CYBERKIDS & WORK-RELATED INJURIES

“Now kids are using computers at age two, so by the time they enter the workforce they’ll already be primed for injuries,” says Alan Hedge, professor of design and environmental analysis in Cornell’s College of Human Ecology and an international authority on office ergonomics. “One-third to one-half of all compensatory injuries are repetitive-motion injuries associated with office-type work.”

Back injuries also account for one-third of all workplace injuries. A decade ago most of these were associated with heavy lifting. Today they are mostly caused by people sitting for longer periods of time—often in front of a computer. The younger onset of computer use makes the current rate of damage claims “the canary in the coal mine.” Hedge has found that there is typically a 10- to 15-year period before injuries start to develop. In the early 1990s he showed that the average age of workers reporting carpal tunnel syndrome was in their late 30s to early 40s; last year, he found the average age of onset had dropped to the mid-20s and even younger for some people.

“This is very serious because an injury can become life-changing; carpal tunnel, for example, is not curable. They’ll have to manage this chronic condition for the rest of their lives,” Hedge says. To better determine how design concepts can prevent such injuries, Hedge’s Cornell Human Factors and Ergonomics Research Group studies innovative products. Among his recent projects are:

➢    A vibrating mouse. To see if a vibrating mouse can prevent upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders in computer users by signaling people to take their hand off the mouse to avoid overuse, Hedge and graduate student Chris Moe reported at the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting in October 207 that although subjects do remove their hands more often with a vibrating mouse than with a conventional mouse, they tended to hold their hands just above the mouse. “This position is potentially more detrimental because of an increase in static muscle activity required to hover the hand,” Hedge says, concluding that people would have to train themselves to rest their hands on a flat surface when they feel the vibration.
➢    Movable arms for monitors. Another study looked at how suspending a flat panel computer monitor on a movable arm affects people’s comfort, posture and preference. Hedge and graduate student Kathryn Boothroyd found that people unanimously liked the monitor arm because they could adjust their LCD screen, and it gave them more room on their desktops for documents.
➢    Undulating chairs. Yet another study examined whether a seat that made a continuous massaging, wavelike movement at an adjustable rate would alleviate back pain in people whose pain increases when they are seated. Although his findings were mixed, Hedge and graduate student Erin Lawler concluded that the movable seat was a concept with promise, particularly for individuals with back problems.

“Everything we do can be summed up in the phrase: Good ergonomics is great economics,” Hedge says. “More than 90 percent of a company’s costs are people costs, so making small investments in improving the workplace by using good ergonomic products pays huge dividends.”

Reported by Cornell University and www.sciencedaily.com, December 27, 2007. 

_______________________________________________________________________ 
Disclaimer: The purpose of this weblog is not to dispense medical advice nor in any way is meant to be construed as diagnostic or prescriptive. Always check with your physician before beginning any new program or trying any of the items discussed in the posts that appear on this site.