Ergonomic Conditions And RSI 

Repetitive strain injury (RSI) is a general term that is used to describe muscle pain or pain in the nerves and tendons of certain parts of the body. This sort of injury occurs due to repetitive movements and overuse of that part of the body where the injury has occurred. While we have been in lockdown during 2020 and 2021, there is a greater risk of people who are working from home suffering an RSI problem.  

This is because RSI can often be caused or worsened by a lack of access to ergonomically designed equipment. In normal offices, employers will normally provide ergonomically designed office chairs or other equipment like a keyboard riser to protect your wrists. Therefore, it’s important to learn about the measures that you can put in place to avoid suffering from RSI while working from home.  

Contact us today on 0800 342 3206 or through our online form. 

Protecting Yourself From RSI At Home 

It is quite common for employees who work in a fixed position, such as at a desk, for their whole working day to develop an RSI problem. In the USA, it was found that 1 in every 50 workers suffers from RSI symptoms. However, these numbers are elevated in industries where working on a computer/laptop is a high part of the job role. 

In these sorts of industries, roughly 1 in 4 employees suffer from RSI symptoms. If you would like to read more about this study and RSI, you can visit the general RSI statistics website here. 

In order to protect yourself from RSI while working from home, you can follow these steps: 

Take A Break 

Take a five-minute break every hour while working from home to stretch your hands and move around. RSI can impact many different parts of the body, including your back, and so you should use this break to walk around your house and get your blood following again after sitting in the same place for a while.  

Get A Comfortable Chair 

Bad posture is one of the most common causes of RSI. While people might just have bad posture naturally, the likelihood of this type of injury occurring is increased if the chair or other equipment that you use is not comfortable. 

Robert Bridger, who is the president of the UK’s Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors, states that one of the most common RSI-related conditions is lower backache, pain in the neck and shoulder pain. These sorts of RSI conditions can often be caused by poor posture.  

Poor posture can be caused by badly made chairs which prompt the people who are sat in them to be sat in a painful way. Therefore, you should ensure that the chair that you are using is comfortable for you to use and doesn’t cause you pain. 

Lots of employers have given their employees the chance to get office materials. Therefore, you could enquire about whether your employer will provide you with financial support to get comfortable equipment. 

“92% of customers said they were ‘very satisfied’ with the friendliness of our staff.”

Wrist Protection 

Robert Bridger also notes that wrist injuries are one of the most common RSI types that office workers suffer from. To help protect from this sort of injury, you should adjust your screen and any home office supplies that you use to make sure your wrists are safe. For example:  

• Your screen monitor should be placed about an arm’s length away from you, with the top of the screen roughly level with your eyes. Your screen should also be as glare-free as possible. If you have problems with screen glare or blue light from your screen, you could invest in blue light glasses that protect you from eye strain. 
• Adjust your screen so that it is not too high or low as you could end up bending your back or craning your neck, which can be too uncomfortable and it can cause pain to these areas of the body.  
• You should leave a gap of roughly 10 to 15 centimetres at the front of your desk. You can rest your wrists in this area when you stop typing rather than resting them at an uncomfortable angle on your keyboard. 
• You could also get a keyboard riser to move raise your keyboard at an angle. This can be used so that you can stand up while typing, or you could still type while sitting down but just at an angle that might be more comfortable to you. 
• Try to use a mouse that is separate from your laptop keyboard as this will allow you to rest your hand while using the mouse. This will allow your wrist to be angled safely rather than keeping your hands in a cramped, close position continuously.  

If you follow these steps, this should help to decrease the likelihood that you develop an RSI condition while working from home. If you try to recreate your work office space at home, this is a very popular way to ensure your safety. As working from home continues to last for a longer period, it is important that you take the time to ensure that your working conditions are ergonomically safe and comfortable for you and your specifications. 

Contact Jefferies Solicitors 

Our experts at Jefferies Solicitors are well experienced in dealing with a range of different case types. We understand how traumatic sustaining an injury or developing an illness can be and so we want to make the process of claiming compensation as stress-free as possible. No matter exactly where you are located throughout England and Wales, we can help you. 

At first, we will need some initial details about the specifics of your injuries and how this has impacted your life. Contact us today on 0800 342 3206 or through our online form to get started. A member of our team will quickly be in touch to discuss your case, confidentiality is ensured with all our clients. 

Where next? Read:

Repetitive Strain Claims

[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_SOCIAL_ICONS]