RSI: RepetitiveStress Injuries

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RSI Repetitive-Stress Injuries

• Article By Geoffrey J.S. Hart
• Presentation By Sierra Charon

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RSI

• Repetitive-Stress Injury is any injury that
  results in overuse of a body part without giving
  it time to recover
• Overuse Injury is a more immediate term giver
  how much time we spend using computer.

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Common Problems

• The most common computer related injuries fall
  into three major categories
• Aches Pains
• Hand Problems
• Eye Strain

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Aches Pains

• Spending long hours in awkward positions worsen
  problems.
• Most computer spaces leave you sitting hunched
  over with arms awkwardly extended.
• High-quality desk chairs provide necessary
  support to improve comfort and reduce aches and
  pains.

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Aches PainsThe Seat of the Problem

• Sitting for extended periods of time compresses
  tissues in buttocks upper thighs which reduces
  blood flow to your legs
• Seat chairs can encourage slumped posture which
  misaligns your spine and adds stress on muscles,
  bones tissues.
• Adjustable back and armrests help eliminate
  creating painful pressure points and give more
  support to your back. Footrests elevates the
  feet enough to shift some weight to lower legs
  and knees, which reduces pressure to buttocks,
  hips and thighs.

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Aches PainsLayout of your Work Area

• The ideal natural position minimizes the amount
  of deviation from the position your body wants to
  assume if left to its own devices.
• While sitting, your arms should hang down with
  your forearms slightly angled in front of you and
  no hunching of your shoulders or twisting of your
  spine. Only your buttocks should experience
  significant pressure
• Because of the location of the mouse, repeatedly
  extending your hand can create shoulder pains as
  well. Moving the mouse to the left side reduces
  pain but is awkward positioning. There are
  devices that help with the positioning of the
  mouse, but raises the mouse which causes your
  shoulder to raise uncomfortably.

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Aches PainsMouse Alternatives

• Moving the mouse works for some but not all.
  Many users find mouse related pain relief by
  using an alternative pointing device.
• Some examples include trackballs, track pads,
  graphics tablets, keyboards with integrated
  pointers and keyboards that replace mousing with
  gestures i.e. FingerWorks iGesture pads.

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Hand Problems

• If you do use an alternative, you must pay
  attention to how your hand feels.
• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) results from
  compression of the nerve that runs through the
  carpal tunnel in your wrist.
• Over time the abused tissue swells causing pain,
  loss of grip strength and decreased ability to
  manipulate objects.
• This is one of the most common hand related
  injuries but there are many other injuries that
  mimic CTS but vary in severity.

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Hand ProblemsThe Key to the Problem

• Many hand problems arise from flexing your wrist
  too sharply outwards with your little finger
  pointing more towards you elbow than it does at
  rest.
• Bending your wrist at awkward angles compresses
  various parts of your wrist leading to CTS and
  other problems.
• Switching to natural keyboards with the split
  between the left and right columns of keys
  decreases susceptibility to pain by keeping your
  wrist straight while you type.

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Hand ProblemsKey-stroking Issues

• Laptop keyboards are ergonomic disasters. The
  keys are too close and dont travel far when
  pressed making keys bottom out which sends
  vibration jolts right up arms and put pressure on
  your joints.
• Soft touch keyboards help because they
  relatively need little pressure and help greatly
  so you dont pound the keys.
• Keyless keyboards greatly reduce stress on your
  fingers because these devices let you touch
  rather than strike the keys.

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Hand ProblemsRest your Wrist?

• Resting your palms wrist on hard surfaces
  compresses the tissues, bruising them and
  reducing circulation in your hands.
• Plastic and Gel pads feel more comfortable, but
  you are still putting pressure on your wrist.
  They give you a false sense of security because
  they feel better.
• Ideally, your hands should float above the
  keyboard because it doesnt create additional
  strain on your shoulders, arms, hands or fingers.

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Eye Strain

• Sitting in front of the computer adds stress to
  your vision. Taking frequent breaks to focus on
  moving objects or objects in the distance help
  reduce the strain.
• Placing your monitor at arms length helps so you
  dont have to squint or make your eyes bug out to
  focus on words too close
• If you wear glasses, you might want to obtain
  computer glasses that help you focus at the
  distance of your monitor. Bifocals help because
  there is a division in the lenses that allow you
  to look at your monitor and papers on your desk
  as well

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Eye Strain

• High-quality monitors are great for your vision
  because they displays are more crisp. LCD
  monitors have sharper displays that eliminate the
  strain of fuzzy lettering. LCD monitors provide
  great alternative to current CRTs.
• Flickering monitors should support at least 75 Hz
  or vertical refresh to avoid stress to your eye.
  The higher the better.

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Eye Strain

• Position monitors so they are not facing windows
  or lights. Eliminate light reflections and glare
  because they lead to squinting which fatigues
  your eyes. Adding special glare-reduction filters
  also help.
• Working in dark rooms do not help. The contrast
  from the bright monitor and dark room can also
  increase eye strain.
• Also make conscious effort to blink more to keep
  your eyes lubricant while sitting at your
  computer.

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Solutions

• See your doctor annually so they can detect
  developing problems and treat them before the
  worsen.
• Invest in good computer and workspace equipment.
• When problems do appear, stay in shape to
  strengthen the muscles that support your neck,
  arms, wrist and fingers.

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Resources

• www.healthycomputing.com
• www.fingerworks.com
• www.aoa.ogr for guidelines for safe computer
  monitors use.
• www.pcmag.com for research on computer equipment.