Laboratory Workers: Wrist Injuries and Yoga Solutions
One of the most common types of workplace injuries found in laboratory workers involve the wrists.
Manipulation of small specimen tubes, pipetting, and keyboarding are tough on our wrists.
Over time this can lead to problems such as carpal tunnel syndrome.
Take the Pain Out of Pipetting is a pamphlet by the California Department of Health Services which provides information about how to help ease your pain at work.
It also explains some laws regarding Repetitive Motion Injuries.
Check it out! Here are some key points: Carpal tunnel syndrome may present as pain, numbness, or tingling in the hands, fingers, and even in the shoulders.
Symptoms can start gradually but start to get worse over time.
Symptoms can occur at night but they are still considered work-related.
Symptoms may disappear while on vacation or on days off but the condition is still present and needs medical care.
Inform your employer.
Pipette users are particularly susceptible to wrist issues because of the nature of pipetting.
Pipetting is usually a long process requiring repeated motions which affect and possibly injure muscles, tendons, and joints.
If pipettes are not fitted to users properly or require a lot of thumb force, muscles have to work harder.
Additionally, too few breaks and long work hours mean less muscle and joint recovery time.
Injury prevention.
Legally, employers must provide a safe workplace.
Talk with coworkers about symptoms.
Talk with your employer about preventive actions.
Find ways to reduce pipetting tasks.
Take micro-breaks to relax your hands.
Find pipettes that are comfortable for all staff to use.
Make workspace adjustments to increase comfort and lessen injury.
Train staff on ergonomically safe practices including organizing workstations before pipetting.
Have a safety committee which monitors issues and helps keep employees safe from injury.
California rules about repetitive injury are:
This rule is enforced by Cal/OSHA.
In the meantime you probably want to ease some pain through yoga.
Or perhaps interested in some simple ways to help prevent wrist problems from even starting.
Follow along with Tara Stiles as she leads you through a short 5 minute video.
Search YouTube using keywords Tara Stiles and wrist.
Don't worry, you will need no yoga experience at all to reap the benefits! Some tips:
Manipulation of small specimen tubes, pipetting, and keyboarding are tough on our wrists.
Over time this can lead to problems such as carpal tunnel syndrome.
Take the Pain Out of Pipetting is a pamphlet by the California Department of Health Services which provides information about how to help ease your pain at work.
It also explains some laws regarding Repetitive Motion Injuries.
Check it out! Here are some key points: Carpal tunnel syndrome may present as pain, numbness, or tingling in the hands, fingers, and even in the shoulders.
Symptoms can start gradually but start to get worse over time.
Symptoms can occur at night but they are still considered work-related.
Symptoms may disappear while on vacation or on days off but the condition is still present and needs medical care.
Inform your employer.
Pipette users are particularly susceptible to wrist issues because of the nature of pipetting.
Pipetting is usually a long process requiring repeated motions which affect and possibly injure muscles, tendons, and joints.
If pipettes are not fitted to users properly or require a lot of thumb force, muscles have to work harder.
Additionally, too few breaks and long work hours mean less muscle and joint recovery time.
Injury prevention.
Legally, employers must provide a safe workplace.
Talk with coworkers about symptoms.
Talk with your employer about preventive actions.
Find ways to reduce pipetting tasks.
Take micro-breaks to relax your hands.
Find pipettes that are comfortable for all staff to use.
Make workspace adjustments to increase comfort and lessen injury.
Train staff on ergonomically safe practices including organizing workstations before pipetting.
Have a safety committee which monitors issues and helps keep employees safe from injury.
California rules about repetitive injury are:
- If 2 or more workers performing the same work are injured within the last 12 months, AND
- A doctors report concludes that both cases were job related.
This rule is enforced by Cal/OSHA.
In the meantime you probably want to ease some pain through yoga.
Or perhaps interested in some simple ways to help prevent wrist problems from even starting.
Follow along with Tara Stiles as she leads you through a short 5 minute video.
Search YouTube using keywords Tara Stiles and wrist.
Don't worry, you will need no yoga experience at all to reap the benefits! Some tips:
- breathe fully and deeply as you try the exercises
- do what feels good for you
- if 10 reps seem too many, try 5
