It is known by all of us that we spend too many hours in front of the computer, and not only that, we also do it in front of the television, the ipad etc. We are animals biologically programmed to move around in a natural environment instead of following a sedentary lifestyle and life away from nature, as it might lead to stress, muscle pain, bad posture, among others. We spoke with Núria Infiesta, the promoter of a web platform called Mifisionline that proposes to integrate personalized exercises for professionals who use the computer on a daily basis in the day-to-day business. Mifisionline is an online program of healthy habits for companies that aims to prevent typical problems, such as contractures, bad posture, pain, among others.
Núria Infiesta is a physiotherapist and among her passions, she loves improving people’s quality of life, as well as promoting health and healthy lifestyles along with technology
- We live in the age of stress, hyper-connection and obsessed with reaching everything, even if it is beyond our means. We could say that more than ‘’ slow life ’’ ours is ‘’ fast life ’’. As a professional physiotherapist, what consequences does this have on our health?
It is true that it seems that the day to day leads us to this fast lifestyle. But like many things, it depends on us how we live it and how we feel it. We must look for spaces of calm, physical work and emotional work. Look for moments of pause, because the consequences of fast life can lead us to extreme situations: stress, anxiety, headaches, fatigue, contractures …
- As a consequence of all the social and cultural changes, now more than ever, we spend many hours sitting in front of a screen. How this affects us?
Maintaining a static and forced position for many hours can lead to affectations or injuries both at the level of muscles and joints, but also on our circulatory system, for example. It also has consequences on an emotional level, such as stress or anxiety. During this lockdown, our social and family life has also been affected.
- Why do we get contractures? Is there a way to avoid these types of ailments?
We get contractures at work mainly for two reasons:
- Due to exaggerated effort, for example when lifting a weight
- For working in forced or held positions for a long time, for example working in front of the computer.
To minimize the risk of injury or illness we can practice a preventive attitude. This attitude implies knowing the risks to which we are exposed, knowing ergonomic concepts, having good postural hygiene and integrating active breaks into our work routine. The benefits of breaking a static postural work routine are physical, intellectual, emotional and social.
- You are the promoter of a super interesting project called ‘’ Mifisioonline ’’ aimed at improving health within the company. Tell us a little more. (How does it work, how often do you have to do the exercises, etc.?
Mifisionline was born with the dream of integrating active prevention during the working day in the form of targeted and quantified active breaks. It is a web program that schedules active breaks, distributes them during the day, alerts you when you have to do them, guides you in performing the exercises and quantifies your compliance.
An active break is a short period of time for physical activity. It is targeted, because it proposes them based on the profile of each user, taking into account their risk areas. And it is quantified because compliance is recorded and each user knows its follow-up. Plus, it’s gamified too!
Mifisionline proposes a maximum of 5 exercises during the working day combining the different muscle zones and three types of exercises: Warm-up, stretching and relaxation. Learn how it works: https://youtu.be/yVvf8VCPTP4
In addition, now mifisionline trains in online mode in postural and healthy habits in people who work with computers.
- Finally, do you think that companies should invest in the health of their employees?
Many companies are already taking care of their employees from a global point of view. People are the most important value for companies. There is less and less talk about disease prevention and more about health promotion. A lot of work is being done to have happy people in companies.
