COMPUTERCIDE: IS YOUR PC KILLING YOU?

Ergonomics Expert Prescribes 10 Steps to Halt Computer Trauma

NEW YORK, March 10, 1994 -- Is your computer killing you? According to
Charles Pappas, president of the New York-based ergonomics consulting firm
ErgoCommunications, anyone who uses a computer for any length of time runs
the risk of injury.

"How bad is it, really?" asks Pappas. "Computer-related injuries are going
to be the cholesterol, asbestos and Agent Orange of the next 20 years. In
1992 alone, 282,000 people reported Cumulative Trauma Disorders (CTDs)--an
umbrella term for the injuries you get when you use equipment over and
over and over again. The toll is staggering: 14-18 million people now
suffer from CTDs. By the year 2000 perhaps one-half of all business
medical costs will go for CTDs."

How does this situation occur? "It happens silently, quietly and, in the
worst cases, permanently," says Pappas. "It may be the electromagnetic
emissions, or the poor lighting. It may be a Cumulative Trauma Disorder,
like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, or the dust collecting on the monitor screen
and drying out your eyes. It may be neck or lower back injuries from
sitting in a chair without back support, or the loss of feeling in your
hand from clutching a mouse too long. It may be losing the ability to
distinguish colors from staring at a monitor too long. Or it may be just
be the stress of having to work on a computer, period."

How can one prevent computer-related injury? Pappas recommends a ten-step
regimen which is quick, easy and inexpensive to follow.

1) Sit 20-24 Inches Away From Your Monitor. Although the effects of
radiation have been debated back and forth, ask yourself, in the last 30
years how often have environmentalists' alarms been completely wrong? Not
that many. At a distance of 20-24 inches from your monitor, you receive
only about one milligauss of magnetic emissions, far less than the seven
to ten you're blasted with by your hairdryer.

2) Wipe Your Monitor. Monitors are dust magnets. If you lean in too close
to the screen, the dust will get in your eyes and dry them out. Give the
screen a good swipe every day before you start computing.

3) Blink. That's right, blink. When you stare at a computer all day your
blink rate slows drastically, which also dries out your eyes and helps
wear them out.

4) Look Away. Every 10 or 20 minutes look away at something in the
distance. Let your eyes relax and slide over it. Move your eyes up and
down, left and right. Too much staring at a monitor can cause blurred
vision, double vision, and even something known as the McCulloch
afterimage, a temporary loss of your eyes' ability to perceive color.

5) Guard Your Wrists. Using a keyboard is about as healthy as smashing your
wrists with a hammer. Wear a wrist guard, not a wrist splint, since they
don't allow you enough flexibility. They're cheap, comfortable, and come
in a variety of colors. A wrist guard protects against the three bogeymen
of keyboards: Ulnar deviation, pronation, and extension, all of which
contort your wrists like a medieval torturer.

6) Stay Flat. When you work at a keyboard, chances are your wrists and arms
sometime hang down over the edge of the surface you're working on. Stop
that right now. Set up your desk and equipment so that your hand and
wrists can stay flat on its surface and parallel to the ground.

7) Break Away. Not only did the Japanese make better cars than we did for a
long time, they were ahead of us when it came to limits on long we should
pound on a keyboard. They think no one should spend longer than a grand
total of 300 minutes a day on a keyboard, and no more than 60 minutes at a
time. Make your keyboard breaks coincide with your monitor breaks--every
10 or 20 minutes. If your boss is a holdover from the Triangle Shirtwaist
Factory era, point out to him or her that studies show people who take
these breaks maintain their peak performance longer.

8) Keep In Touch. Be sure everything you normally use in a day at the
computer is easily within your reach. If you're straining to get at them,
you're doing something wrong.

9) Sit Up Straight. Your mother was right. Good posture is important. Don't
lean forward. Exerts may not be able to give us one chair that fits us
all, but we can go a long way toward good back health by not looking like
a < when we sit. Shift your position every now and then. If your lower
back region ails you, get a back rest that supports the lumbar region.

10) See The Doctor...Now. If you have pains of any sort you think may be
caused by computing, see a physician. Don't fool yourself by thinking,
It'll get better if I just ignore it. It probably won't.

For more Information, contact Charles Pappas at ErgoCommunications, 516
East 79th Street, Suite 4F, New York, NY 10012; telephone 212-535-0344.

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