Can RSI’s be designed out of the workplace?
You can’t design a workplace that reduces workload and responsibility, but you can train workers to have the skills needed to minimize the effects of muscle loading. The ultimate solution should be a combination of an ergonomically correct site in addition to MLT training to reduce muscle loading while at work. The workplace was even worse fifteen years ago when people were doing data entry and mousing under worse conditions, yet people were not getting injured as often. The problem, instead of being the work site, has become the increased workload and its associated responsibilities. As long as we have conscientious workers who are NOT getting trained to reduce the loading on their muscles, itís not going to change. Unfortunately, you can sit in a perfect workstation and still get injured because the workload and resulting sympathetic response haven’t been changed. Only the position of the keyboard, chair, mouse, and screen have. The mechanism promoting a heightened arousal state (the
