Common Office Acquired Injuries
Today I had the opportunity to interview an old friend Hamlet Aritsy. He is an Occupational Therapist working at Hands Up Occupational Therapy, a female owned clinic in New York, New York. He treats a variety of hand related injuries but we focused on the most common office acquired injuries treated at this location and their methods of treatment. There were 2 he sees often and I have listed them below with a brief simple description of the anatomy followed by treatment.
Most common office acquired injuries:
Carpal tunnel syndrome: We’ve all heard this phrase before “carpal tunnel.” We know people who get it complain of a lot of pain, take time off from work and some may even have to have surgery. There are various ways carpal tunnel can affect a person so before it gets worse let's take a look at what may be happening.
Anatomy - Without getting too technical about the anatomy, carpal tunnel is actually a space in our wrists, it resembles a tunnel. This tunnel is surrounded by carpal bones, a tissue called synovium, and through this tunnel a very specific nerve runs through called the medium nerve. This nerve provides feeling to the thumb, index, middle and ring fingers. What specifically causes Carpal tunnel syndrome is the swelling of the synovium tissue which then compresses on the nerve. This compression causes a feeling of numbness, tingling, burning, pain, and occasional shock-like sensation. The symptoms can also radiate which means it travels to the shoulder and even fingers. It’s not a pleasant feeling.
The causes of carpal tunnel vary from heredity, pregnancy, health condition, repetitive hand use and even hand/wrist position. The cases hamlet sees have primarily been repetitive hand use and hand/wrist position. The way he treats these have been corrective in posture along with strengthening, stretching, and nerve glides. When asked if these injuries could have been prevented hamlet states YES!! He treats a lot of hard working people who if they were cautious about their posture and environment could have prevented these injuries.
2. Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI): I love to hear when someone knows what they’re talking about and drop the RSI phrase. RSI is an injury to a part of the musculoskeletal, or nervous system caused by compression, vibrations, or long periods in a fixed position. Some of these conditions are named De Quervain syndrome, cubital tunnel syndrome, tendinosis, tennis elbow, radial/ulnar tunnel syndrome, to name a few. They’re caused over time and some people are more susceptible to these than others. Hamlet states the treatments for some of these conditions include strengthening of surrounding muscles in injured areas, frequent breaks throughout the workday and of course posture change.
Hamlet describes most office acquired injuries as treatable and preventable. It's common to receive patients who never thought their hard work and long periods of computer use would lead to such painful injuries. What he emphasizes is that these conditions are difficult to treat if the issue causing the problem is not corrected. Hamlet tries his best to educate his patients about proper ergonomics and will sometimes have his patients send pictures of their working posture and recommend adjustments. When this fails he recommends ergonomic equipment, but as he states his knowledge on the different types of office equipment options are limited, but he tries his best.
I met with Hamlet today to learn more about the challenges hand therapist experience and to gain perspective on how ergonomics can help. I feel it’s important to educate individuals reporting pain and discomforts before true injury occurs.