(NC)-If you work regularly at a computer, guess how many keystrokes you hit each day. The answer – 50,000 to 200,000. That’s lots of hours at a desk, repetitive motion, and chances that you’ll strain or injure your arm, hand, fingers, shoulder, neck or back.

We don’t think of being a desk jockey as a contact sport. Yet improper posture, poor work space design, and physical exertion can lead to nerve, muscle, tendon and ligament damage. In a Microsoft Canada survey, half of respondents had experienced discomfort or pain while using a computer.

How can you avoid being one of the workstation wounded? The Canadian Orthopaedic Foundation offers these tips.

Start with the right ergonomics.

. A comfortable chair, large enough to change positions, with adjustable armrests that position elbows near your waist. Angle the back slightly backwards, to reduce strain on the spine and ligaments. You should be able to sit back (no slouching or leaning), and keep your feet flat on the ground or on a foot rest.

. Keyboard at elbow height, with your monitor in front of you, an arm’s length away and with the top third at eye level.

. Pick a mouse that feels relatively flat and keep it on the same level as the keyboard.

. When typing, the best position is “neutral” – knuckles, wrist and top of forearm in a straight line.

Along with the correct ergonomics, a simple injury prevention strategy is the 20-20 rule – a 20 second break every 20 minutes.

“Do a different task, get up and move around, doing neck, shoulder, elbow, and wrist stretches,” says Dr. Stewart Wright of the division of orthopaedic surgery, at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

Pay attention to pain, aches, numbness or tingling. If breaks and re-positioning your work area don’t help, talk to your doctor.

“Repetitive motion injuries happen over time, so a minor strain today could eventually become chronic,” says Angelique Berg, executive director of the Canadian Orthopaedic Foundation. “Make daily, preventative measures part of your job to stay pain-free at work.”

More on keeping your bones and joints healthy is available online at www.canorth.org.

Credit: www.newscanada.com

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