Ergonomic education – A tool to maintain health

Abstract

Objective: To identify the occurrence of leg pain amongst computer users and assess its relation to age, sex, occupation and duration of computer use.

Methodology: It was a cross sectional study conducted from January till December 2011. A self reported questionnaire tailored with Occupational Health and Safety Act of the Ministry of Labor, Ontario, Canada was used. Participants were randomly selected; responses analyzed by SPSS software version 15. Chi square test was applied to results and considered significant with p value <0.05

Results: A total of 416 participants responded with mean age of 34.87±8.78 years. There were 231(55.5 %) males. Out of 416, 123(29.5%) participants had work related leg symptoms [66(15.8%) male and 57 (13.7%) female]. Occurrence of leg pain within one to two hours of consecutive work was significantly more in 26-35 and 36-45 year age groups. Postural changes incorporated through frequent short breaks improved leg symptoms in between eight to nine out of ten participants (104/123). The improvement was significantly more in 26-35 and 36-45 year age groups. Leg symptoms showed no relation with the length of computer usage or daily usage or between both sex and working groups.

Conclusion: Leg pain/tingling/numbness is an early sign of repetitive injuries that can be timely addressed by ergonomic education and improving postural health through short breaks.