Home Treatment for Repetitive Stress Injury

Did you know that neck pain and lower back pain are often the result of the same underlying causes?

Of all the repetitive stress injuries, neck and back problems may be the most debilitating and despiriting. Not only do they hinder our ability to be productive at work and worry us about job security, but they make us worry about what our friends and families think of us as we slow down and lose energy for life.

Fortunately, chronic neck and back pain can often be reduced or eliminated by correctly positioning one set of joints–the hips. In order to do this, all you need is the right chair, or to make a few tweaks in the setup of your current chair.

Chair Design and How We Sit

Leading ergonomists and physical therapists agree that the standard 90 degree angle chair seat is one of the worst things to happen to human health and physical well being. Furthermore, studies by A.C. Mandal, M.D., a Copenhagen-based researcher of New Ergonomics, revealed that the common approach to fixing low back pain–lumbar support–doesn’t actually fix the root cause.

We now know that the thigh is only capable of rotating upwards about 60 degrees in the hip socket for most of us, which is well below the “thighs parallel to the ground” position advocated by the old ergonomics. When we raise our thighs the extra 30 degrees to parallel, our pelvis tilts backwards to compensate. The pelvis pointing backwards also points the natural head spine line backwards.

Try leaning your body backwards and then holding it there. Doesn’t take long to get uncomfortable and tired, does it? So we end up compensating by curling our spine into a C shape with the lower back protruding and head jutted forward, in order to maintain our balance. Both of these are unnatural positions, and voila, we wind up with neck and back pain.

The simple fix is to correct our hip angle by allowing the thighs to drop below parallel to 120 degree or a greater angle with the torso. This restores the pelvis to its natural upright position and allows us to sit effortlessly in a great posture. Restoring the pelvis to its natural position also automatically restores the curve in the lower back making lumbar support largely a non-issue. With our head-spine line now pointed vertically instead of leaning backwards, the head now easily rests atop a long, clean body line. By simply correcting our hip angle, we have now eliminated both poor body positions that create neck and back pain in one fell swoop.

How To Readjust Your Chair

First off, you need a chair that allows you to make these adjustments. Look for chairs with adjustable tilt (make sure it goes forward) and sliding seat pans. Many newer, quality chairs offer these features, but if your current chair doesn’t have them I highly recommend getting a new chair. Many people find that the Humanscale Freedom Chair personalizes to the best overall fit for their body. Kneeling chairs, though not for everyone, are also great options as they come purpose built for the correct hip angle. The best ones are made by Varier and Jobri.

[Editor's note: You can also find kneeling chairs at many thrift shops or yard sales at inexpensive prices.]

Once you have your chair, slide the seat pan back so you have a good 4 inches or more space between the edge of your chair and the back of your knees. You may need more room if you are taller. The key is to make sure that you can feel your two sit bones planted firmly on the seat, and that the seat pan is far enough back that you can feel your thighs comfortably drop.

Next, you will want to tilt your seat slightly forwards. You want to find the balance between tilting your seat enough that you feel the curve in your lower back open up and too much to the point that you slide off of your seat.

In the correct position you should feel yourself sitting effortlessly upright with a long, clean body line and your head easily balanced on top. You may also consider a monitor arm or stand to raise your screen since correcting your seated position usually increases your seated height.

Healthy Posture Increases Confidence

If you’ve made it this far, congratulations on taking your first steps on your way to stopping neck and back pain. When we start correcting the poor positions that cause us to experience pain we actually experience something more than pain relief. Good body positions re-inforce strong, confident posture, and in turn foster feelings of emotional strength and confidence.

When I first started getting into ergonomics and taking control of my personal workspace, I had a classic case of stooped “computer neck” and was well on my way to developing a fine hump. The first change I made was getting a kneeling chair. Within a couple of weeks I started to notice a huge difference. At the end of my work day I was still walking tall and proud. Not only did I not hurt, I genuinely felt more confident about myself. I wish the same for you.

Source: Brian owns and operates Body Correct Living, a specialist store for ergonomic chairs and accessories. Brian also offers ergonomics, health, and fitness tips on the Body Correct Living Blog.

Sorry I have been MIA lately: I have been out enjoying my pain-free life. I remember how devastating and debilitating it was to be in constant pain, and wondering if I would ever get free of it, or whether I would be weak and suffering forever. I guess when you’re 24, a chronic injury seems like the end of the world—luckily it’s not!

Well in the last five years, my arm strength and career have come a long way and life is beautiful again. I’m not entirely pain free, to be honest, since I did pull a calf muscle while waltzing the other night (following an overly energetic dance partner). But my chronic arm pain is long gone.

I’ll admit that I still get twinges here and there. And I’m constantly amazed by the amount of friends I have, all around my age in our twenties, who also have ongoing arm pain. Many of them are in various stages between denial, putting up with it and treating it as best they can, or physical therapy. I can understand the feeling of not knowing what to do, and combatting it whenever it flares up. But I encourage anyone out there, even if just having a small wee bit of pain and twinge of discomfort, to do whatever possible to avoid that pain when it’s not present, and reduce it when it is.

Most people know already the basic platitudes and the list of “top ten tips” for getting rid of repetitive stress injuries, which mostly boil down to a mix of ergonomics, exercise, ice, rest and breaks. I think that a strategic combination of all those is most effective. But, often times those empty lists fail because they don’t really get to the heart of what’s wrong.

Of that list, the most important is probably movement—not just exercise—but allowing your body to move naturally, change posture and position while working, and letting your body settle back into a loose position after working in a tense, cramped way for too long. Ergonomics addresses that by putting the body in a better position for movement; exercise challenges the body; rest breaks allow the body to move more naturally.  There are many other tools that can help, ranging in categories from healing techniques like chiropractics or massage, to excercise like martial arts or a gym, to preventative physical therapy and ergonomics, to restorative movement like yoga. But they are just tools.

Troubleshooting the human body isn’t like working in construction where there is a “right” tool for the job. Everyone’s body is different, and people mentally respond to activities in different ways as well. So people need to find exercise programs that motivate them, and ones that feel good, as well as challenge the body. I think that’s why I ended up getting into dance and poi spinning and enjoying self-defense classes—they aren’t just about “getting exercise,” but about learning a new skill for fun and they fulfill a social need too.

Humans are not just automated machines, designed to do a task repeatedly, then follow a regimen of exercise and healing routines. We are social creatures specially adapted to, well, adapting, and changing up our routines and skills. So, maybe the best way to heal from a chronic injury is breaking the routines that are causing pain, and trying new things. Mostly, these need to include active activities that challenge the body to move in a new way—and in doing so, move the mind.

This is a post about my struggle and healing from foot pain, which turned out to be a different kind of repetitive stress injury: posterior tibial tenosynovitis. Scroll to the bottom if you’re looking for a list of good brands for arch support and good shoes.

(Or you can read the full version for all the juicy details on the different treatments I’ve been suggested over the years.) This story starts with the question many patients have asked…How hard is it to find a doctor who actually listens?

Before I had arm pain, I had foot problems. It may have started when I walked around barefoot in my college days on the UC Santa Cruz forested campus, or maybe it was just the structure of my feet from the beginning. The area beneath my ankle bone, on the inside of my feet would swell up and ache, and the swelling would spread throughout my feet. Ow. For a long time I slept with my feet on pillows to help the swelling drain, and wondered what to do. I had a lot of health problems for a 20-year old…

I did find solutions, but it’s an ongoing process…

Over the years I talked to doctors to find out what was going on. There was a Planned Parenthood doc I saw once, when I was sans insurance. She said the foot thing could be a venous insufficiency, meaning my veins were leaking blood and not pushing the blood back to the heart properly.

So I started wearing diabetic compression stockings, to help the blood move through the legs. They helped, a little, but mostly compressed other areas of my legs rather than my feet. Strangely, they started giving me bruises, in areas where the blood was less compressed and pooling. That was…less than ideal.

The next doctor I asked just told me I ought to stretch my calves more. He was also the doctor that gave me asthma inhalers that made me stressed and nervous all the time… basically, useless advice. To be fair, there are some kinds of foot pain that result from leg tension, but my case was far beyond that.

That was about the time I was working and my arm pain was getting very bad from the repetitive stress junk. I finally quit the job that was stressing me out and causing pain, and took some time off.

Ironically the catalyst for solving my problem was a terrible acute foot injury. One night I was watching movies with some friends one night, and making tea. I had this travel mug that I’d carried everywhere (even to Germany for 8 months), and the mug’s handle had had enough. I’d just poured the tea, the handle broke off, and boiling water spilled on my socks and feet. I had blisters the size of small pancakes.

I ended up at the hospital overnight, signed up for Cobra insurance the next day, and took the next doctor they assigned me, wishing for the best. She happened to be attentive, caring, and knowledgeable. She didn’t stop with healing my blistered feet. She found inhalers that controlled my asthma, gave me the right meds for my allergies, and sent me to physical therapy for my ongoing foot pain. Basically, she restored my faith in the medical system.

Her first diagnosis was plantar fasciitis. That’s the swelling of the area on the center of the bottom of the foot just above the heel. It’s common in older people, but not younger people. My PTs didn’t think that was right, and their treatments only helped a little. So I got sent to a podiatrist.

Podiatrist dude spent half an hour watching me walk, then telling me my feet were just flexible and flattening, and the solution was arch supports. He wanted me to get custom supports, but I never followed up because the simple solution—over the counter Superfeet brand supports—started relieving the pain from day 1.

They’re relatively cheap, fit in all my sneakers and some nice shoes too, and made most of the pain disappear. However, finding supports for dressier shoes and sandals has been an ongoing issue. Over the past four years since I saw the podiatrist, I’ve visited biomechanic shops that specialize in supports, and had them sell me orthotics that hurt terribly. And I’ve purchased many shoes hoping they’ll work with my supports, only to find they don’t.

But orthotics and arch supports are becoming more popular, and more brands are available now than before. I’ve seen the drugstores like Longs and Walgreens start to sell more varieties and solutions over the past few years, and some of them help a little in dressier shoes.

Mostly I have been pain-free, but I tend to have arch pain right around my monthly period, and anytime I try to wear shoes without significant support. Lately this is a problem since I have been trying to go to dances, especially Friday Night Waltz or the Gaskell’s ball, along with a local irish Ceili dance. Nothing like 6 hours of waltzing and standing around to make your feet into balloons.

So, sitting with my feet up earlier this week, I finally dug out some old medical records. A couple years back, a cousin of mine needed my medical records and I had the docs’ offices send me a copy. So it was only incidentally I ever got a copy of my podiatrist’s report, and I was really surprised when I found that he had actually made a diagnosis instead of merely suggesting arch supports.

I’m sure he didn’t share the diagnosis with me because he didn’t think it would help much, but being me, I like to know these things. So the verdict is something called Posterior Tibial Tenosynovitis, and apparently I tend to walk in a way that leaves my feet shuffling out and pronated, because I have flexible flat feet. All this seems to mean from the consumer perspective is that it’s mechanical support I need, rather than any medications.

Below I’m going to share my list of helpful foot and arch support brands, for anyone else looking for solutions.

I’ve also looked into making my own, and found one potentially useful web site that describes how to do so by making a cast of your foot with cheap sculptural supplies. Another web site I saw suggested using Sculpey, the clay material you can harden by baking it in an oven, but I suspect that would get brittle and fall apart too quickly.

So here is my list of helpful brands…

Sneakers–New Balance supposedly has some models very good for flat feet
Nicer shoes – Ecco, Dansko, Clarks
For higher arch support, I’ve found a couple Dansko models work but mostly those brands don’t give enough support for me.

For better support, I’ve had luck with Finn Comfort for high-quality casual sandals, and Naot for some VERY comfy, and nicer sandals. They aren’t cheap, but it’s worthwhile.

I recently found a local store in Berkeley that has other good brands. I suspect the key is shopping around to find those stores that have really supportive shoes, and trying on new styles regularly, until I can find the ones that are both cute and comfy. It’s rare, but I’m beginning to suspect it’s not as impossible as I once thought. Hurray!

Now if I can just find good dance shoes with arch supports I will be a happy camper…or dancer, really.

Apple just introduced a wired, compact keyboard that gets rid of the number keypad on the right, making it more ergonomic for users. From my perspective it’s a great step, but not everyone agrees — some rely heavily on those number pads and don’t want to be without one.

The new compact keyboard certainly isn’t Apple’s first attempt toward ergonomics. Early in the 1990s, Apple had an adjustable and compact keyboard (pics here). The early model split in the middle to match the natural spread of a typist’s hands, and didn’t have a side number pad. It wasn’t received well by users, however, in part because it apparently wasn’t durable. Or as Macworld put it, “the most comfortable position for the Apple Adjustable Keyboard was as far away from the user as possible, dooming Apple’s ergonomic wonder to obscurity.”

A while back Apple reintroduced another compact keyboard, but as a wireless keyboard it’s a bit pricier than the new, wired version. The wireless version costs $79, while the new wired version is a good bit less at $49, the same price as the regular number-pad-included keyboard. Check out the Apple store to see them both.

Both keyboards appear similar to other compacts on the market, which range widely in price. For example, you can check out some in our store here for comparison, ranging from off-brand styles at $12, to recognized brand names that come with separate keypads and other features at $82 to $129, like this Kensington one.

Even though lots of third-party options are available, it’s nice to see Apple stepping up in its own style to meet the ergonomic needs of users. It’s funny, too, to compare the Apple compact keyboard to Microsoft’s ergonomic, split keyboard. Apple’s is scaled-back, simplistic, and cut down on features, while Microsoft has extra buttons falling off the edges, and a very wide footprint. The different keyboards really illustrate the two very different company’s overall styles.

Being small myself, and a Mac user anyhow, I happen to like Apple’s compact idea better.

At its best, massage can do much more than feel good–it can lead to healing, increasing circulation, lifting your energy, breaking up scar tissue, and making you healthier overall.  

Before you find a therapist, research the styles they perform and decide which is right for you.  Since everyone has different levels of comfort in relation to touch and the spiritual aspects of massage, it’s important to find a therapist that matches your style.  

There was a time I wanted to study and practice massage–before I developed injuries in my arms.  For now, I’ll be content with sharing my knowledge of the different styles with you.  These are some of the varying styles of massage you’re likely to find at a local spa or studio–the list goes on, but many techniques are new, and more are constantly being developed.  

The list is organized by types, with the names of each style listed beneath:

Massage

These techniques focus on releasing tension in the muscles through rubbing, kneading, and pressing.

• Sports Massage–Focuses on helping people stay athletic, and easing injuries.  Sports massage can be used to help any muscle injury and break up scar tissue.
• Swedish- Swedish techniques include various types of rubbing and massage on the muscles, from light strokes to deep tissue massage, kneading, and vibrating the muscles.  It’s the foundation for many kinds of Western massage, including “deep tissue” and sports massage.  Swedish therapists usually use warm oils to aid in massage.
• Deep Tissue– Really, this is just a variant of Swedish.

Chinese Medicine and Trigger Points

Ancient Chinese medicine and contemporary Western medicine share a similar belief in the power of trigger points in relieving pain.  The Chinese have practiced acupuncture for thousands of years; and western doctors just discovered in the mid-1900s, so expect different approaches depending whom you see.

• Acupuncture–Acupuncturists use needles to release different trigger points throughout the body.  In ancient China, this was a technique used by the rich who could afford to pay experts.  These practitioners often also prescribe herbal or homeopathic remedies or provide other knowledge as well as practicing acupuncture.
• Acupressure–This is the hands-on, needle-free version of acupuncture.  The therapist presses on different trigger point combinations to release the tension.  The technique was practiced in ancient China by the poorer people, who could treat themselves and their families without hiring expensive doctors.
• Trigger Point Therapy–The Western version.  Trigger points are areas in the body where tension is pulling on and affecting other areas; that is, pain somewhere in the body is caused by a trigger point of tension somewhere else.  Trigger points are often caused by muscles that have contracted in one area, and stretched out and painful in another.  Trigger point therapists press the trigger point areas, much like in acupressure, to release the tension.
• Reflexology- Focuses on trigger points in the hands and feet, that affect different organs and areas of the body.  
• Active Release Technique–Also a very new discipline, one that combines trigger point therapy with active stretches.  The practitioner presses on trigger points, while directing the patient to stretch in a certain way to release the tension.  
• Shiatsu–Like acupressure, but involving massage as well as pressure on the trigger points.

Energy Work

• Reiki– Somewhat more mystical-seeming than the other techniques, reiki essentially attempts to perform healing from a simple “laying on of hands” approach, in which the therapist concentrates energy mentally into different areas of the body.  It’s widely accepted, though not necessarily right for the skeptic. (I say this having taken a workshop in reiki and not being sure it did anything for me.)
• Polarity–Another energy-based approach that focuses on laying on of hands in different electromagnetic poles of energy in the body.  It claims to blend a scientific and spiritual approach.
• Esalen Massage — This technique combines Swedish techniques with energy work, and the founders claim that the therapist and patient need a strong connection for it to be effective.

Alignment Work

• Chiropractics–While not exactly “massage,” chiropractic work often attempts to do some of the same things as massage but with a very different paradigm–examining the skeletal alignment and twisting it back into place, rather than balancing tension in the muscles.
• Rolfing–A very new form that involves some common massage techniques and moving the muscles back into alignment, said to be very intense and often painful.

For more detailed information, you can do a google search on any of the above or check out this list. from massagetherapy101.com.

Check these out…I love, love, love these crafty hand-made wrist rests on Etsy.  Some of them double as hot/cold packs so they’re therapeutic too.  Many have fun fabrics, some smell like mint or lavender.  A great way to make your computer station feel comfortable and relaxing, then ease your neck or wrist pain at the end of the day.  And a great way to support crafters trying to make a living doing something they love.

Finding these reminded me that years ago, I tried to sew a neck wrap too.  It didn’t work out –it was too big and heavy–so I cut it up, and I ended up with a long rectangle of fabric filled with rice and lavender… This part was too small for a neck wrap, but it turns out to be a perfect wrist rest!  I’m very excited to find a new use for it, so I thought I’d share the new look on my keyboard tray:

As you can see, these days I’m using a standard keyboard and Logitech marble mouse…and now this pretty wrist rest.  I also adore this cotton print fabric that has pictures and names of english herbs and flowers on them.

I might have to start making a few extra wrist rests and neck wraps, and selling on etsy too, just for fun … stay tuned!

I recently began taking a self-defense class. It’s a positive step, but probably would have been much more empowering when I was younger.

Today I feel mostly like an empowered human being, except for the fact I’m physically small and weak compared to most other people. Being 5′ tall, relatively petite and female, I’ve taken a lot of shit from people over the years, and was even once attacked by a clerk at a gas station in a dispute over a routine smog check. Ironically this was in the suburbs in Campbell, and in the crime-ridden city I now live in, I’ve only met friendly and helpful people.

At the time of the attack, my emotions made it harder to take action, to get myself to a self-defense class or even hire a lawyer. I was outraged, terrified, and felt helpless. At the time I didn’t even sue my attacker because the whole situation upset me so much that I just wanted to get away from it and the risk involved. I dropped the issue and took the route of least resistance (escape and avoidance), but maybe it wasn’t the healthiest response.

But today I’m ready to stop taking crap from anyone and step up to the plate, get empowered and do what I need to do to stay safe and happy. Some of my change in attitude comes from being an adult, going through the daily steps of living alone and taking care of myself–making that routine– and also from being less emotional about whatever may come my way in general. If I’d gone to self defense right after the attack, that event would have been my motivator; now I come at the lessons with no ulterior motive or message in mind, just a desire to grow.

I didn’t expect any work-related or health-related epiphanies out of taking a 4-week basic self-defense class, but it is taught by a martial arts instructor (of jujitsu), so there is a certain amount of philosophy about fear vs. empowerment involved. His goal is to make us feel that we don’t have to be afraid, or stressed out about any danger involved.  Instead, we have to be prepared to assess the situation and do something–anything–to stay safe.

This comes in three steps all bundled into one handy clever phrase:

Awareness — Assessment — Action

This isn’t just a martial arts lesson though — these steps can be applied to everything in life, from getting fit, to doing a job, to just staying healthy. After thinking about each step, I also realized it’s important to learn how to keep these three steps in balance.

For example, someone like me who is worried about always having enough information and the right resources before doing anything will hesitate before taking action. This can lead to not doing a job quickly enough, or not doing something in time to solve a problem. It can lead to reluctance, shyness, and procrastination, all of which I suffer from.

On the other hand, someone opposite of me who skips the middle step will be impulsive and may not gather enough information about a situation to take the right action. He could make a bad situation even worse, or just make himself (or herself) look bad.

So, following this model relies on both decent amounts of information and decent amounts of instinct. In the end, the goal is to stay aware of our surroundings, gather the information we need and think about a strategy for action, and then trust ourselves and make a move. If it’s the wrong move, why then, try again.

Self-defense in itself — the art of physically reacting to danger — is also a good model for learning to cope with other, mental challenges in life. In a physically dangerous situation, you have to react quickly, using part instinct and part knowledge to get it done. We are physical creatures before we are mental creatures. Yet so many aspects of our lives rely on mental acumen and activity, that sometimes we lose sight of our physical needs or limitations.

My point is that the key to reacting to stress, staying healthy and managing your life is to find a balance, and to follow these three steps: to balance awareness, assessment and action. To balance the mental and physical. And to balance the physical versus the emotional responses that we have.

Applied to computer-related injuries, here’s what we can do:

• Awareness - Staying aware of our bodies even while we’re doing primarily mental tasks. Recognize what causes problems and what relieves the problems.
• Assessment — Researching and learn more about our bodies, and the causes and treatments for any discomfort or pain.
• Action — Treating and healing pain or discomfort. This can mean finding a new ergonomic mouse, or starting a regular fitness regimen, or seeking a doctor’s treatment.  Then, after the pain stops, it’s time for health maintenance — taking steps to restore fitness, health, and happiness.

The other night in class, as we were learning different methods for kicking attackers, I asked: “What do you do if you hit or kick someone and it doesn’t work?”

The answer was, “Kick or hit them again. Keep yelling. Do what you can.”

The same answer applies to stress, health and fitness. If one thing doesn’t work, keep trying, or try something different. You can always start the process over — go back to assessing the situation, and taking a different action. In reality, the three steps often go hand in hand, since situations are constantly fluid and changing.  

Your body and health are in your hands.  So do what you need to do, and take good care of them.

This has nothing to do with repetitive stress injuries but about the way I’ve been writing this blog. Just some thoughts.

I’ve always written this blog with the assumption that it was more important to think about my audience than myself. I’ve had experience with repetitive stress injuries, chronic pain, and health problems that were related, but I never wanted to belabor my own injuries and feelings about them. It never seemed relevant to other people’s experience or lives. I don’t want to bore anyone or be self-involved.

What helped me heal weren’t stories, but facts about injuries, causes and treatments. So when friends and others have come to me for suggestions, that’s what I wanted to provide. I wanted people to have a place to go to find information and resources, to help empower them to take control of their own health and healing. But, even though I know lots of people with RSI’s, most of the people who visit this blog come from search engines, probably looking up an answer to a specific question on their minds.

Early in my career I learned the power of the word “you” — according to marketing studies, reading an article that addresses “you” often raises temperature and heart rate, meaning that an audience becomes more attentive and engaged when they’re addressed directly. A study from Stanford put it at the top of the list for the top 10 most effective words used in marketing. But do you really become more attentive and more interested, when I talk to you? Or do you just think I’m doing marketing speak and trying to sell something?

Another thing I realized early on was that writing in a conversational voice was difficult for me. I graduated with a degree in Literature and minor in Social Psych, where I earned a tendency to write about theory and scientific studies, and in the most convoluted ways possible. I liked using high-level vocabulary and complex sentence structures, adding a zillion clauses to interrupt each sentence. My background writing poetry also inclined me to write metaphorically or artistically, rather than directly and in a forthright way. In short, my prose was a mess.

So I’ve tried throughout my years of writing to make my style more accessible. Writing in the second person, the “you” voice, made that a little easier. But looking back, and reading many other successful blogs, I’ve often wondered whether that is the right choice in this context, eg. if that’s the voice I should be using for this blog.

Although I know a lot about the subject of chronic pain, ergonomics and repetitive strain injuries, I’m not an expert or authority in that I have no medical or health degrees or certifications. So, am I qualified to write in authoritative or commanding voice? Since I’m more of a patient than an expert, would people be more interested or inclined to listen if my voice was more personal–less of the “you should” and more of the “I found it helpful to…” or “it may be helpful”? And if so, how to in an objective or personal voice, without boring the audience?

These are some of the questions I have been considering for this blog. Since it’s mostly a one-girl show, I thought I would toss these ideas up on the net and see if any regular readers or passers-by had any input on the question of style.

So, I am asking your opinions.
When you’re reading a blog online, especially one that gives health info, would you rather it be written objectively or more personally? What influence does the style and voice have on your trust for the blog, and how it influences your behavior?

And then: what do you think of this blog and the style it’s written in?

For many office workers, pain from too much typing is all the only kind of personal injury they worry about when they step in the office first thing in the morning.  But a whole other range of hazards can exist in the workplace, ranging from bad ventilation, to falling objects and wires you can trip over.

To stay healthy on the job, keep an eye out for these hazards, and learn how to prevent injuries to yourself and coworkers.

Environmental Hazard and Safety has a list of some equipment and supplies that can help.

Also, stay aware of the hazards unique to your office.  If you see something dangerous, talk to your manager, your facilities department or human resources right away.

According to one report, 10-20% of computer users report that using the mouse causes them pain. However, there’s no specific type of mouse that’s bad or dangerous, just as there’s no “ergonomic” alternative that can solve the problem for everyone.

The same is true for keyboards, chairs and every other piece of computer equipment available. People are built differently and use equipment differently, so we develop problems differently. There’s no sure or easy fix. Instead, users need to choose products that fit their body size and their workstation.

To help out with this, we have recently updated our Comprehensive Product Guides. These list all the types of mice and keyboards on the market today, from the standard computer-store varieties to the daring and strange options available primarily online. We have links to the RSIHealer store as well as to third party vendors, showing both pictures and specs. Our goal isn’t to hawk products, just to help people make the most informed choices.

So, take a look at the Guides to learn more about the keyboards and mice available out there:

• Guide to Ergonomic Keyboards
• Guide to Ergonomic Mice
• Guide to Alternatives to Mice (Alternative Pointing Devices)

Soon to come — Guides for Alternative Chairs, Therapeutic Supplies and More.  

Are there any other guides that would you like to see?  Make a suggestion in the comments.