COMPUTING PAIN

The slight nagging pain in your neck and shoulder could leave your arm numb. Read on to know how you can prevent injury at your workstation

When 25-year-old Netra Taneja got a stinging pain in her shoulder and arm, she thought the cause could have been an injury. Last month, the pain got worse and Taneja couldn’t move her arm an inch. That is when the real culprit came to light—the 14 hours that she spent on the computer every day.

“Since I work at a call centre, I have to be in front of a computer for long,” she says. She has been diagnosed with repetitive stress syndrome (RSS, also known as repetitive strain injury), a condition caused by repeatedly using a particular muscle and injuring it. “The repetitive stress leads to severe muscle spasms; it is the source of inflammation, pain and fatigue at the end of the day. The muscles contract while working and at the end of the day, you get intense muscle spasm,” says Dr Vikram Singh, consultant, neurology, Moolchand Medcity.

Early symptoms of RSS usually go unrecognised. They are recurring pain or soreness in the neck, shoulders, upper back, wrists and arms. “The pain usually begins in the neck and shoulders and goes on to the arms. Usually people ignore this pain. Even though it disappears for a while, it keeps coming back and only gets worse,” says Dr Ramesh H Dhumale, orthopaedic surgery, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals.

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If ignored, the pain leads to numbness or loss of sensation in the affected region. In some cases, it also leads to long-term problems of weakness in the arm and loss of grip.

Sometimes, RSS can lead to serious complications. Twenty-seven-year-old Priyanka Grewal, for example, worked on the computer for seven hours and was logged in even at home. “If there was no one to chat with online, I would just look at the updated photographs of my friends on social networking sites,” she says. When her arm and neck ached, she brushed it off as something that would eventually go away. It didn’t. The nerves of her right arm became so weak that it was not possible for her to even hold a pen. “The doctor has told me to not sit on the computer at all for the next few months,” she says. For other things such as eating or brushing teeth, Priyanka has been advised to use her left hand.

While sitting on the computer for long hours is the most common factor that leads to repetitive stress syndrome, doctors say that psychological and mental stress also add to it. “In some cases, mental stress might be the main cause of RSS,” says Dr Jitendra Nagpal, senior consultant, psychiatry, Moolchand Medcity.
Doctors say the number of people suffering from RSS has increased and that it is a worrying trend. “Five years ago, most of the patients who complained of RSS were people who played sports like tennis. Now, people in their early twenties come to me complaining of RSS. Four out of ten patients suffer from it,” says Dhumale. He blames the rise on the use of computers. “Everyone is hooked to the computer—be it for work, social networking or playing games. A major change in lifestyle is required to prevent RSS,” he says.

The damage, however, is done once you’ve been diagnosed. “It’s the kind of illness which can be prevented but not easily cured,” Dhumale says. While physiotherapy and abstinence from all things that add stress to the particular nerve or muscle will help, regular exercise, healthy eating habits and as little time on the computer as possible will prevent it. “It is essential to take adequate rest (at least 8 hours of sleep),” says Dr Singh.