Micro-breaking

The Short Course Power Breaks

The general rule of thumb for setting ErgoSuite Enterprise relates to you and the daily occurrence of signals that your body provides to you in an effort to get you to take a brief power break.

Doctors and ergonomists will explain that when you are using the computer and feel the need to stretch, if your eyes are sore, hands are cold or numb, neck or back are stiff or sore, that you are experiencing a micro-trauma. This is the body's built-in defense mechanism designed to force you to move around and take a micro-break to restore blood flow, stimulate oxygen flow in tissues and removal of waste products from muscles. The repeated accumulation of these micro-traumas sometimes results in what doctors call a cumulative trauma disorder or repetitive stress injury.

If you feel these warning signals from your body anytime while using the computer, you should think about if you were keying or mousing recently. Then, increase the frequency of alerts for that activity in ErgoSuite Enterprise (keying or mousing). Conversely, if you feel you are receiving too many alerts and are not feeling any of the warning signals from your body, then decrease the frequency of alerts for that activity in ErgoSuite Enterprise.

Generally, clients install the product for all employees who use the computer at least one hour a day in accumulated time. If your organization offers access to users for changing their settings, users can easily alter independent settings for each of the keyboard and mouse.