AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ABOUT THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ERGONOMICS AS AN INTERVENTION FOR THE COMPUTER-INDUCED REPETITIVE STRESS INJURIES

ABSTRACT This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of ergonomics as an intervention for Computer Induced Repetitive Stress Injuries (CIRSI`s) CIRSI is commonly experienced as pain, heaviness and discomfort in certain areas of the body in a working environment. This results from a bad posture while operating a computer. Fifty subjects aged 21-45, 39 are female who have worked with computers for at least 4 months with at least 4 hours of duty per day where chosen to participate in the study. After signing the informed consent, they were tasked to complete a questionnaire to determine the prevalence of CIRSI`s among them. Result from the questionnaires showed that the most commonly affected areas of the body using pain, heaviness, discomfort and limitation of motion as parameters, were the low back ( 70% ), followed by the neck ( 32% ) , shoulder ( 22% ), knee ( 12% ) , elbow ( 8% ), upper back (4% ), wrist and hand ( 4% ). They were then instructed on the posture and ergonomuics, which they will adapt daily for 2 weeks while they work. Pamphlets were given for reference and supplementary guidelines. The subjects were visited twice (unannounced) during the 2 weeks period by the researchers to make sure that they are complying with the set intervention. At the end of the 2 weeks, measurements were taken and tabulated using the same parameters of pain, heaviness, discomfort and limitation of motion. Pre and post implementation measurements were analyzed for significance. Using the T-test, post-measurement values were shown to be statistically different from the pre-test values. Therefore, Ergonomics when applied in the workplace is an effective intervention strategy to reduce pain, heaviness, discomfort as well as to improve range of motion among the office workers complaining of CIRSI`s.

School of Physical Therapy