The commonly held belief that prolonged computer use leads to the nerve disorder known as carpal tunnel syndrome has been refuted in a new study at Harvard Medical School. Carpal tunnel syndrome is a painful condition in which there is numbness and tingling in the hands, sometimes even spreading up to the arms. It affects nearly twice as many women as men.
A procedure to ease this nerve disorder is one of the most common surgeries done in the United States, with more than 200,000 performed each year.
Computer use has long been thought to cause this painful condition. But according to the new study it is caused by the compression of the median nerve in the wrist. This compression may occur because of heredity, body weight, fracture, or even pregnancy-but not computer use.
Even upto seven hours of computer use do not increase risk of carpal tunnel syndrome.In fact it is more likely to occur in in those who do assembly-line work in industries such as manufacturing, sewing, cleaning, or meatpacking.
This however,does not mean that hours of tapping away at your keyboards does not pose any health risks.Improper computer use and other workplace conditions can contribute to a type of disorder known as repetitive stress injury.
Carpal tunnel syndrome is in fact not a repetitive stress injury, though it is often incorrectly described as one, says the Harvard report.
Via: Sciencedaily
Image: haquechiropractic