30 Little-Known Facts About Office Ergonomics That Could Help You Profit in 2026 (Part 1 of 2)

If I told you that a single piece of office equipment is responsible for more failed ergonomic interventions than chairs, desks, and monitors combined, would you believe me?

Probably not. Most people wouldn’t. But after more than a decade of performing assessments, training practitioners, and watching the same mistakes play out across hundreds of workplaces, I can tell you with absolute certainty: the humble pointing device—the mouse—is where most ergonomic recommendations fall apart.

And that’s just one of the facts I want to share with you today.

Over the next two posts, I’m going to walk you through 30 little-known facts about office ergonomics assessments—facts that could reshape how you think about this field, this market, and your own career in 2026. Whether you’re a physical therapist, occupational therapist, chiropractor, safety professional, or any healthcare practitioner exploring office ergonomics, these are the things nobody told you.

Let’s start with the business case.

The Market Is Wide Open (And Almost Nobody Realizes It)

1. There are roughly 1,200 Board Certified Professional Ergonomists in the entire United States.

That’s it. Twelve hundred people serving a country with millions of office workers, hundreds of thousands of companies, and an epidemic of computer-related musculoskeletal disorders. The supply-demand mismatch is staggering. If you’re a healthcare professional with clinical training, you’re not entering a crowded market. You’re walking into a vacuum.

2. Most corporate “ergonomics programs” are run by people with no formal training.

The reality on the ground is that the majority of workplace ergonomic assessments are being performed by HR generalists, safety coordinators without ergonomics backgrounds, or—and this one hurts—the office furniture vendor. These are well-meaning people following checklists they downloaded from the internet. They adjust the chair, raise the monitor, and file a report. That’s not an assessment. A real assessment starts when you understand biomechanics, tissue tolerance, and how to match specific equipment to a specific person’s condition.

3. A single corporate ergonomics contract can be worth $10,000 to $50,000 annually.

Most practitioners think about assessments one at a time: one client, one session, one invoice. But the real business model is the corporate relationship. A mid-size company with 500 employees might need 10 assessments a month at $200 each. That’s $24,000 a year from one client—before you add follow-ups, training sessions, and equipment consultation fees. The practitioners who build real income from ergonomics aren’t chasing individual bookings. They’re landing contracts.

4. Workers’ compensation claims for computer-related injuries average $30,000 to $60,000 per claim.

This is the number that opens doors with corporate decision-makers. When you frame a $200–$500 assessment as an investment that could prevent a $30,000–$60,000 claim, the ROI conversation writes itself. You’re not an expense on the company’s budget. You’re the cheapest risk management strategy they’ll ever buy. When you learn to articulate that value proposition clearly, procurement meetings get a lot easier.

5. Workplace wellness and ergonomics roles are projected to grow 13% through 2028.

That projection from the Bureau of Labor Statistics was made before the hybrid work revolution fully materialized. Now you have millions of people working from kitchen tables and spare bedrooms with terrible setups, and employers in many jurisdictions are increasingly liable for the ergonomic safety of those remote workers. The demand curve hasn’t just grown. It’s accelerated dramatically.

The Mouse Problem Nobody Talks About

6. Pointing device recommendations are the #1 source of failed ergonomic interventions.

When I survey practitioners about their biggest pain points in the field, mouse selection comes up more than chairs, more than sit-stand desks, more than monitor placement. The reason is deceptively simple: there are at least seven fundamentally different categories of pointing devices, each designed for different conditions, hand sizes, and work patterns. Most practitioners are recommending based on popularity rather than clinical reasoning—and it shows in the outcomes.

7. There are 7 distinct categories of pointing devices, and most practitioners can only name 2 or 3.

Standard mice, vertical mice, trackballs, centrally-located pointing devices, touchpads, pen-style devices, and roller bars. Each category serves a specific biomechanical purpose. Each performs better or worse depending on the client’s condition. If your entire toolkit is “standard mouse” and “vertical mouse,” you’re operating with roughly 30% of the available options—and you’re going to get it wrong for a significant portion of your clients.

8. The wrong mouse recommendation can actively worsen a client’s condition.

Consider someone with De Quervain’s tenosynovitis—inflammation affecting the tendons on the thumb side of the wrist. A well-meaning practitioner recommends a thumb-operated trackball. What happens? Constant thumb movement aggravates the exact tissue that’s inflamed. The condition worsens. The client loses confidence in the practitioner. The employer questions the value of the assessment. One wrong recommendation cascades into lost trust, lost referrals, and a bigger clinical problem than the one you started with.

9. New pointing devices have a 2–4 week adaptation period—and most recommendations fail because nobody explains this.

This is one of the most preventable causes of failed interventions. You recommend a vertical mouse. The client tries it for two days, finds it uncomfortable and unfamiliar, and switches back. Then they tell their employer the assessment didn’t work. The device wasn’t the problem. The missing piece was expectation-setting. If you tell the client upfront—“This will feel awkward for about two weeks, and your productivity might dip slightly before it improves”—compliance rates jump dramatically.

10. Hand size measurement takes 30 seconds and changes everything about your recommendation.

Hand length from wrist crease to fingertip. Hand breadth across the knuckles. These two measurements directly determine which devices will be comfortable and which will cause strain. A large-handed person gripping a small mouse develops finger cramping. A small-handed person wrestling an oversized vertical device develops grip fatigue. Thirty seconds of measurement. And almost nobody does it.

What the Experts Know That Most Practitioners Don’t

11. The most profitable ergonomics practitioners sell retainer agreements, not individual assessments.

Instead of one-off sessions at $200 each, the top earners approach companies with a different proposition: “Let me be your ergonomics partner. All assessments, follow-ups, equipment recommendations, and training for a predictable monthly fee.” This creates recurring revenue, simplifies the client’s vendor management, and positions you as a long-term advisor rather than a transactional service provider. It’s a business model shift that transforms your income stability.

12. Remote workers are now covered under employer ergonomic obligations in many jurisdictions.

In Canada, in multiple U.S. states, and across the EU, employers are increasingly legally responsible for the ergonomic safety of their remote employees. Every person working from a makeshift home office is someone who technically needs an assessment—and most employers have zero infrastructure to handle this at scale. The addressable market didn’t just grow. It multiplied.

13. If your assessment takes less than 20 minutes, you’re probably skipping something critical.

A thorough ergonomic assessment includes a client interview, a review of symptoms and medical history, postural analysis, workstation measurements, equipment evaluation, and a written report with specific recommendations. That should take 30 to 60 minutes. Practitioners who rush through in 15 minutes are doing surface-level work—and they’re almost certainly missing the pointing device, which is often the root cause of the complaint that triggered the assessment in the first place.

14. Most ergonomics training programs barely mention pointing devices.

I’ve reviewed dozens of continuing education courses, certification programs, and university curricula. The time allocated to pointing device selection is almost always negligible—a slide or two, a passing mention. Meanwhile, workplace complaint data consistently puts pointing devices in the top three sources of discomfort. There’s an enormous gap between what practitioners are being taught and what they actually encounter in the field.

15. Practitioners who nail pointing device recommendations get dramatically more referrals.

When you solve someone’s chronic wrist pain by selecting exactly the right device and setting proper expectations, that person becomes your most effective marketing channel. They tell coworkers. They tell their manager. They tell HR. One excellent recommendation can cascade into 5, 10, even 15 additional assessments from the same company. Your clinical expertise with pointing devices doesn’t just improve outcomes—it directly drives revenue growth. 

What’s Next

Those 15 facts all converge on a single insight: the biggest opportunity in office ergonomics right now sits at the intersection of massive market demand and a specific clinical skill gap that most practitioners don’t even know they have.

The pointing device.

If you want to close that gap—fast, for free, with a framework you can use immediately—I’m hosting a one-time live training that’s designed to do exactly that.

In Part 2, I’m sharing 15 more facts—including the pricing mistakes that cost practitioners thousands of dollars a year, the clinical details that separate amateurs from experts, and why 2026 is the single best year in history to launch an ergonomics practice.

Don’t miss it.