," Rizzo said.
Tammy Watts, a senior occupational nurse practitioner at Amdahl, said repetitive injuries account for 40 percent to 60 percent of injuries in the workplace. Amdahl has had an ergonomics education and site evaluation program in place since 1990, she said.
Rizzo provided these primary principles for an ergonomically designed workstation:
* Place the keyboard at waist level.
* Put the mouse next to the keyboard.
* Position equipment so that the employee faces it squarely. "A monitor in a corner guarantees a neck injury," she said.
* Sit in an adjustable, ergonomically designed chair. "Get one with lumbar support that adjusts for tilt and height in both the back rest and seat pan. Adjustable arm supports also help," she said.
* Wear a headset when performing simultaneous tasks on the phone and computer.
"The body doesn't distinguish between work and play on the computer; take a break every 50 minutes whether you are in the middle of that report the boss wanted yesterday or engrossed in a game of Doom," Rizzo said.
"Children also need to have this information," she added. "They'll be using computers a lot longer than we do."
Sittercise brochures sell for $3.50 each (price includes $1 for postage), but cost less if companies order in bulk. For more information contact Terrie Rizzo at (408) 741-1864 or write to Personally Fit, 176 E. Fremont Ave., Suite 312, Sunnyvale, 94087-3021.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, Wed., December 6, 1995.
©1995 Metro Publishing Inc. All rights reserved.