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Ergonomics
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HELP!
My {wrist/thumb/arm/neck/back...}
hurts!
The UW Department of
Environmental Health and Safety has a web site at
http://www.ehs.washington.edu/ohsergo/ with some useful information.
General Advice
While it's difficult to offer much in the way of general advice --
and we are certainly not trained professionals in this area -- here
are a few tips (many shamelessly stolen from a nice page of
RSI Information that Cassidy Curtis put together while he was
teaching 458 a few years back) ...
- Act quickly. If you are experiencing any pain that seems
to be related to working at a desk or computer, you should
immediately seek advice from your doctor or a
professional trained in diagnosing and treating these types of
problems. The sooner you correct any problems, the better
chance you'll have of avoiding serious injury. It's very hard
to come back, once you've pushed yourself too far.
- Maintain good posture. Consult the references below for
pictures and descriptions of good typing posture.
- Stretch and exercise your fingers, wrists, arms,
shoulders, and back. Do this as often as humanly possible.
Again, see the references for exercises and stretches to try.
- Take frequent breaks. Every five minutes, look away from
the screen, take your hands off the keyboard, and stretch or
just relax for a moment. Every twenty minutes or so, get up and
walk around.
- Don't work through pain. If you do something that causes
pain, just stop what you're doing, and don't start again until
the pain is gone. If this happens so often that you are not
getting your work done, take time off and go see a doctor
immediately. Pain is one of the later signs of RSI,
which means that some damage has already been done.
- Waste no effort. It's amazing how much energy you can
spend scrolling up and down to read a document. Be creative--
try to minimize the amount of typing and mousing you need to do
to accomplish a task. You could even print out a hard copy and
read that instead.
- Reduce stress. RSI is all about having too much strain on
a particular muscle or tendon. Reducing your overall stress
level can literally reduce the strain on every part of your
body.
- Be patient. RSI is usually the result of years of
constant abuse, and it does not go away overnight. It can take
many months to recover from such damage. Be persistent, and
give your treatment time to work.
- Educate yourself about this very complex topic. This is
probably the most important thing you can do. The EH&S
class is a good place to start. The web is also a tremendous
source of information on the topic.
Starting Your Quest for Relief
There are, of course, many, many resources available on the web. Here
are just a few to get you started...
Simple Steps
There are number of very simple things you can do to adjust your
environment. But be very careful about opting for fancy
hardware; some may be helpful, but many devices can be very harmful.
- Use a wrist rest. Your wrists should "drape" slightly, not bend
upwards.
- Remember to take frequent breaks; stretch; take a short walk.
Please don't delay! These problems are
MUCH easier to deal with early!
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Computer Science & Engineering
University of Washington
Box 352350
Seattle, WA 98195-2350
(206) 543-1695 voice, (206) 543-2969 FAX
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