How to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome
May 21, 2013, 12:00 PM | Updated: 12:00 pm
Are you listening to this Data Doctors Tech Tip while sitting at your computer? If so, sit up straight.
We humans have taken an evolutionary step, backwards. Our posture at work sucks, and we can all thank the computer for that.
The posture lessons, cautionary tales, and ergonomic gadgets of the past 30 years have apparently taught us nothing, and as a result, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is now the most common neurological problem.
It affects many of us who sit at a computer typing away all day long. After all, we’re Bipeds, hunter gatherers, not sitters and typers.
The typical treatment, even for moderate cases of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is surgery, and it’s all because you were too lazy to sit up straight.
So how do you fix the problem? You need to set yourself, your desk and your chair up for success.
Keep your chair at a height so that your knees bend at a 90-degree angle; also keep your feet flat on the floor, and make sure your wrists are parallel with the floor.
Laptops are great but if you can, get an external keyboard and raise your computer up. Everyone looks down at laptops and that’s a painful problem.
If you need some help keeping your hands from going numb, check out a pair of Imak computer gloves. We’ve got a link to them on Facebook.
We’ve got the answers to your technology questions.
All you have to do is ask us at facebook.com/datadoctors.