For people who spend a great deal of time using computers, neck pain is a common problem. By computer, we include desktop, laptop, notebook personal computers, video display units and terminals, to include the use of keyboards and associated pointing devices like a mouse or trackball. Neck pain is pain experienced anywhere from the base of the skull at ear level to the upper part of the back or shoulders.
There has been great technological advances in computers along with an industrial shift to a more service oriented economy. This has led to more sedentary jobs as the downsizing of the number of employees is used to minimize losses in corporate profits and resulting increased demands in productivity for those who remain with a company and an increase in sick leave resulting from neck pain. This means more people use computers for work and recreation and we must find better ways of coping with neck pain associated with extended use of computers.
The computer helps a company minimize inefficiencies in the workplace by eliminating wasteful tasks as office workers no longer need to leave the desk to retrieve mail, copy or file documents. This streamlining and increase in productivity through elimination of inefficiencies related to specific tasks has some unfortunate consequences for the worker; there is a reduction in the number of breaks available from repetitive or static job tasks which help to restore health.
Chronic neck pain patients use the health care system twice as often as the rest of the population. The estimated cost associated with work related musculoskeletal problems is projected to be between $45 and $54 billion annually.
