Repetitive Strain Injuries at Work, and How to avoid them

You are hard at work, tapping away on the keyboard, like a maestro playing one of his masterpieces. Suddenly you feel your hand hurting or tingling or going numb. You feel clumsy and may start dropping things.

These are symptoms of some of the Repetitive Strain Injuries or RSIs. RSI can happen in any job, in a factory, at home; just about any repetitive activity can result in a RSI.

Today, I will be focusing on what we all repeatedly do, and that is, working on a computer. In earlier days, it was the stenographers who were the most susceptible to carpal tunnel syndrome, back pain, tendonitis, etc. Now, it is anyone – a computer professional, a financial analyst, a sales representative; just about anyone and everyone is now using keyboards. I shall give you some tips on how to avoid some of these injuries.

First let us look at posture. A typical office chair now comes with several ergonomic features. You can raise the seat, change the angles, raise or lower the hand rests and so on. So it is important for us to understand what the best way to sit is. First, the back. As you can see here, there is a curve in the back of the chair. This is meant for lumbar support, or support for your lower backbone area. If you look at the shape of our backbones, they are not straight. They are bent like S. This area needs to be supported by the back. In case you are short, you can add a small pillow to enhance support. This is also something that you can keep in mind while working at home or watching TV.

In earlier days, ergonomists suggested an angle of 90 degrees between you upper body and the thighs, but now it has been revised to 100-110 degrees. At the knees the bend should be 90 degrees, and your feet should be flat on the floor. Your shoulders should be relaxed and not hunched.

Now let us look at the keyboard. The angle at the elbow should be 90 degrees. So that is where you would need to set the hand-rest and also the keyboard. While typing it is recommended not to rest on your wrists. There should not be any bend at the wrist. Also avoid keeping the keyboard slanted up, it is better to keep it tilted downward. The G and H keys should in line with your navel.

Placement of monitors is the next important thing. Your eyes should be in line with the top of the monitor. Or in other words, the center of the monitor should be at a downward angle from the line of your eyes. Keep the monitor slightly tilted to face you. This is to avoid straining your neck. Keep the neck relaxed and straight, and avoid craning forward.

The mouse should be kept close to the keyboard. Avoid using mouse as much as possible. Learning some of the keyboard shortcuts will help. I trained myself to use the mouse with my left hand to give my right hand an occasional break.

All these are possible for a desktop computer, but for a laptop, which is being used more and more, there are some adjustments that can be made. If you are watching a video or reading a document, keep the laptop raised so that your eye is in line with the top of the monitor. While typing keep it low so that your elbow is at 90 degrees, and keep the screen bent backwards so as to reduce the strain on your neck. The best approach is to have a separate keyboard if you are working for long.

Let us now look at couple of stretching exercises that we can do. One is a prayer exercise. Do these steps…

Another activity is shoulder crunch – where you do this…

Once in a while, slowly rotate your neck in both directions. Look at the left shoulder without turning your head. Hold for some time, Repeat on the right. Then close your eyes with the palm for a few moments.

Ergonomic workplace and some of these practices can help avoid RSI. There are many more things that we can do at work, at home, while driving and so on, to avoid RSI. Taking breaks during continuous activity is also important. Stretch once in a while. Stand up while talking on the phone. Go for a tea break. Peep across to your neighbor’s cubicle. Some movements of yoga and tai-chi are subtle enough not to raise the curiosity of your neighbors. There are even softwares like Workrave, that tracks your activity on the computer, and suggest breaks at proper intervals, as well as guides you to do some stretching exercises

I hope my demonstration has given you some useful information. RSI, being one of the major hazards, there are a lot of web sites, journals and videos on this subject.