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6 surprising headache causes
Do you suffer from frequent headaches? Your day-to-day routine might be to blame. From the breakfast table to the office, our everyday lives are littered with objects and bad habits that can set our temples pounding.
Fortunately, most of these hidden headache triggers can be easily fixed. Here, we break down six of the most common and offer expert advice for addressing them.
Your phone
Cradling it between your ear and your shoulder for calls lasting longer than a couple of minutes can strain your neck and lead to tension headaches. Use your hands-free headset, or the speaker option, whenever possible.
Your chair
Most are made for the average 5-foot-8 man; if your chair is too big, it might not support your back, causing strain and headaches, says New York City physical therapist Karen Litzy.
Full story of headache causes at Fox News
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10 ways to avoid carpal tunnel syndrome
Hours typing at a computer or doing other work with your hands can lead to wrist and nerve injuries, said Renuka Sathyamurthy, an occupational therapist with Franciscan St. Elizabeth Health Sports Therapy and Rehab in Crawfordsville.
And that includes carpal tunnel syndrome. Sathyamurthy said carpal tunnel is most common in people of working age because it develops from a person’s activities and habits. However, she said, you can reduce the risk of developing carpal tunnel.
Here, Sathyamurthy shared her tips for preventing carpel tunnel:
1. Know the signs. Sathyamurthy said numbness and weakness are the biggest signs of carpal tunnel. Another sign is a decrease in your ability to pinch or grip.
2. Sit straight. Posture is very important, she said. The best way to sit at a computer desk or table to work is having your spine against the back of your chair with relaxed shoulders, Sathyamurthy said. She said a straight spine helps balance and support the upper body.
Full story of avoiding carpal tunnel at JCOnline
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Are Windows 8 Touch Laptops Bad For Your Health?
Depending on whom is keeping score, Windows 8 has been either a rousing success (40 million copies sold in the first 30 days!) or an epic failure (PC laptop sales are expected to plummet 15 percent in the first quarter!). What is undeniable is that consumers want touch not only on tablets, but for traditional clamshell designs. In fact, according to NPD, a quarter of Windows 8 laptops sold in January had a touch screen. However, while Microsoft’s Live Tile interface is best experienced with your finger, it could be hazardous to your health.
While essential for slates, and offering greater functionality for any device, touch-screen notebooks are raising eyebrows among health care professionals. In short, Windows 8 could be called ergonomically challenged, and prolonged use of touch for input could even lead to serious injury.
Repetitive Stress 2.0
Seemingly every new technology that requires physical interaction with humans brings an accompanying and novel new injury. Typewriters, and later keyboards, begat carpal tunnel syndrome; early game consoles gave birth to the joystick wrist (and more recently, gamer’s thumb); cellphones and SMS texting gave rise to BlackBerry thumb; and more recently, smartphones are responsible for so-called “text neck.”
Full story of Windows 8 Touch Laptops and your health at Yahoo News
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6 Tips to Prevent Neck, Shoulder Pain When Using an iPad or Computer
BOSTON — Hours spent using an iPad or other tablet can cause neck and shoulder problems. Blame it on the viewing angle. A simple shift can change everything, reports the October 2012 Harvard Health Letter.
Holding a tablet computer too low, say on the lap, forces the neck to bend forward too much, straining and possibly even injuring muscles, nerves, tendons, ligaments, or spinal discs. Simply placing a tablet on a table propped at an angle in a tablet case can reduce neck strain and potential pain, according to research conducted by Dr. Jack Dennerlein and his colleagues at the Harvard School of Public Health.
One of the best things to do, no matter what kind of computer you are using, is take a break. "Change your position every 15 minutes," says Dr. Dennerlein, an adjunct professor of ergonomics and safety at the Harvard School of Public Health. Other tips include:
When using an iPad or tablet:
Full story on tips for iPad use at Health News Digest
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Overworked Eyes: Will Your Computer Make You Go Blind?
As a child, your mother always said: "Don't sit so close to the TV, or you'll go blind!" But now almost everyone who works at a desk spends their entire day staring at a screen from distances that are most definitely not "mom-approved."
Do all those hours spent staring at your personal glowing portal to the digital world have an effect on your eyesight? Recent studies show that Mom might have known a thing or two after all. Eyestrain has also been linked with an increased risk of glaucoma.
The human visual system is complex and amazingly adaptive. It can change focus to see objects both near and far. It can change to see in bright conditions or dark conditions. With the help of 140 million neurons in the visual cortex it can identify, classify, analyze and react to approximately 12 to 15 one-million-point images per second. Yet, despite this complexity, human eyes just don't handle extended computer screen viewing all that well. "Your eyes are happiest when used for a variety of tasks utilizing a variety of focal distances with a variety of properly aligned light sources," states Jeffrey Anshel, O.D., author of Visual Ergonomics in the Workplace. "Computer use provides none of the above."
Full story of overworked computer eyes at Huffington Post
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On the Mend: Coming to grips with computer-use health issues
Here in the U.S., more than half of workers who use a computer at least 15 hours a week will seek help for a problem that could have been avoided with a better ergonomic setup. These problems have caused a strain on our health care system of more than $100 billion in the past five years, and the problem is worsening.
These numbers cause quite a stir with employers — and for good reason. In 2010, employers lost more than $60 billion in sick time and productivity because of injuries acquired while at the computer.
Over the last decade, computer ergonomics has been one of the most rapidly expanding industries and hotly debated topics in the business world. In case you haven't noticed, there are thousands of devices and setups available via catalogues and office superstores — so much so that it's fairly easy to come down with a case of option paralysis.
Full story of computer health at Gloucester Times
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Ergonomics help WSU employees keep work comfortable
PULLMAN, Wash. – Eight-hour days in an office environment can be grueling, depending on the job and how it is approached.
Sitting in the same chair all day can result in a stiff back and legs, as well as a feeling of exhaustion. However, those symptoms can be alleviated easily through the use of ergonomics.
Ergonomics is defined as assessing work-related factors that might pose a risk of musculoskeletal disorders, and providing recommendations to alleviate them, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. It is a science that helps fit the workplace conditions to the needs of the worker and of the worker’s body.
Essentially, it’s about making an employee as comfortable as possible.
Get up and move
Ed Havey, the previous Occupational Health and Safety Manager, has helped more than 800 Washington State University employees improve their workplace during his time here. He was the resident ergonomist, helping design work spaces that reduce injury and stress, before his departure in May.
Full story of ergonomics and health at WSU News Center
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