Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Reaching Epidemic Proportions

Main Category: Body Aches
Article Date: 18 Jan 2005 - 15:00 PDT

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As our reliance on computers increases, Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI) such as Carpel Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) are hitting epidemic proportions. More than 28 million Americans use computers each day and, according to officials at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, (OSHA) many risk coming down with carpal tunnel syndrome, the painful, debilitating condition that is the number one disability reported by insurance companies today.

Repetitive musculoskeletal injuries like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome have become the nation's leading workplace health cost. RSI represents 62 percent of all North American WC claims and results in nearly $15-20 billion in lost work time and Workers Compensation claims each year, reports OSHA.

Since 1981 Frank Dominguez, a supervisor for the Los Angeles County Assessor's Office Special Investigators Unit, has been tasked with bringing awareness of ergonomics training to the County and the Union (Local 660) that services Los Angeles county workers.

For a while they used ergonomics training offered by local universities, but found that the employees were not receptive to these programs. They tried using people in the department to help others learn better workplace safety systems, but that had little or no success.

Then Dominguez learned about Future Industrial Technologies (F.I.T.) and their programs delivered by healthcare professionals who are trained as injury prevention specialists.

The BACKSAFE(R) and SITTINGSAFE(R) programs are based on Bionomics TM, a field within ergonomics training that includes the adjustment of the physical environment and the body. These bionomic programs have been used in diverse industries such as aerospace, municipalities, banks, hospitals, warehouse/trucking firms as well as many small businesses to increase workplace safety and substantially reduce repetitive stress injuries and Workers Compensation costs.

"The curriculum was excellent," says Dominguez. "They looked over the worksites and evaluated each type of work station and designed an ergonomics training program specifically for us."

The training sessions are set up to mimic conditions in the worksite and employees bring their own chairs. They're taught how to adjust their equipment, the importance of wrist support and how to modify their positions and posture to reduce the risk of RSI and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

The goal of the workshop is for participants to be able to modify any workstation for their own bodies. "The staff really paid attention," says Dominguez. "They were given training that they could apply to every day work life."

The staff evaluations of the program have all been positive. One executive secretary was told by her doctor that she was just too old to work and should take early retirement. "Once she got the ergonomics training and readjusted her work station and her posture, her pain went away," laughs Dominguez. "She went back to the doctor and told him he was too old to work on her! She did not have any pain after going through this program and later retired, pain free!"

The department's Workers Compensation costs have been cut dramatically and where there were 19 to 20 claims per year, there are now only one or two.

About Future Industrial Technologies

FIT offers workplace safety training programs based on Bionomics. These programs show employees how to perform their specific job tasks in a manner that is bio-mechanically correct, increasing workplace safety and reducing repetitive strain injuries, carpal tunnel syndrome and insurance costs.

For More Information:
Dennis Downing
805-563-2225
info@backsafe.com
http://www.backsafe.com

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