Laptops eh? ..sit it on your lap.. and work away..(ok so in the US they call it a “notebook”)
I hadn”t thought much about this myself till a couple of weeks ago when i was afflicted with sudden and terrible pain..(i”m much better now thanks!) and i joined the millions of sufferers of back pain, of some kind or other. yep, you don”t think about it till it hits YOU, then suddenly - like with all other pain and illness - you think shit! having never experienced back pain before, i suddenly felt for all those chronic back pain sufferers - you can”t even relax..or do all the things you normally do.. - you know slouch on the sofa, ..read a book, sleep.. And then..moments of panic, as I thought, but i”m too young for this! what”s wrong with me! why me..and the usual self-pitying sort of thing..before getting on the net to discover what might be wrong with me. Now the net”s a scary place..i was freaking out about whether i had something like fibromyalgia. I did think it might have something to do with poor posture and all that sort of thing, sitting over the computer, and i realized i had been hunched over the laptop in the evenings for a few evenings in a row.. over the last couple of weeks or so. At work, in theory, i figured i was sitting in a sort-of-sensible way ( our office manager had had to go around checking with everyone, given that sitting at desktops falls under the Health & Safety scrutiny) but hadn”t been thinking about my laptop at home. And apparently - neither is anyone else! Or not too many people anyway.
Be warned - laptops are increasingly causing a lot of pain..and we need to be aware! for some reason, apparently the Health & Safety Executive doesn”t issue any guidance about laptop usage…( and isn”t planning to, for some bizarre reason..the idiots!)
the guardian warning about the dangers of laptop usage amongst students..
“Students who regularly use laptops are putting themselves in danger of persistent neck, back, shoulder and wrist pain, and they are often unaware of the risks they are taking until it is too late, according to new research.
Surveys carried out by ergonomist Rachel Benedyk and her team at University College London”s Interaction Centre found that 57% of respondents had experienced aches and pains as a result of their laptop use, with 7% having pain a lot of the time. The survey involved 649 undergraduate and postgraduate students of a range of nationalities, and the majority said they had never encountered ergonomic guidance on laptop use.”
yes we never get any guidance on laptop use, just about using desktops..
The Times goes one better and has some photos!
“With BBC’s Panorama this week pointing to the supposed dangers of wi-fi technology, back experts are pointing to a much more immediate danger from laptop computers. They say that they are creating a nation of slouch potatoes.
Michael Durtnall, a leading chiropractor, is one of a growing band of back-care specialists who say that something has to be done before children and young adults do irretrievable damage to their joints. He estimates that about 80 per cent of the patients at his three London clinics – mainly students, office workers and City types – have chronic nerve pain as a result of poor posture induced by working on a laptop. A recent British Chiropractic Association survey indicated that 50 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds were suffering from back pain, compared with 18 per cent three years ago. Durtnall believes the simultaneous rise of the laptop is no coincidence.”
Goodness! Why is it you always read these things when its too late? Ok its not too late for me..but you know what i mean..everyone! sit up and pay attention! It could be YOU next.
You can download a poster here..spread the news. Really, we all ought to be buying laptop stands..(which then means you”re not so mobile anymore..so really the bloody laptop manufacturers need to be thinking about ergonomics. Why don”t they have it so you can extend the screen up, and the keyboard out?)
Useful links:
Making your laptop back friendly
British Chiropractic Association
BackCare: The charity for healthier backs
Let”s do something about it before its too late for us. I”m mostly fine now, my shoulder is still playing up, but it”s nothing compared to the excruciating - and suprisingly (ok to me) debilitating pain i”ve had for the last couple of weeks. And i thought it would go away in a day or two. I hear a couple of weeks is still pretty lucky, it could take upto months for my shoulder to properly heal, and even then i”ll be lucky..
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