Computer mouse use predicts acute pain but not prolonged or chronic pain in the neck and shoulder

Abstract

Background: Computer use may have an adverse effect on musculoskeletal outcomes. This study assessed the risk of neck and shoulder pain associated with objectively recorded professional computer use. Methods: A computer programme was used to collect data on mouse and keyboard usage and weekly reports of neck and shoulder pain among 2146 technical assistants. Questionnaires were also completed at baseline and at 12 months. The three outcome measures were: (1) acute pain (measured as weekly pain); (2) prolonged pain (no or minor pain in the neck and shoulder region over four consecutive weeks followed by three consecutive weeks with a high pain score); and (3) chronic pain (reported pain or discomfort lasting more than 30 days and ''quite a lot of trouble'' during the past 12 months). Results: Risk for acute neck pain and shoulder pain increased linearly by 4% and 10%, respectively, for each quartile increase in weekly mouse usage time. Mouse and keyboard usage time did not predict the onset of prolonged or chronic pain in the neck or shoulder. Women had higher risks for neck and shoulder pain. Number of keystrokes and mouse clicks, length of the average activity period, and micro-pauses did not influence reports of acute or prolonged pain. A few psychosocial factors predicted the risk of prolonged pain. Conclusions: Most computer workers have no or minor neck and shoulder pain, few experience prolonged pain, and even fewer, chronic neck and shoulder pain. Moreover, there seems to be no relationship between computer use and prolonged and chronic neck and shoulder pain.Musculoskeletal complaints have been regarded as an adverse effect of computer use, and numerous studies have been conducted, most of them pointing to an association between neck and upper extremity pain and duration of computer use. 1-6Most of these associations have been based on cross-sectional comparisons of self-reported computer, keyboard or mouse use and self-reported pain complaints. 7 A minority of studies which have used clinical outcome measures have either found too few cases with traditional medical diagnoses to perform meaningful analyses or have used diagnostics that were controversial.3 6 Recently, methodologies for assessing work activity during computer use have been evaluated, and activitybased recordings of computer use seem to be reliable and in agreement with measures obtained by observational techniques. [8][9][10][11] A recent review called for future studies to improve our understanding of safe levels of computer use by measuring the duration of computer use in a more objective way, differentiating between mouse and keyboard use.12 In a substudy of the NUDATA (Neck and Upper extremity Disorders Among Technical Assistants) study we found that even though self-reports of mouse and keyboard use were correlated with objective recordings, participants overestimated their mouse use two to three times, and their keyboard usage up to six times when compared with the recordings. 13 The aim of this study was to examine if obje...

Effort–reward imbalance and one-year change in neck–shoulder and upper extremity pain among call center computer operators

“…�ustained pain in the upper-extremity and neck regions and specific musculoskeletal disorders (such as wrist tendonitis, epicondylitis and trapezius muscle strain) are elevated among computer users. The most consistently observed risk factors are increasing hours of mouse or keyboard use and sustained awkward postures, such as increasing wrist extension and keyboard-above-elbow height (23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28). Other important risk factors include being female and work organizational factors (eg, high work load, low job control) (29,30).…”

Is peak exposure to computer use a risk factor for neck and upper-extremity symptoms?

“…Studies using more objective methods of assessing computer-use duration have found mixed results. Two recent studies measuring computeruse duration by registration software did not find a relation between duration and the prevalence or incidence of chronic upper-extremity symptoms (4,5). On the other hand, two studies using registration software did find a relation between the duration of computer use and acute upper-extremity symptoms (4,6).…”

Risk of surgery for subacromial impingement syndrome in relation to neck-shoulder complaints and occupational biomechanical exposures: a longitudinal study

“…We hypothesized that neck-shoulder complaints and occupational biomechanical shoulder exposures would each increase the risk. Table 1 presents the original studies I-IX (17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28) and their contribution to the MRD, which comprises 39 590 persons. A total of 265 persons participated in two studies, and one person participated in three; for these persons, we selected the questionnaire dataset that was most informative for the present study.…”