European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 25, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse Debilitated7 by High tech by Judy Pasternak. Los Angeles times i t happened to Ola Bullock a your old data reviewer at the ratio Branch of the social Scurdy Angeles. It happened Silvia a a 39-year old service representative far Pacific boil in . To happened to a contracts administrator Lor a Hollywood area entertainment company an airline reservations cd orc irom the san Fernando Valley area of los angelas a discount stockbroker in san Francisco. Ii up on secretaries screenwriters accounting clerk broadcast graphics engineers. And it sneaked upon to a 32-year-old reporter los Angeles times. " at Lisl each of us occasionally fell so Subtle that we barely realized we hurl. Over time we developed a invisible affliction that made the simplest hand movement a Natof Florl filled with pain. It hurl to Washo eat to open doors o pick up a baby. It meant losing Independence and in threatened our jobs. Bullock could t fill out her income lax terms. I could barely Brush my Teeth. When i tried to apply pressure Perez says Al was like putting your hand on a Nail. I moan it researchers Call it the Industrial injury at the information age doctors Call in cumulative. Trauma Foj Isidor or overuse syndrome or injury. I Call it Corn Putenis in the Las decade computers have become As common in the office As telephones in All researching filing calculating editing mailing. Along with Speed and ease though he High tech revolution also has generated complaints of crippling Side elects questions t ave Boon raised about problems such As blurred vision and an increased risk o miscarriage or Billii defects. Most to computer work however a damage 16 tendons Muscles and nerves apparently cruised keys As often As 18,000 i mics an hour Lor hours at a Lime cumulative trauma disorder is not a new phenomenon but until recently in appealed to to confined to manufacturing work. It has shown up in meatpacking plants textile Mills Auto Assembly lines anyplace where hand and Arm motions arc repeated continuously Over the past 10 years As automaton has reduced jobs to simpler tasks and the race to increase productivity has Cut into rest periods these problems Are Al a cling wore and More workers last october Loheus department of labor levied a Tine of $4 3 million the largest in its 17-year history against John Morrell & co for wilfully ignoring cumulative trauma struck More than 40 percent of the 2.000 employees in a South Dakota meatpacking Plant in december a $1,4 million Fine was proposed to cumulative trauma disorder at a pc Lordge farms inc cookie factory in Pennsylvania both companies Are currently negotiating settlements with Inq department of labor. Some employer question me connection of cumulative trauma disorder to computer work in workers compensation cases they have argued that the problems May result irom aging or hobbies such As knitting sewing or playing musical instruments and iwo social scientists from Carnegie Mellon University argued. In the december Issue of american psychologist thai the injuries Are being used by some australian clerical workers As an excuse to get disability pensions and escape their Boring jobs. But the National Institute for occupational safely and health a research Armol the department of health and. Human services thai advises the Pearl men of labor is convinced Hal repetitive Strain injuries have a Causo and filled relationship to computer work it s nol unique to ". says Vern Anderson a nosh ergonomist an expert in adapting workplaces for worker but vye Are. Seeing More cases of it because the proportion of he Vork Force using computers is v. Currently 20 million people in he or cited Stales use computers daily to make a living according to the computer and business equipment manufacturers association. By the year 2000, the association predicts. T5 percent of All jobs will involve computers Lisl bout Wilh compute his began in late 1986,. Very Early one december morning i opened my eyes to the predawn Gray and wondered Why i was awake i moved slightly then All i saw was a Hayob fought on by sudden agony. The next Day after i took a painkiller prescribed by a doctor my neck was much boiler White typing a Story later however my hands went numb. My fingers tingled As if being pricked by pins and Needles. The doctor though that i had a pinched nerve in my Heck caused by cradling s my shoulder while i look noles on my pinched Nerva ran Down my Armi said a chiropractor i started seeing. The hands would heal he predicted As pressure eased Oil the nerve i exchanged my Telephone receiver fora Telephone Headset and wanted Lor improvement. Instead everything go Lorse. Ray forearms Felt heavy and sore nothing eased the pain. , Bradley Frederick theorized that the pinched not my Only problem to had seen something like this a Lew times before in people who worked Wilh computers i had heard vague tales about others a the los Angeles times stricken by something called computer when i casually mentioned to a times computer systems expert that. I seemed to have a touch of it he stared at me hard. You belter take it seriously he snapped it can ruin you. He Gays Rno the name of a reporter who had been forced to take a non reporting pm for nine months because of the pain. Nine months i called the Man was reporting again but to still hurl. Slop typing now he ordered a. Of Hermisa it gots much worse Aas we talked sat lacing the. Glowing groan tetters of a Hall finished Story on my computer screen. I Hung up and kept staring wondering if i had drilled into a cheap horror Tek the revenge of the a filieo machines. When you work computer Aro tight constrained to support the arms Eye Muscles remain rigidly focused on the screen usually 15 to 20 inches away. Each time you punch a key a muscle running from the Elbow i rough the contracts the muscle is attached 19 London of Al slide Back in lubricated sheaths through the wrist to till the fingers the muscle relaxes the tendons slide Forward the Finger pushes Down when Ola Bullock enters social Security information into her does l have to pause As Wilh a typewriter she does t have to Ros out a finished form or insert a new one contract slide rela. Silvia Perez types. Phona orders into a computer almost continuously contract slide relax i can move paragraphs at will so i Terrile endlessly to Chat with colleague i tap out a. Message and dispatch it ote Ciro Mically. Contract slide relax. Contract slide relax. Cumulative trauma disorder encompasses problems. Ranging from swollen tendons and muscle spasms to. Severe nerve damage or any combination thereof it usually starts when excessive friction scars issues thai then stick to tendons muscle or Bone. The Tendon. Sheaths lighten changing the lubrication inside from the. Normal egg White consistency to a Gluey Fex Lura. Body parts go trom slipping easily to a constant tug and pull. In response the Tendon sheaths May become. Inflamed a condition known As Tenosky Novills or the tendons themselves May swell a injury called Len Dintis. My doctor said t had both. " swollen tendons can push into the wrist compressing the median nerve which runs through a. Passage in the wrist the carpal Tunnel to the. Inger the disorder can also surface along lha ult or. Herve running from the Elbow to the Little linger ,. Carpal Tunne syndrome is a potentially crippling injury. Thai May require surgery to Widen the Tunnel and relieve pressure on the nerve,.thai s what happened to Perez. Her hands deteriorated for a year irom cramps to numbness to shoulder pain. Finally she lost her grip Perez had an operation performed on her rig1 wrist within six weeks before she could return to work her doctor ordered similar surgery on the led wrist computer tis researchers Are not certain Why some people have some symptoms and others have Dlf Lerent ones. Wor Are they sure Why some people manage to hold up under the Strain Wilh no problems at All. But they suspect that the most Likely victims Are xhosa whose efficiency of movement is hampered by conditions ranging from my pinched Nerva to someone else s lower Back trouble or old shoulder injury. Prolonged computer work. Morse says is so harsh that there is Little tolerance for imperfections the pain she says tends to show up where the imperfections Are the most common actor is bad pos Luro not Only of the neck and spine but also of the arms and hands bad pasture can Crealo the last bit of extra pressure that marginal defect that leaves computer users of furniture and of Iho computer Itsell can ailed posture. If keyboards Are Loo High or Loo thick or if chairs Are Loo Low operators May be forced to work with hands Benl upward. Screens can also be too High or too Low or Loo far away prompting operators o Crane their necks for hours Tho keys can be so Syf that it takes a mighty Ellor i to push them. Computer users May nol even realize when their bodies Are compromised it s amazing How much difference a Inch or two can make says Mark s. Sanders an ergonomics consultant on the faculty Al California stale University North do the first step in my treatment was to change the Way 1 worked. The times safely director suggested a new chair and a a isl real a Black leather pad that sits in front of he keyboard to assure Hal wrists slay in a level position. He raised my screen so that i could keep my. Neck straight instead of stretching to peer Down at in. Page h the stars and stripes saturday i
