It’s a strange and extremely dangerous world we technology lovers and gadget nerds live in nowadays. With our laptops, blackberry phones, iPads, keyboards and LCD screens we’ve created a veritable minefield of danger and stand exposed to just as much chance of injury as a football star or ace atheletes. Wondering what we’re going on about?
What is common between an athlete, a computer engineer, a gamer and you texting all day long? It is a varied activity group to relate to, but actually they all are at a greater risk of sustaining a Repetitive Strain Injury. An injury caused to muscle, tissues, joints, bones and nervous systems, due to repetitive tasks, forceful exertions, vibrations, pressing against hard surfaces, or awkward positions for a long time.
Also known as Repetitive Motion Disorder (RMD), Cumulative Trauma Disorder (CT), Occupational Overuse Syndrome, Overuse Syndrome and Regional Musculoskeletal Disorder, it is an umbrella term, encompassing various joint disorders. A simple routine task of sitting on a computer, could lead of back pain or arm pain. Using a blunt knife for cutting vegetables, everyday could lead to wrist injury; similar to incorrect use of the computer mouse.
What can cause it?
Ever expected activities like this to be injurious? Well…they can be especially when you’re not aware they can cause bodily harm. Surprising but true, other similar activities that fall under this category and you should be aware of are:
Reading books while looking down
Carrying heavy school/laptop bags
Cradling one’s phone between neck and shoulder
Watching TV in incorrect position e.g. Too much to the left/right
Sleeping while watching TV
Sleeping with head forward, while traveling
Excessive awkward use of the hands, wrists, back, neck, etc
Stress injuries you should know about
Some examples of a stress injury are listed below. Various incorrect habits, postures, actions lead to different effects on our muscle and skeleton system.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: Carpel tunnel is a ligament in the wrist. Incorrect use of the wrist in daily chores, could lead to pain and numbness, especially in the thumb and first two fingers, indicative of Carpel Tunnel Syndrome.
Tendonitis: Irritation or inflammation of a tendon, leading to extreme pain and stiffness of the area, followed by a burning sensation and general loss of motion. Tendons are the connective tissues that joint a muscle to a bone, and help giving force to a body action. Unlike Carpel Tunnel Syndrome, it is not localized on a specific area.
Tennis Elbow: It is a degenerative process of the tendons of the elbow, due to inability of the microscopic wear and tear to heal themselves. Most common in people doing excessive manual labour and athletes, the symptoms range from pain in the elbow, radiating down to the forearm to swelling and inability to move or use the elbow.
Trigger Finger: It’s a condition, where the tendon movement in the hand is not smooth, hence while opening a fist, a finger might not completely straighten out. It could happen in 1 or many fingers at different times, though corrective surgery is the most widespread cure for this.
Blackberry Thumb: The youngest of all the syndromes, due to the advent of modern PDA devices and gamer consoles. Major symptoms are throbbing pain in the thumb, fingers and wrist due to excessive use of the thumb on a PDA. Corrective surgery is available, but experts advise to drastically reduce the use of a mobile device for better healing.
Another most common reason is incorrect sitting posture at work, a leading cause of back pain amongst the people between the ages of 19-45. Here is an indicative of correct posture, one should try to adapt, at all times, to help reducing any stress injuries to the body.
Solutions
Precaution is always the best solution. Maintain a good posture. There are various adaptive hardware like special keyboards, mouse replacements to pen tablet interfaces available, to ease the stress on hand and arms. Also, external braces and medication are some other cure suggested by experts, to recover from such injuries.
Let’s accept the fact, that body is a machine and wear and tear is a part of it. Correct posture, timely exercise and proper diet can help us running it smoothly for a longer time.