Setting up your office for pain-free work

Two weeks ago, I attended a workshop held by a professional writer's association that I belong to. One of the speakers was an ergonomics expert who really opened my eyes about a few things.

I think most of us know the basics of good ergonomics in an office. If someone asked us, we could tell them about good posture, positioning of the chair, etc, but how many of us are right? I was sort-of right with a few things, correct about a few, but totally wrong in others.

So, as part of Ergonomic week at Help my Hurt, I'm improving my work station throughout the week and we'll see how I do.

I started complaining of severe neck pain a few weeks ago after I stretched and something "popped." Although when I'm upright, my neck is fairly ok, when I lie down, it's very painful still. While I was listening to the ergonomics speaker, I realized that I probably didn't hurt my neck while I was stretching. I likely hurt my neck a long time ago and was just making it worse with my work habits, until it couldn't take the stress any more. Hopefully, my office changes will help that.

This is what I've done so far. I work exclusively on my laptop. I sit at my big computer desk, with a desktop off to the left and that part of the desk had a keyboard drawer. I had considered, from time to time, using it for my laptop, but it wasn't conveniently placed. It also wouldn't fit where I would have preferred it.

On Saturday, I went to Bureau en Gros (Staples in Quebec) and bought a new keyboard drawer, took off the old one and put the new one where I wanted it. I unplugged the keyboard from the desk top and plugged it into my laptop.

I adjusted my chair so my hands are even on the board - not angled and my footstool is keeping my legs at the right height. I also put my laptop on one of the thickest books I own, the Physicians' Desk Reference. I figured it would come in handy some day when I bought it. :-)

Yesterday, I went back to the store and bought a document holder to hold my papers up so I can see them. Today, to reduce eyestrain, I enlarged the type on my laptop screen so I could push it a bit further away.

Let's see what tomorrow brings!


Today at Help My Hurt:

Company’s calling - an RN speaks about her fibromyalgia
Self-evaluation for RSIs
Ergonomics: crafts and hobbies
Botox is 20 years old
Help My Hurt Ergonomic Week & a Contest!
Are doctors seeking the wrong target when treating back pain?

News for Today:

Older Australians at risk of sun-related skin cancer death
Quebec girls to be offered free HPV vaccine
U.S. hospitals warned about medication risks in children
Mouth may tell the tale of lung damage caused by smoking

Hospice for chilldren to be built in Alberta

This is wonderful news to me: Alberta's 1st children's hospice breaks ground.
Hospice care and palliative care are starting to really come into their own right as medical specialties. Yet, as society accepts the elderly and adults dying from fatal or chronic illness, there's still a tendency to deny that this also happens to our children.

When children die, the support network has to be large because the child's death affects the families and friends in so many ways. While doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals do their best in a hospital environment, it's not the same as receiving care in a place that is dedicated to understanding the reality of a child's death.

No, it's not a pleasant thing to think about, but by denying families access to specialized places, we aren't going to make their children live any longer.


News for Today:
Most Back Pain Could Be Cured Without Surgery Or Drugs If Doctors Treated Muscles
Continuous Oral Contraceptives Improve Menstrual Symptoms
Adults who eat apples, drink apple juice have lower risk for metabolic syndrome
Omega-3's no help for Crohn's sufferers
FDA Approves Abatacept for the Treatment of Polyarticular Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

Do you have a pain story to share?

Do you have chronic pain or a story about pain that you would like to share?

As some of my regular readers know, I also have a blog called Help My Hurt, which is about pain. We talk about causes of pain, management, treatment, prevention, news releases, and whatever else may come up. We have a few giggles too, with our Friday Funnies.

Every Monday, we have a feature called Company's calling. This is an interview with someone who has chronic pain or is living/helping with someone who does. We've heard from people who have back pain, knee pain, endometriosis, interstitial cystitis, and so on.

Do you have a story to tell? Would you like to be interviewed for the feature? If so, please email me at sesesi(at)yahoo.com (take out the (at) an replace it with @) .

You can check out previous features (the site looks funny now, there's something wrong with the servers, but you can still access it):
Company’s calling - a mom’s pain gone undiagnosed and unmanaged
Company’s calling - back pain
Company’s calling - a journey with fibromyalgia
Company’s calling - the road to a diagnosis for endometriosis
Company’s calling - living with migraine pain
Company’s calling - living with the pain of interstitial cystitis
Company’s calling - 6 weeks of pain so far
Company’s calling - a guest discusses living with pain


News for Today:
Hormone replacement therapy appears to have no effect on risk and severity of rheumatoid arthritis
U of Minnesota study finds thalidomide shows promise for treatment of recurrent ovarian cancer
Chewing gum -- the new post-operative medicine
Does gingko biloba affect memory?
Drug-resistant TB at all-time high: WHO
Neurofeedback may decrease autism symptoms: study
All kids 6 months and older should get flu shot: U.S. panel
No proof of heart risk from Nexium: Health Canada
Experts Are Concerned Court Case May Scare Off Potential Organ Donors
Robot as good as real dog at easing lonely hours

Wednesday's news

I love Wednesdays for news because so many stories come out on Tuesdays. There is so much to choose from. I try to pick things that are not as clinical as interesting as they may be, but what I think my readers may find applicable and interesting.

Blood test predicts onset of Alzheimer's is interesting because Alzheimer’s is such a devastating disease. Of course, detecting it doesn’t mean that there is a cure, but it is a good step in that direction. Plus, researchers are finding ways to slow down the progress of the disease, so early detection would be a great plus.

Canada approves first new HIV drug in 10 years and Study examines AIDS patients in Africa seem ironic, to me, that they show up in the same week. It’s known how difficult it is for people in so-called Third World countries to get HIV medications and now we learn (although it’s not surprising) that many don’t take them as they should. Very sad.

This story A low prevalence of H pylori in HIV-positive patients was just interesting to me.

Now, I guess we shouldn’t be surprised with this story: Severely mentally ill at high risk for cardiovascular disease. I’m thinking of it from the point of view that a psychiatric illness must be stressful on the body – that was always my amateur take on this type of thing. I believe that psychiatric illnesses have a much greater impact on the physical body than the medical community has realized.

Potentially deadly staph superbug spreading faster than ever is an important story. We hear a lot about some problems that may never affect us, but this is a biggie. We need to be more aware of this. Interestingly, this story also appeared at the same time: Simple measures can reduce spread of respiratory viruses. Handwashing is our number one defense against spreading germs and getting sick ourselves.

Sometimes, the stories hit home because of issues that I’ve gone through or had. I’ve had a few gastroscopies so this story definitely caught my eye: Patients may have sweet and effective way to prepare for upper GI endoscopy: an anesthetic lollipop. I can do a lot of things without freaking, but I just can’t tolerate upper GI endoscopies. I have a very strong gag reflex and it’s not easy for me to imagine one of those scopes going down my throat.

A few others that were interesting because of professional or personal experience were these ones: Chinese herbal medicine may help relieve painful menstrual cramps, No evidence that insoles prevent general back pain, Stretching out does not prevent soreness after exercise, Don't routinely use enemas during labor, and Don't 'break the waters' during labor without good clinical reason, concludes Cochrane Review.

Most women who have had painful menstrual cramps can definitely understand the interest in such a finding. If you don’t get a good effect from the available treatments, it really is miserable having to experience that cramping every month. The story about insoles is interesting. As a nurse, I have that age-old nurse problem, a sore back. I never thought of trying special insoles though.

Now, the stretching story really caught my eye because I’d read that before. And you know what? Even though they have the findings, I have to disagree with them. I know that if I do any type of exercise, be it on my elliptical, raking leaves, shoveling snow, or golfing, and I haven’t stretched first, my muscles hurt. However, if I stretch before (and after if I think of it), there is minimal, if any, muscle pain.

The next two stories about labour are also interesting. I thought that they didn’t do enemas to labouring mothers any more. I guess I was wrong. As for breaking the water – that one makes a lot of sense because we really should be limiting any type of medical intervention in labour and delivery unless it is really necessary, in my opinion.

And that is the news for today!

My back is *not* happy

Ack, my back! As a nurse, I know I’m not alone with my sore back. Because of our heavy lifting and awkward body mechanics, it’s not unusual to see a nurse rubbing his or her sore lower back and even calling in sick from time to time because it’s almost impossible to move.

I was reading some stats because of some articles I was working on. I knew back pain was common, but what I didn’t know was that in North America and other Western societies, we have a 65% to 85% chance of developing lower back pain at some point in our life and up to 75% can have a relapse. Of course, that means that many of us have a chance of not developing back pain, but I’m definitely in that 75% that relapses regularly. And I never know what will do it. This week, it was going to the driving range with my husband.

I learned how to golf a few summers ago but never had the time to get halfway decent. I decided that this was the year that I would. Well, after that first trip to the driving range, I’m rethinking that. My body mechanics were fine, I was hitting the ball really well, but my back just didn’t appreciate doing what I wanted it to do. Very frustrating.

We know that a lot of the level of chronic pain we experience is related to our mental health. That's not to say if you have pain, you’re not mentally well! But, there have been studies that have shown that people who learn how to handle their pain, through cognitive behaviour therapy, or biodfeedback, techniques like that, tend to report lower levels of pain. So maybe I have to find a way to handle this and to convince my back that I’m not going to stop golfing, no matter what it says. :-)

Seriously though, I do stretch and I do try to be very careful. After all, it is the only back I have. If any one has any suggestions, I’d love to hear about them. Exercising helps to a certain degree, but I still have to be very, very careful.

News for today:
Sleep apnea increases risk of diabetes and hypertension in pregnant women
Heart guidelines aim to prevent defects in newborns
Weight training reverses muscle aging: Study