Essential Ergonomics for Computer Engineers

Name : Venkatesan .M.CReg no : 10109205045B. Tech IT, III yr,Aalim Muhammed Salegh College of Engineering.

Introduction:

Ergonomics is the scientific study of human work conditions, especially the interaction between man and machine. Ergonomics is a term taken from the Greek work "ergon," meaning work, and "nomos," meaning natural laws. The goal of ergonomics is to make work more comfortable and to improve both health and productivity. It is an interdisciplinary science of designing the job, products, and place to fit the worker. Psychology, industrial engineering, computer science, biomechanics, and safety engineering all play a role in ergonomics.

The objectives of Ergonomics are shared by Engineering Psychology, which are to optimize the effectiveness and efficiency with which human activities are conducted as well as to improve the general quality of life through "increased safety, reduced fatigue and stress, increased comfort and satisfaction.". Biometrics and Anthropometrics play a key role in this use of the word Ergonomics. Engineering Psychology often has a specialty dealing with Workplace or Occupational Ergonomics.

Most people often think that computer professionals are less prone to health disease since they are bound to their chairs, but its wrong. In reality, computer professionals are exposed to elevated health hazards. Computer professionals need to sit in front of their computers for long time to gain a better knowledge about them and to use it productively. The computer engineers especially need to master their machine, on the other hand their counterpart the machine itself is vulnerable to failure and requires delicate implementation and maintenance routines.

If you don't pay attention to ergonomics, the activities you do may, over time, lead to a musculoskeletal disorder. This group of physical problems usually affects soft tissues (muscles, tendons, and nerves) and joints. Although MSDs most frequently affect the back and wrists, your whole body is actually at risk. MSDs can damage fingers, elbows, and shoulders, as well as the neck and arms, and even the legs. Left untreated, an MSD may limit your range of motion or reduce your ability to grip objects.

Repetitive Strain Injury :

Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) is the general word that is used to describe the prolonged pain experienced in shoulders or hands or neck or arms. Repetitive Strain Injury is the common word used for referring the types of soft tissue injuries like the nerve spasms, trigger finger and carpal tunnel syndrome.

Muscle Tension + Incorrect Posture + Repetitive Motion + Over-Use = RSI

The term Repetitive Strain Injury is generally used to describe the overused syndrome associated with particular repetitive activity. They are generally caused by the work-associated activities such as using computer keyboards and mouse. The term includes a group of disorders that most commonly develop in workers using excessive and repetitive motions of the head and neck extremity.

RSI occurs when the movable parts of the limbs are injured. Repetitive Strain Injury usually caused due to repetitive tasks, incorrect posture, stress and bad ergonomics. Repetitive Strain Injury generally causes numbness, tingling, weakness, stiffing, and swelling and even nerve damage. The chief complaint is the constant pain in the upper limbs, neck, shoulder and back.

The main cause of this main are the repetitive activities, forceful activities of arms and hand and awkward postures. The other causes of Repetitive Strain Injuries are sitting in a fixed posture and poor working ergonomics.

The Repetitive Stress Injury generally effects the group of workers who generally use excessive and repetitive motion of the neck and head are at high risk. The work pattern of computer professionals carries a lot of orthopedic disorders. For the people who work on computer for more than few hours a day, who use musical instruments and who work in production line are at risk of Repetitive Strain Injury.

The Repetitive Stress Injury is not a life threatening injury for it can cause pain and disability. The Repetitive Strain Injury is the most worse as it may lead to permanent incapacity. As Repetitive Strain Injury recovery is being a slow process, it is better to take treatment at early stage itself.

Repetitive Strain Injury -Symptoms: 1. The users experience constant pain in the hands, elbows, shoulders, neck,

and the back. Other symptoms of Repetitive Stain Injury are cramps, tingling, and numbness in the hands. The hand movements of the user

may become clumsy and the person may find it difficult even to fasten buttons.

2. Another variant of Repetitive Strain Injury is that, it may produce painful symptoms in the upper limbs, but the site may be difficult to locate.

3. The common diagnoses seen in RSI are Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Tenosynovitis, Bursitis, White Limb, and Shoulder pain. A major cause is due to long unbroken periods of work. Ergonomics or the lack of it plays a very important role. Lack of information about the condition leads to neglect by the concerned individuals.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a compression of the median nerve in the wrist. Symptoms include pain and numbness in the hand (especially at night), clumsiness, paresthesia (pins and needles), and trophic changes (such as muscle wasting). In a true CTS, these are felt where the median nerve goes: the palm side of the index and middle fingers and part of the thumb and ring finger. Conservative treatment without surgical intervention will usually give relief, especially if done early after onset.

Similar symptoms can also be due to nerve compression in the neck, shoulder or arm from such things as tight neck or shoulder muscles (ie: thoracic outlet syndrome or pectoral muscle contracture) or poor neck mechanics to name a few. These other problems are often mis-diagnosed as CTS. To help see if you have a true carpal tunnel syndrome or not, use Phalen's test.

Phalen's Test

Place the backs of both of your hands together and hold the wrists in forced flexion for a full minute. (Stop at once if sharp pain occurs) . If this produces numbness or "pins and needles" along the thumb side half of the hand, you most likely have Median nerve entrapment (Carpal Tunnel Syndrome). Examination by a health care professional familiar with these conditions is the way to be sure of the diagnosis and get proper treatment.

Treatment

Effective conservative treatment of CTS should include:• Chiropractic manipulation of the wrist, forearm and hand• Ice massage (10 to 12 minutes) several times a day• minimizing any irritating activities• wrist strengthening exercises• wrist stretching exercises• possible use of wrist brace or splint while sleeping• applying sound ergonomic principles

Eyestrain:Eyestrain is a symptom that manifests when we exploit our eyes over an

extended period of time, through activities such as reading or viewing an electronically-lit screen. It includes the following

• Pain, dryness or redness around the eyes• Fatigue • Sensitivity to light • Headache • Difficulty in performing visual tasks • Blurred vision, Double vision

Work in spurts: The computer is built for nonstop work — but we aren’t a machine. We

have to take regular breaks to recharge, and so do our eyes. The twenty-twenty rule is easy to remember: every twenty minutes take a twenty sec break. That is pull out the eyes away from the computer and stare off into space or an object that’s approximately 20 feet away from you. In an office, take frequent but brief trips to the water water cooler or restroom to give our eyes a break. In restroom, don’t look directly at the fluorescent lights overhead because it will only cause more strain.

Enlarge text: Our eyes have to strain to read small text, so keep text large to give your

eyes a break. Always magnify to a size that feels comfortable. Print out large documents and read it at your own pace and in the right lighting.

Re-position your monitor: When we stare at computer monitor, we naturally blink less often. So our

eyes don’t get naturally lubricated as often. This leads to eye dryness and redness. To reduce this effect, position the monitor below eye-level. By this, eyes won’t have to strain in order to see. Even if our monitor settings are set for optimal usage, light from the surrounding can irritate the eyes. Consider using an anti-glare screen if necessary. And position desk lights at an angle from behind.

Eyes wide shut. Our best advice to people who work at computers all day is to close your

eyes often--that is, blink a lot! Dry eyes can make you feel tired, and blinking keeps them lubricated and moist. If blinking alone doesn't help, use eye drops for additional moisture.

Relax: Work is important, but you need to be relaxed enough so that tension and

stress don’t get in the way. Take frequent short breaks during the day, and longer breaks one to two times a day so that you can get your mind off work. Walks are good because give you exercise, fresh air, and help you look off into farther distances.At your desk you can do neck rolls, shoulder shrugs and arm swings to stretch out your neck and shoulders. Rub your temples to release any head tension. Give your eyes periods of darkness for rest, by closing your eyes or cupping your palms over your eyes (preferably in a quiet environment).

Neck and shoulder basics• Glare spots reflected off the screen or direct light shining in your eyes can

cause you to bend or lean in weird positions. This increases neck tension. • If your documents are flat on the desk and to the side of the keyboard you

are bending and twisting the neck. Think drafting table; place your documents up on an angle to straighten the neck, place them near the monitor to limit twisting.

• Reaching to the mouse, keyboard, or other supplies can cause strain. Working with the arm extended and unsupported can increases shoulder

strain as much as 7 to 10 times. Place frequently-used items closer or find a place to support the arm.

• If your Keyboard is too high you are probably working with tense shrugged shoulders. We recommend placing the keyboard relatively low, near your resting elbow height.

• Elbows winged out to the side to reach for the arm rests? This can cause considerable strain to the shoulder muscles. See if the armrests can be adjusted in closer, or try working without using the armrests. Moving the arm out to use the mouse can over-work the small rotator cuff muscle in the upper shoulder blade. Consider a narrower keyboard or keyboard without a number pad to allow closer mouse placement, or a central pointing device.

Some Posture Guidelines• Let your shoulders relax. • Let your elbows swing free. • Keep your wrists straight. • Pull your chin in to look down - don't flop your head forward. • Keep the hollow in the base of your spine. • Try leaning back in the chair. • Don't slouch or slump forward. • Alter your posture from time to time. • Every 20 minutes, get up and bend your spine backward.

• For reducing inflammation and pain: Try ice or a package of frozen vegetables (like peas) on the affected area.

• Thighs and feet should rest parallel to the floor. If you can't adjust your seat, use a special footrest with a nonslip surface. And clean up that mess: Make sure your have room under your desk to stretch your legs.