Work that requires people to either hold prolonged fixed positions (computer worker) or awkward, stressful positions (auto mechanics) can generate a significant amount of biomechanical stress in the joints and soft tissues of the upper extremities. Postural stress usually results from overloading specific muscle groups, from uneven weight bearing stress of joints or from assuming positions that require prolonged muscular contractions to hold a joint or joints still over a long period of time.

Exerting muscular force without adequate recovery time is another major contributor to the development of cumulative stress injuries. Some types of work require prolonged contraction of certain muscle groups, which reduces blood flow resulting in fatigue. Muscles do not work efficiently under these conditions and without adequate recovery time will result in injury and possibly long term disability.

Highly repetitious movements of specific joints also contribute to cumulative stress syndrome. High frequency movements demand faster and stronger contractions of the muscles. Joints and muscles that are required to work in these conditions require more recovery time. Without adequate recovery time injury of the joints, muscles and tendons can occur.

All of the factors listed above should be taken into consideration when designing or evaluating an existing work area and / or work duties.

One of the best things that you can do to combat cumulative stress is taking frequent breaks, rotating job duties and getting much needed rest. All of these simple safe guards will help in keeping you healthier and more productive through the course of your work life.

Here’s To Your Health

Dr. Jones
(619) 280-0554 San Diego
Economical Adjustable Mouse Platform

San Diego Chiropractic

Pain Relief San Diego Chiropractor

Ergonomic Forum Ergonomic Mouse Pad

I invented and manufacture a product called the Ergo Nav. It is a chair mounted ergonomic mouse platform that is intended to keep you from having to lurch over your desk to reach your mouse. I will be the first to tell you that buying my product will only provide minimal benefit if you don’t also have your keyboard situation sorted out, or if your monitor is not positioned correctly or if your chair does not properly support your back.

Most of our issues with ergonomics involve poor posture. Poor posture is a learned behavior that can and does affect us regardless of whether or not our work stations are riddled with the latest ergonomic contraptions. That being said, when ergonomic devices are present, they can help us better control our posture by not forcing us into posturally stressful positions.

For example, my Ergo Nav positions your mouse relatively close to your body which makes leaning forward for your mouse unnecessary. However, without being consciously aware of your posture, even with my Ergo Nav properly attached, you can still work with a slumped posture or if your monitor is not positioned correctly you can expose your neck to loads of postural stress.

My point is this. Ergonomic things won’t eliminate postural stress on their own. Reduction of postural stress requires a conscious effort on your part. Remember that the next time you are considering spending hundreds of dollars on that keyboard tray.

Here’s To Your Health

Dr. Jones
(619) 280-0554 San Diego
Economical Adjustable Mouse Platform

San Diego Chiropractic

Pain Relief San Diego Chiropractor

Ergonomic Blog

The irritation that results in Cumulative Trauma disorders accumulates over time, eventually resulting in a breakdown of the involved joint or joints and its muscles and ligaments. Symptoms from CTDs include soreness, pain, restricted range of motion, numbness, cracking noises in joints, weakness and clumsiness.

The potential end result of cumulative trauma disorders can be hand pain, wrist pain, neck pain, back pain, elbow pain, shoulder pain and leg pain.

What is the best cure for CTDs? Prevention. Application of good ergonomic principles to your work environment as well as tasks that you undertake outside of work is vital. A CTD may takes years to start causing symptoms and can also take a prolonged period of care to resolve. CTDs that go untreated can potentially cause permanent disability or symptoms that never completely resolve.

CTDs are serious and should be treated that way.

Here’s To Your Health

Dr. Jones

San Diego Chiropractic Center
Pain Relief San Diego Chiropractor Blog

I have been practicing chiropractic in San Diego for the last 15 years and what I have seen in practice regarding back injuries would be surprising to most people in non-medical careers. The average person that I speak with regarding back pain and injuries is of the mind set that low back pain is the result of jobs that require heavy lifting or contact sports, golfing or car accidents.

In reality, it is the constant stress and strain of postural stress that is the biggest burden on our spines. The postural stress of sitting for hours on end in a task chair in front of a computer can become overwhelming. When our bodies are exposed to a specific stress over a long period of time, the effects that the stress places on our bodies has a cumulative effect. Over the course of months or years that cumulative stress expresses itself as pain, stiffness or more serious symptoms.

When I am explaining the ongoing cumulative effects of postural stress to my chiropractic patients I like to use the classic example of the Chinese water torture. Those first couple hundred drops of water on the forehead aren’t bothersome - but a few hundred drops more will make you truly miserable. The same process happens to your low back as the minutes, hours, days, months and years pass with you sitting in a computer chair.

There is a chart floating around that I have come across in several texts that relates your bodies posture with the amount of stress that each particular posture generates on the discs in the lower back. As the chart demonstrates, the level of stress increases as the subject transitions from a prone position to a standing position to seated position to a slumped forward seated position. The chart shows the pressure in the discs to equal 100% of your body weight while standing, approximately 125% of your bodies weight while sitting and over 140% of your body weight when sitting in a forward slumped position.

The reason that sitting is so hard on your back from a postural standpoint is due to the anatomy of the lower back vertebra. When we are standing, your lower back naturally has a forward sweeping curve with the concavity of that curve facing rearward. That curve acts to efficiently divide the weight of your body between the discs that separate your vertebra and the joints that run down the back of your spine. When you assume a seated position, that curve straightens out transferring some of your weight from the posterior joints to the discs. Slumping forward transfers even more weight resulting in more compression of the discs and more stress on the low backs discs.

As time passes, this increase pressure causes irritation of the overloaded spinal structures eventually leading to inflammation, spasm and pain. This is the basic process with many injuries to the body that result from ongoing exposure to some irritating or stressful activity.

How is this postural stress negated? Well, unfortunately, all if it can’t be. But it can be limited by practicing good posture and the right ergonomic principals. A brief ergonomic evaluation of your work area can give you loads of valuable information that will help minimize the effects of your work environment on your body.

Sitting is a sedentary task but like most things in life, if you don’t do it properly there will be undesirable consequences.

Work Safe!

Here’s To Your Health

Here’s To Your Health

Dr. Jones
(619) 280-0554 San Diego

Economical Adjustable Mouse Platform

San Diego Chiropractic

Pain Relief San Diego Chiropractor

Ergonomic Forum Ergonomic Mouse Pad

Poor computer ergonomics account for a substantial percentage of the conditions that my patients complain of.

The typical patient that presents to my office with neck pain, shoulder pain, back pain, elbow pain or carpal tunnel syndrome has a poor ergonomic set up that is fueling their symptoms. Often times, there are easy or inexpensive “fixes” for these ergonomic issues.

If your monitor is too low for example, you have the option of very inexpensive fixes as well as very expensive fixes. For a cheap fix that is actually free, you could raise your monitor on a stack of phone books. On the other hand, you could purchase a wall or desk mounted monitor arm and spend hundreds of dollars.

The same is true for keyboard tray solutions. I bought my keyboard tray from Fry’s for about $20.00. It works great for my application. There are keyboard trays, however, that cost hundreds of dollars. Some inexpensive computer desks with keyboard trays only cost a few hundred dollars.

Another example of ergonomic solutions is my Ergo Nav mouse pad. A regular mouse pad that sits on your desk and is not ergonomic may cost $5 to $20. My Ergo Nav, that mounts to your computer chairs armrest retails between $40 and $70 while some mouse platforms sell for well over $100.

Ergonomic solutions are not always expensive but can save you a great deal in future medical costs if implemented sooner rather than later.

Here’s To Your Health

Dr. Jones

Economical Adjustable Mouse Platform

San Diego Chiropractic

Pain Relief San Diego Chiropractor

Ergonomic Forum Ergonomic Mouse Pad

Sitting has a negative impact on your back for several reasons. Since our spines were made to move, it should come as no surprise that hours on end of sitting in a static position leads to injury.

In addition to a lack of movement, the sitting posture itself is structurally stressful to the spine. When we are standing upright, the lower back should have a sweeping forward curve which promotes stability by reducing pressure on the discs that separate our vertebra. Sitting reverses the normal curve in our lower backs and increases the pressure on the discs leading to an increased chance of injury.

From a postural standpoint, the sitting position can promote rounded shoulders, slumping forward of the upper back and jutting forward of the jaw. Not only are these postures unattractive but they contribute to the development of tendonitis and result in stretch weakness of the involved muscles.

There are volumes of information regarding ideal sitting postures both on the web and within other posts on this site. Sorting out your posture with the use of a good ergonomic chair will help you maintain good posture and spinal health.

Reaching at or beyond your normal arc of motion also contributes to poor posture and cumulative trauma type injuries, especially of the neck and shoulder. It is vitally important to the health of your frame to keep objects that you use on a regular basis within easy reach. Your phone, the mouse, stapler, etc., if used frequently through the course of your day, should be within your immediate reach. Objects that are used less frequently can be kept farther away, closer to the edge of your comfortable reach.

Take a good look at your work space. Making a few simple changes will help save your posture and your spinal health.

Here’s To Your Health

Dr. Jones
(619) 280-0554 San Diego
Economical Adjustable Mouse Platform

San Diego Chiropractic

Pain Relief San Diego Chiropractor

Ergonomic Forum Ergonomic Mouse Pad

Back during the late 90s, I was applying everything I knew about treatment for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome that was within my scope of practice as a chiropractor in order to heal my patients. This was a frustrating experience. Along with the classic symptoms of wrist pain and hand pain, many CTS patients get neck pain, shoulder pain and upper back pain. My treatment was partially successful on each of these symptoms.

The sticking point of my care was the fact that I was trying to unravel symptoms that were being generated / exacerbated during the course of a 40 + hour work week with treatments that were only being delivered three times weekly in half hour sessions. I am not implying that my care wasn’t helpful, what I am saying is that I knew that in order for my patients to recover that they needed more help. In this case, the help had to come from them. Somehow they needed to help minimize the stresses that they were subjected to during the day.

Part of this exercise involved my patients keeping pain diaries. Basically, over the course of one month, I asked them to write down everything that they could identify as a source of their pain.

A quick examination of my patients’ pain diaries revealed that there were three basic aggravating work duties that 90% of them shared. Reaching for the mouse, reaching for the phone and having to rotate their heads in order to see their monitor were the most common aggravating work duties.

Obviously it doesn’t take a degree in ergonomics to solve these kind of issues. Many of us go through our days numb to the factors that affect our well being. The conscious application of situational awareness can provide us with obvious problems and simple solutions to many work place ergonomic issues.

Look at your work environment today. If your body does not feel centered and balanced as you perform your work duties, chances are that you can make some modifications or at least identify some modifications that could be made to improve your ergonomics.

Here’s To Your Health

Dr. Jones
(619) 280-0554 San Diego
Economical Adjustable Mouse Platform

San Diego Chiropractic

Pain Relief San Diego Chiropractor

Ergonomic Forum Ergonomic Mouse Pad

The two primary objectives of the study and application of ergonomics are to enhance worker performance and reduce worker fatigue.

Some ergonomic analysis is very simple and can be completed from start to finish by the worker. For instance, if reaching for your phone requires excessive and uncomfortable reaching, moving that phone to within easy reach is the fix. This is a simple example of the analysis and application of ergonomics that will certainly reduce fatigue and stress for that particular task.

I will take this opportunity to advise everyone reading this post to take a good look at their work environment and think about what they could do to improve it. This may mean checking to see if your keyboard is at a comfortable level, or if reaching for your mouse is aggravating your neck, shoulder or arm. These are just a few things that you should analyze in your work area. Just changing a few things in your work environment that cause stress or discomfort can be significant because these constant sources of low level irritation have a cumulative and compounding effect which increase the chances of injury.

Most analysis and application of ergonomics is much more complex than this prior example. For many work stresses, an in-depth knowledge of human anatomy and biomechanics is essential to truly evaluate a work environment and then implement the necessary work station modifications.

This task is difficult enough when designing an ergonomically friendly environment for one specific worker. However, this task is much more involved when a particular work area has to accommodate a number of different workers. Just think about how much people vary in height, weight, strength, reach, etc. If you have to share a desk, seat or other equipment with other people, make sure that you make any possible adjustments to limit your exposure to irritating work conditions.

Here’s To Your Health

Dr. Jones

Dr. JonesEconomical Adjustable Mouse Platform
San Diego Chiropractic
Pain Relief San Diego Chiropractor

Obviously, the cost of injury drives the study of ergonomics. This is a good thing. Most employers, especially those who run large corporations are detached from their employees - both physically and emotionally. Were it not for the actual cost of employees’ injuries, many employers would not know or care about their workers’ ergonomic situation.

In the world of ergonomics, there are six separately identifiable variables that affect work performance and fatigue. These six variables are:

1) Workload

2) Each Individuals Physiological Response to the Workload

3) The Individuals Size & Strength Capabilities

4) Biomechanical Variances

5) Human Factors

6) Work Organization

The questions that should be answered by examining the variables listed above are not limited to but include:

1) Can You Perform a Task Once Without Injury

2) Do You Physically Fit Your Workplace

3) Are You Strong Enough

4) Can You Perform the Task For Seconds to Minutes Without Fatigue or Injury

5) Will Injury Occur if the Work is Performed Over Months or Years

6) Do You Have the Mental Capacity to do the Work

These variables directly affect an individual’s ability to perform certain job duties with or without producing an injury.

The reason that I have decided to include this dry and academic sounding material in this blog is to help provide some very general guides that can be used to evaluate your fit for your work duties.

I have patients who were injured at work who are not good fits for their work. They either lack the strength, the height or the endurance to effectively perform their work tasks.

If you find yourself in such a situation you should ask for or pay for an ergonomic analysis of your work environment. Many large companies either have an ergonomics department or have access to an ergonomic specialist. If so, you should take advantage of these services.

Here’s To Your Health

Dr. Jones

Dr. JonesEconomical Adjustable Mouse Platform
San Diego Chiropractic
Pain Relief San Diego Chiropractor

We all have specific items at work that we handle more frequently than others. In my work environment for instance, I use the mouse and keyboard more than any other object on my desk. At this point I will inject a shameless plug for my Ergo Nav. Since I use my mouse most frequently, I have it perched right at the end of my chairs’ armrest. My Ergo Nav positions my mouse close enough to my body to avoid any reaching for the mouse at all. From an ergonomic standpoint, this positioning is ideal.

My keyboard is also within my immediate reach as are my writing instruments such as pens and pencils. All of the items that I have discussed so far are within my immediate reach area, which is also known as the “usual work space”.

Most people only have a handful of objects that truly belong in their “usual work space”. The actual dimensions of this space vary with the size of the worker, therefore, you have to keep the principals of good ergonomics in mind when determining the actual size of your “usual work space”. As far as placement of mice, keyboards, pens, phones etc., within your “usual work space” you have to position these items in a way that avoids or limits hunching of the shoulders, flaring out of the elbows or forward flexion of the shoulders.

The area beyond the “usual work space” is considered the “occasional work space” and should contain objects that are only occasionally used. In my circumstances, the “occasional work space” contains my cpu, monitor, printer and my phone. Most of the time I have an assistant to answer my phone and I may only make a handful of calls each day. My monitor only requires that I turn it on and off once a day - the same being the case with my printer and the computer itself. My desk space is limited so the items that I have covered are the only items in my space. Staplers, files and paper are needed infrequently enough to not deserve the chance to clutter my work area.

Here’s To Your Health

Dr. Jones

Economical Adjustable Mouse Platform
San Diego Chiropractic
Pain Relief San Diego Chiropractor

Our spines do not like sitting as a rule. If you remain seated in the same position for a long enough period of time you will experience some level of discomfort.

Although there are many reasons that sitting eventually causes discomfort, one of these reasons cannot be avoided. The natural center of gravity for a sitting human being is approximately 1 inch in front of the belly button. In order to park our upper bodies over our center of gravity we have to either lean forward eliminating the support of our backrests or slide our butts downward and forward assuming a slumped position. Often these postures are accompanied by crossed legs or feet and leaning our elbows on the desk or our armrests in order to promote stability of the spine.

Poor posture often results from chairs and work stations that are void of proper ergonomic considerations. Postural stress causes discomfort in the neck, back and arms resulting in fatigue and fidgeting. It comes as no surprise that these consequences of poor posture have a negative effect on your mood, your concentration and your productivity.

In the long run, poor posture can cause chronic back pain, neck pain and a host of syndromes that affect the upper extremity as a whole.

I found an excellent definition of poor posture in a book called “Backs” by Leonard Ring in which he defined poor posture as “a faulty relationship of the various parts of the body which produces increased strain on supporting structures”.

As important as proper sitting posture is for a younger person with an otherwise healthy back, it is of much greater importance to those who are older and may have some level of arthritis in their spines or a history of injury. Arthritis weakens the joints in the back and makes it more sensitive to the stresses of prolonged sitting when using good posture and much more likely to suffer consequences in situations that involve poor posture. A history of back injuries is also detrimental to the spine during sitting positions especially when it is exposed to the stress of poor posture. All of those old gymnastics, football, hockey and general horseplay falls and jolts have a cumulative effect that decreases our ability to endure stressful postures.

The bottom line is that there are many good sources on the Internet that describe the characteristics of proper sitting positions. The more stress that you can eliminate from your sitting postures the happier your back will be.

Here’s To Your Health

Dr. Jones

Economical Adjustable Mouse Platform
San Diego Chiropractic
Pain Relief San Diego Chiropractor

Most cases of repetitive stress syndrome involve the neck, shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand. Collectively this region is referred to as the upper extremity. Depending on the type of work you do, different portions of the upper extremity can be involved in your group of symptoms.

There is no list that links the type of job that you perform with a specific set of injuries that will develop as a result of that exposure. That being said, there are some jobs that are notorious for causing specific repetitive stress syndrome type symptoms - keyboard operators and carpal tunnel syndrome and construction workers and shoulder tendonitis come to mind as typical cause and effect examples.

Almost all types of repetitive stress involve some combination of postural stress, excessive force and repetitive motion.

Jobs that require people to either assume prolonged fixed positions (computer workers) or awkward positions (auto mechanics) generate significant amounts of biomechanical stress to the joints and soft tissues of the upper extremities. Usually postural stress results from overloading of specific muscle groups, uneven weight loading of joints or by assuming positions that require static muscular contractions to limit joint motion in a specific area of the body.

Muscular force without adequate recovery time is another major contributor in the development of repetitive stress injuries. Some jobs require prolonged contraction of certain muscle groups, which reduces blood circulation resulting in fatigue. Muscles do not work efficiently under these conditions and without adequate recovery time will result in injury.

Highly repetitious movements of specific joints also contribute to repetitive stress syndrome. High frequency movements demand faster and stronger contractions of the muscles. Joints and muscles that are required to work in these conditions require more recovery time. Without adequate recovery time injury to the joints, muscle and tendons occur.

All of the factors listed above have to be taken into consideration when designing a work area and work duties. Taking frequent breaks, rotating job duties and getting much needed rest will all help in keeping you healthier and more productive through the course of your work life.

Here’s To Your Health

Dr. Jones

Economical Adjustable Mouse Platform
San Diego Chiropractic
Pain Relief San Diego Chiropractor

What are the Common Symptoms of Cumulative Trauma Disorders?

· Tightness, discomfort, stiffness, soreness or burning in the hands, wrists, fingers, forearms, or elbows

· Tingling, coldness, night pain or numbness in the hands, especially around the base of the thumb

· Clumsiness or loss of strength in the hands

· Pain in the neck, shoulders, wrists, hands or back that is associated with using the computer

How Can You Avoid Injuries Related to Reaching for the Mouse?

The following recommendations are applicable to both home office ergonomics as well as ergonomics in the office.

1) Placing the input device directly in your immediate reach zone offers natural comfort and maximum hand-eye coordination. The use of a platform for the mouse is preferable. Some models of mouse platforms attach directly to your chair.

2) Your chair should have arm rests that are adjustable.

3) Your wrist should be either in a neutral position or flexed slightly downward when operating both your mouse and your keyboard. For this reason, if you select a mouse platform that attaches to your chair, adjustability of the platform is of primary importance.

4) Consider using a high quality office chair with adjustable armrests and lumbar supports. It should also allow some degree of recline.

5) Make sure that the upper arm and elbow are as close to the body and as relaxed as possible for mouse use - avoid overreaching.

6) Hold the mouse lightly, don’t grip it hard or squeeze it. Place the pointing device where you don’t have to reach up or over very far to use it. The closer you can place it to your body the better.

These are just a few ideas that might help you to either get out of pain or be of use in your efforts to prevent the onset of cumulative trauma disorders. I hope that this information is helpful to you all. Remember - KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!

More Coming Soon

Dr. Jones

Economical Adjustable Mouse Platform
San Diego Chiropractic
Pain Relief San Diego Chiropractor

Some people are aware of computer ergonomics and have purchased various ergonomic devices. These devices, such as keyboard trays, gel mouse pads, and ergonomic keyboards rarely provide solutions to the big picture of computer ergonomics. These items must work with each other in order to produce a significant reduction in postural stress. For example, an ergonomic mouse is of little use if it is positioned in an area that requires reaching and stretching in order to operate it. Limiting reaching and stretching for desk items is essential to maintaining a healthy ergonomic environment.

The most frequent complaint that I have seen in my office is due to computer work is the combination of mousing and reaching to the desk for the mouse.

Most computer stations are designed in a way that involves the worker operating the computer mouse on a pad on the desk. Reaching to the desk for the mouse places direct stress on the joints and soft tissues of the neck, shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand. Additionally, reaching forward for the mouse stresses the lower and middle back.

So How Does Reaching for the Mouse Set the Stage for Injury?

Reaching for the mouse causes you to lean forward in your chair, extend your arm and support the weight of your body through your extended arm.

The stresses placed on the human frame when reaching for the mouse are easily identified. Contrary to popular belief, sitting, which most people believe is relaxing, is hard on the back. Sitting for long periods of time can cause increased pressure on the discs of the spine.

In recent years, studies on postural stress have indicated that we should be sitting upright with our hips flexed at 90 degrees. As it turns out, the most up to date studies show that a slightly reclined sitting posture with the hips flexed at 100 to 115 degrees is ideal if you have to sit at a desk. If your mouse is not positioned close enough to your body, you will have to reach for it. Reaching for your mouse stresses your back by reducing the angle of your hips.

Next, we have to look at the effects of reaching on the neck and shoulder. When the mouse is being operated at a distance that makes the operator reach, the shoulder extends forward and the shoulder blade abducts (rotates forward). This position stretches the muscle groups that connect the medial portion of your shoulder blade to your spine and the superior portion of your shoulder blade to your neck. In the short term, this stretch aggravates the affected muscle groups causing spasm, fatigue, headaches and stiffness in the neck and shoulder. In the long term, this position creates a condition called a “stretch weakness” resulting in muscular imbalance, trigger points and chronic variations of the conditions listed in the prior sentence.

Lastly, placing the mouse too far away, too low, or too much on one side can cause shoulder, wrist, elbow, and forearm discomfort. When the operator is forced to reach for the mouse, his / her body weight shifts forward and ultimately results in weight bearing stress on the extended arm. Spending prolonged periods of time leaning on an extended arm is an unnatural and destructive posture that will eventually lead to the development of a repetitive stress syndrome; likely resulting disorders would include tendonitis of the wrist, elbow or shoulder.

Here’s To Your Health

Dr. Jones

Economical Adjustable Mouse Platform
San Diego Chiropractic
Pain Relief San Diego Chiropractor

As a chiropractor practicing in San Diego, I see a constant flow of new patients who complain of neck pain, shoulder pain, arm pain, wrist pain and hand pain as a result of long work days that mostly consist of sitting at a computer. It doesn’t stop there. Because sitting is especially stressful for the lower back we see plenty of computer operators who complain of low back pain as well.

It seems that the computer spares no body part from pain, discomfort and sometimes disability.

The most damaging characteristics of computer work can be summed up in two related triggers that stimulate our bodies to react to this type of work.

The first of these triggers involves the way the muscles of our necks, upper backs, arms and hands are used during computer work.

Whenever we are working on our computers our fingers are moving a mile a minute while the rest of the muscles of our upper extremities are in a static contraction. Muscles are designed to move joints through an entire range of motion. When we work at our computers these muscles simply contract to hold joints in a fixed position. When muscles act in this way they build up lactic acid, become irritated and inflamed and eventually fatigue and become painful. The long-term effects of this process include tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, trigger finger, etc, etc.

The second trigger involves postural stress. It is human nature to lean forward into our work. Leaning forward improves our ability to see what we are working on. This posture typically includes bending forward at the waist, rounding our shoulders forward and craning our necks forward. Each of these body positions by themselves is capable of causing pain and discomfort. When we are doing computer work it is not unusual to have all three of these postural stresses working on us at the same time.

Controlling these stresses is of utmost importance in order to prevent injury. Taking short one or two minute stretching breaks for the arms and hands every twenty or thirty minutes is very helpful. Icing the painful areas is helpful as well. Finally, becoming aware of your posture and doing what you can to eliminate postural stress will help.

There are other articles on this topic in this blog and in my chiropractic blog at www.jonespainrelife.com/blog that will give you more information on how to control the stresses of computer work.

Here’s To Your Health

Dr. Jones

Economical Adjustable Mouse Platform
San Diego Chiropractic
Pain Relief San Diego Chiropractor

For many of us who spend increasing amounts of time sitting at a computer, the answer to the question above is yes.

Postural stress is a major component of the cases of back pain that I see in my practice. Anyone who spends enough hours in enough days sitting in a static position at a computer station is bound to develop pain as a result of this stress.

Years ago I developed, patented and produced a mouse platform that was intended to reduce the chances of the development of carpal tunnel syndrome. Those of you who have read my previous blog posts are familiar with this story.

In a nutshell, I saw my patients struggle with many work related stresses due to computer use. Of these complaints, the most common complaint was the shoulder pain, neck pain, arm pain, wrist pain and hand pain that resulted from reaching to the desk for the mouse. I thought of an idea to eliminate the reach for the mouse and that thought resulted in the birth of my first patent, the Ergo Nav.

The Ergo Nav turned out to be very successful in reducing the stresses that it was intended to help relieve. However, there was a second positive effect that I had not really thought out prior to the initial months of testing this new way of mousing.

By positioning the mouse next to the operator as the Ergo Nav does, postural stress on the low back was reduced thus reducing fatigue of the lower back and, hence reducing low back pain.

For years it was thought that the proper hip angle of a seating posture was 90 degrees. Now, however, that angle is known to be too small. A proper angle of the hips in a seated posture is from 95 degrees to 115 degrees. This angle has your chair back tilted slightly backward, away from your desk, keyboard and mouse.

The Ergo Nav helps the worker maintain this angle of the hips by keeping the mouse at constant distance from the operator. In other words, the Ergo Nav allows the operator to tilt the chair at the proper angle without moving away from the mouse.

Here’s To Your Health

Dr. Jones

Economical Adjustable Mouse Platform
San Diego Chiropractic
Pain Relief San Diego Chiropractor

I am a practicing chiropractor in San Diego California. Years ago I began to notice that most of my patients who were being treated for either Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, neck pain, shoulder pain or any of the other symptoms that are specific to stress imposed by long days at the computer had one common complaint.

That complaint was that extending their arm to reach for the mouse was one of their primary aggravating factors.

One of things that I have learned by treating injured people is that when they are in pain, activities that they perform without concern of postural stress when they are “healthy” suddenly become painful.

Reaching for the mouse is one of these activities. Reaching for your mouse in a way that forces your arm to assume any position other than hanging at your side while supported on your chairs armrest exposes your wrist, arm, shoulder, neck and upper back to postural stress.

With time, this ongoing postural stress will either cause a repetitive stress injury on its own or it will help contribute to one.

This mechanism of injury was the basis for the development of the Ergo Nav mouse platform. The Ergo Nav attaches to your chairs armrest in a way that places your mouse right at your finger tips allowing for stress free mouse operation.

Independently performed EMG studies show significantly less muscular activity in the neck, back and shoulder girdle with use of the Ergo Nav as compared to reaching to the desk for the mouse. These same results were shown regardless of whether or not the desk placed mouse pad had a gel pad wrist rest or not.

While there were mouse platforms already available, they were either non-adjustable (read not ergonomic) or they were adjustable and very expensive with bulky, impractical chair attachments.

The Ergo Nav allows for adjustment of the platform in several planes for true ergonomic adaptability while maintaining exceptionally low pricing compared to other mouse platforms.

Here’s To Your Health

Dr. Jones

Economical Adjustable Mouse Platform
San Diego Chiropractic
Pain Relief San Diego Chiropractor

The question is, which one should you choose? One thing is for certain, as far as your back and neck goes, the color doesn’t matter. However, plenty of other features do matter and can determine how your back feels at the end of your work day.

There are specific brand names that manufacture high end chairs that cost in the thousands of dollars. If you decide that a chair like that fits your needs by all means buy it.

On a regular basis I hear patients comment in a negative way about the expense of ergonomic office products. My response usually draws a correlation between the costs of their vehicle versus the cost of a good chair. Very few of us spend more than 8 hours per week in our cars that we spends tens of thousands of dollars on yet we often scoff at spending more than a few hundred bucks on a good chair that we sit in for 8 hours per day. That is some backwards logic isn’t it?

That being said, you don’t have to spend a small fortune on a good office chair. My chair fits all of my needs and I found it at Costco for about $100.

What features does a $100 chair need to have in order for it be the right chair for you?

This is a short list of general features that should be present in a good ergonomic chair.

1) It should have a high back

2) It should have arm rests

3) The backrest should recline and be slightly concave and include a 5 cm lumbar support

4) The seating surface should be able to tilt from front to back

5) The height of the chair should be adjustable

6) The armrest height should be able to adjust

7) You must be comfortable in it. A chair with all these features is worthless if you don’t find it comfortable.

Here’s To Your Health

Dr. Jones

Economical Adjustable Mouse Platform
San Diego Chiropractic
Pain Relief San Diego Chiropractor

Patients present to my San Diego Chiropractic clinic on a regular basis with neck pain, back pain and other related symptoms that not only lack a history of pain in that area but have no recent injury or accident to explain their current painful symptoms.

This is frustrating for the patient yet a typical presentation for me.

When patients come in for care with this type of history recent injury, my inquiries usually lead to a situation that involves excessive postural stress for that patient.

Ongoing postural stress affects our body much like the old analogy of the straws on the camels back. Our bodies are capable of compensating for quite a bit of stress before symptoms appear. This is good and bad.

The good part of this situation is that if we didn’t compensate for all the little stresses that we are subjected to, we would be uncomfortable all the time. The bad part about compensation is that we often are not keen enough to recognize when our bodies are being exposed to ongoing low levels of stress.

Once the stress levels build to a certain point, the body part in question reacts with irritation, inflammation and muscle spasm. This combination produces pain and tightness and usually is the reason that patients call my office.

Postural stress can place an amazing amount of stress on your spine. One of my reference books has a chart that describes how different body positions affect the amount of pressure on your discs in the low back. The differences are amazing.

When standing straight up with ideal posture, the pressure in the discs of the low back is 100%. When lying flat on your back the pressure is at 24%. While sitting straight with good posture, the pressure is at 140% but when slouching forward with poor posture the disc pressure goes to a staggering 190%.

Considering that most of us sit for a good portion of the day, simply sitting becomes a significant source of stress for the lower back.

This kind of ongoing stress combined with an awkward twist or bend can generate a crisis for the low back leading the patient to wonder exactly how turning to pick that cup of coffee off the desk behind him / her lead to such a severe back spasm.

Here’s To Your Health

Dr. Jones

Economical Adjustable Mouse Platform
San Diego Chiropractic
Pain Relief San Diego Chiropractor

There are a number of factors that contribute to this tightness. Simply the stress of deadlines, an overbearing boss or an annoying co-worker can make your shoulders rise up and your head push forward. And this stress is the result of just the emotional stress of work. When you add the real physical strains of a poorly designed work station on top of the emotional stresses that already exist you have a perfect recipe for a repetitive stress injury.

A large part of designing an ergonomically friendly workstation revolves around limiting the “reach” for items that are frequently

The distance that you have to reach for any object in your workspace can have major implications on your health. In general, workers should have the items that they use on a regular basis through the day such as the mouse and keyboard for computer users or the telephone for a receptionist or a sales person, positioned close to their bodies so as to avoid awkward or overreaching.

As a general rule, the best positioning for your keyboard and mouse allows you to operate them while your shoulders hang straight down at your sides and elbows are slightly extended. This position reduces the stress of overreaching and allows for completion of your tasks with less muscular effort.

There are many ergonomic apparatus that allow for proper placement of your computer input devices. Pull out keyboard trays, split keyboards, mouse platforms and even foot controls help reduce the ongoing stresses of computer input.

Even with these devices, it takes awareness to maintain an ergonomically friendly work environment.

For a nice selection of ergonomic office products you can visit www.comfortkeyboard.com.

Here’s To Your Health

Dr. Jones

Dr. JonesEconomical Adjustable Mouse Platform
San Diego Chiropractic
Pain Relief San Diego Chiropractor

The most obvious type of stress that contributes to the onset of headaches is postural stress. A poorly designed computer work station causes the PC operator to keep their neck in flexion, extension or rotation for extended periods of time.

These prolonged fixed positions are due in part to the computer monitor sitting too low, too high or un-centered relative the level of the operator’s eyes. Prolonged fixed positions of the neck causes muscle tension in the neck and can easily trigger the development of a muscle tension headache.

In order to relieve this stress, make sure that your monitor sits directly in front of you and that the top 1/3 of your monitors viewing area is level with your eyes when you are gazing straight forward.

Another important contributing factor in the development of headaches is dehydration. Statistics indicate that upwards of 75% of us suffer some level of dehydration. Statistics also indicate that we tend to consume less water while we are at work. This is a straight forward problem.

Considering that dehydration causes headaches and as a population we tend to run on the dehydrated side and we tend to drink less water while at work, you can see how this is a perfect formula for the development of a headache.

Improper positioning of either your keyboard or mouse can also cause muscular strain leading to the formation of a headache. If your keyboard or mouse is positioned in a way that causes your elbows to be extended beyond 99 degrees, you are over-stressing your shoulders and neck. On-going stress of the muscles in the shoulders and neck will result in muscle tension headaches.

One last headache instigator that we will discuss here is related to lighting of your work space. Ideally, lighting should come directly from your left and right sides and overhead. This lighting set-up prevents shadows in your work space and reflections off of your monitor. Eye strain and fatigue are major contributors to headaches and must be addressed. Proper lighting can reduce eye strain which often leads to muscle tension headaches.

More Coming Soon

Dr. Jones

Economical Adjustable Mouse Platform
San Diego Chiropractic
Pain Relief San Diego Chiropractor

My interest in repetitive stress syndromes began approximately 10 years ago when my practice started seeing a much greater number of people suffering from the effects of computer / keyboard work. Despite all of my training and continuing education related to these types of injuries, I quickly realized that traditional treatment for this type of injury was marginally successful at best.

Any type of therapy was going to have to include the application of basic ergonomic principals to the patient’s work environment.

I am of the opinion that treatment alone or application of ergonomic principals by themselves was not going to resolve a repetitive stress injury.

This article will address the implication of work station ergonomics and injury resulting from postural stress secondary to use of the computer mouse.

Specifically, the following will be addressed:

1) What repetitive stress injuries are

2) What role do work station ergonomics play in injury

3) How reaching for the mouse sets the stage for injury

4) What are the symptoms of repetitive stress injury

5) How one can avoid mouse reaching injuries

What Exactly is a Repetitive Stress Injury?

Repetitive Stress Injury is a kind of catch all phrase for many conditions. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Tenosynovitis / DeQuervain’s Syndrome, Tendonitis, Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, Trigger Finger, Myofascial Pain Syndrome and Chronic Sprain / Strain are some of the actual diagnosis that are rendered in my office. All of these conditions are serious and in many cases can cause great pain, permanent disability and sometimes loss of employment.

Repetitive Stress Injuries occur from repetitive movements involving a specific set of muscles and joints. RSI injuries are the result of an accumulation of stress and strain that causes irritation, inflammation, and eventually pain or other disability. A good analogy used to characterize the onset of RSI would be the “straws on the camels back” saying.

Initially, RSI affects the soft tissues of the involved joint(s). Soft tissues include muscles, nerves, ligaments and tendons. However, if left untreated for long periods of time, the involved joint can become arthritic and form bone spurs resulting in permanent damage to the joint.

While various occupations ranging from meat cutters to construction workers develop RSIs that result from the typical duties of their professions, the most frequent cause of these injuries involve computer work. The constant demand of keyboarding and mousing combined with the postural stress of confinement in an office chair with one’s neck and back held in prolonged fixed positions has resulted in an epidemic of injuries that includes hand pain, wrist pain, arm pain, neck pain, back pain and shoulder pain.

Work Station Ergonomics

The study of workstation ergonomics tells us that the objects that are used most often should be located closest to your body and accessed easily, without awkward body positions. Repeated reaching or prolonged postures that involve leaning forward from your chair are particularly stressful and fatiguing.
Many people are aware of computer ergonomics and thus have an ergonomic mouse. An ergonomic mouse is of little use if it is positioned in an area that requires reaching and stretching in order to operate it. Limiting reaching and stretching for desk items is essential to maintaining a healthy ergonomic environment.

The most frequent complaint that I have seen in my office is due to computer work is the combination of mousing and its’ inherent postural stress.

Most computer stations are designed in a way that involves the worker operating the computer mouse on a pad on the desk. Reaching to the desk for the mouse places direct stress on the joints and soft tissues of the neck, shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand. Additionally, reaching forward for the mouse stresses the lower and middle back.

So How Does Reaching for the Mouse Set the Stage for Injury?
Reaching for the mouse causes you to lean forward in your chair, extend your arm and support the weight of your body through your extended arm. The following section will discuss the particulars of each of these positions.

The stresses placed on the human frame when reaching for the mouse are easily explained. Contrary to popular belief, sitting, which most people believe is relaxing, is hard on the back. Sitting for long periods of time can cause increased pressure on the intervertebral discs of the spine.

In recent years, ergonomisist have told us that proper sitting posture would have us sitting upright with our hips flexed at 90 degrees. As it turns out, the most up to date studies show that a slightly reclined sitting posture with the hips flexed at 100 to 115 degrees is ideal if you have to sit at a desk. If your mouse is not positioned close enough to your body, you will have to reach for it. Reaching for your mouse stresses your back by reducing the angle of your hips.

Next, we have to look at the effects of reaching on the neck and shoulder. When the mouse is being operated at a distance that makes the operator reach, the shoulder extends forward and the shoulder blade abducts (rotates forward). This position stretches the muscle groups that connect the medial portion of your shoulder blade to your spine and the superior portion of your shoulder blade to your neck.

In the short term, this stretch aggravates the affected muscle groups causing spasm, fatigue, headaches and stiffness in the neck and shoulder. In the long term, this position creates a condition called a “stretch weakness” resulting in muscular imbalance, trigger points and chronic variations of the conditions listed in the prior sentence.

Lastly, placing the mouse too far away, too low, or too much on one side can cause shoulder, wrist, elbow, and forearm discomfort. When the operator is forced to reach for the mouse, his / her body weight shifts forward and ultimately results in weight bearing stress on the extended arm. Spending prolonged periods of time leaning on an extended arm is an unnatural and destructive posture that will eventually lead to the development of a repetitive stress syndrome; likely resulting disorders would include tendonitis of the wrist, elbow or shoulder.

What are the Common Symptoms?

” Tightness, discomfort, stiffness, soreness or burning in the hands, wrists, fingers, forearms, or elbows

” Tingling, coldness, night pain or numbness in the hands, especially around the base of the thumb

” Clumsiness or loss of strength in the hands

” Pain in the neck, shoulders, wrists, hands or back that is associated with using the computer

How Can You Avoid Injuries Related to Reaching for the Mouse?

The following recommendations are applicable to both home office ergonomics as well as ergonomics in the office.

1) Placing the input device directly in your immediate reach zone offers natural comfort and maximum hand-eye coordination. The use of a platform for the mouse is preferable. Some models of mouse platforms attach directly to your chair.

2) Your chair should have arm rests that are adjustable.

3) Your wrist should be either in a neutral position or flexed slightly downward when operating both your mouse and your keyboard. For this reason, if you select a mouse platform that attaches to your chair, adjustability of the platform is of primary importance.

4) Consider using a high quality office chair with adjustable armrests and lumbar supports. It should also allow some degree of recline.

5) Make sure that the upper arm and elbow are as close to the body and as relaxed as possible for mouse use - avoid overreaching.

6) Hold the mouse lightly, don’t grip it hard or squeeze it. Place the pointing device where you don’t have to reach up or over very far to use it. The closer you can place it to your body the better.

More Coming Soon

Dr. Jones

Economical Adjustable Mouse Platform
San Diego Chiropractic
Pain Relief San Diego Chiropractor

Computer work gives me a pain in the neck! It probably gives you a pain in the neck too.

I graduated college in 1991 and at the time I can say that I made it through school without ever owning or even barely using a computer.

I bought my first computer in 1995 and didn’t really start spending more than a few hours on it daily until maybe 2003. In this relatively short period of computer use, I have developed postural stress issues despite my efforts to keep it at bay. I even developed an ergonomic mouse platform in order to help eliminate the stresses of mouse reach and I still fall victim to postural stress.

I began practicing chiropractic in San Diego in 1993 and at that time my practice consisted of patients suffering from typical complaints. It was unusual to get patients that complained of neck pain, back pain, headaches or sciatica that wasn’t a result of some specific injury, auto accident or work injury.

Now my chiropractic patients are different. I still practice in San Diego and my patients still complain of neck pain, back pain, headaches and sciatica but these symptoms begin with a different type of injury.

And it is scary!

Most of the injuries that I see today are due to sedentary tasks. Most of these tasks involve computer use and postural stress. The scary thing about these injuries is that I hear from my patients with kids that their kids are using computers both at home and in school.

I know how computer work has affected me with less than 5 years of moderate use. Students of all ages are using computers for everything.

By the time today’s’ kids are in their 30s or 40s, they will have had over 20 years of exposure to the postural stresses associated with computer use. Considering the frequency with which I see computer related stress syndromes now, it is hard to imagine how much of these disorders will be seen in another 20 years.

The health of tomorrows computer users will rely on ergonomically designed work stations combined with stretching, exercise and chiropractic therapy to help relieve the effects of computer related postural stress.

Here’s To Your Health

Dr. Jones

Dr. JonesEconomical Adjustable Mouse Platform
San Diego Chiropractic
Pain Relief San Diego Chiropractor

Today’s workers spend more and more time sitting at computer terminals. We try to find comfortable positions at our home and work office stations but these positions are deceitful.

Regardless of my chiropractic education, without the help of a few ergonomic devices, I end up slouching over my computer.

Approximately ten years ago, I started working on the development of an ergonomic apparatus that eventually would be known as the Ergo Nav. This device was 100% inspired by my treatment of patients who were suffering from computer related ailments and syndromes.

I began to notice a pattern amongst my patients who complained of computer related neck pain, shoulder pain, elbow pain, wrist pain and hand pain.

First of all, they typically carried worse symptoms on their dominant sides. Right handed folks had more severe symptoms on the right and lefties were worse on the left.

A second prevalent characteristic among these patients was the intense and often unbearable increase in their symptoms when they were using the computer mouse.

Almost all of my patients who suffered from some sort of neck, back or upper extremity complaint that was secondary to computer use complained that reaching to the desk for the mouse greatly exacerbated their pain!

One of the things that I tell my patients is that when they are in pain, regardless if it is neck pain, back pain or pain in some other joint, to pay attention to the activities that make the pain worse. This is good information to know because barring some significant injury; most of the time pain is the end result of some ongoing low level aggravation that more often than not goes un-noticed. Once you are in pain, the activities that have silently contributed to your current symptoms will be the activities that now noticeably cause your current symptoms to worsen.

The ongoing painful stress of reaching for the mouse is what led to the idea behind the Ergo Nav. The Ergo Nav was designed to be an inexpensive, adjustable and functional mouse platform that would allow a computer operator to operate the mouse in a comfortable, ergonomically friendly position.

By eliminating the need to reach for the mouse a large amount of stress can be eliminated reducing the chances of injury.

Ergonomics, ergonomics, ergonomics - it is all that we hear. For good reason too!

Here’s To Your Health

Dr. Jones

Economical Adjustable Mouse Platform
San Diego Chiropractic
Pain Relief San Diego Chiropractor