From Eveningsnews.com
The Secret to Injury-Free Repetitive Computer Use
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Mar 31, 2007, 00:06
(ARA) - For those of us who use our hands 24/7 (and who doesn’t?), we constantly put our health in jeopardy by subjecting our hands and wrists to repetitive motions.
Wrist supports in front of the keyboard and attached to the mouse pad may help for those who are stationary -- but what about office workers who go back and forth from typing to writing? Let’s not forget about the laptop users, gamers, people who travel for business, students -- even wheelchair users -- hands and wrists go unsupported virtually all the time.
With all we know about repetitive stress injuries, and the effects they have on the tendons and nerves in the hands, it’s not a question of if it will happen to you, but when. It’s just a matter of time before the symptoms of repetitive stressors appear.
What are these symptoms? Tingling and numbness in the fingers, aching in the forearm, wrist and hand, reduced strength in the grip -- all worsen to the point that using your hands becomes a painful chore and your livelihood, play time or even mobility, are jeopardized. Over time, repetitive stress injuries result in diagnoses like Carpel Tunnel Syndrome and Tendonitis. In serious cases, surgery is required to fix the problem and afterward hand and wrist strength are rarely 100 percent.
So what is a full-time repetitive motioner to do? There is a new product on the market that offers wrist support no matter where you are or what you do. Designed by Dr. Ian MacMorran, an orthopedic surgeon, and Aurelia Koby, president of IMAK Products Corporation, the glove supports your wrists to help reduce the injuries caused by repetitive motion. “Trauma to the median nerve causes suffering in millions of people,” states Dr. MacMorran. “The Computer Glove provides a soft and very comfortable stabilization system that helps to prevent injury while allowing full use of the hand and fingers.”
The IMAK Computer Glove is a comfortable, soft-fabric, strong elastic glove with a built-in support pad under your wrist, for “mobile” support. The support pad is filled with tiny plastic beads called ergoBeads. They glide smoothly against your skin, conforming to your hand creating a massaging effect that increases your blood circulation and promotes healthy muscle tissue. The bead-filled pad keeps the wrist in an ergonomic yet non-rigid position, which also prevents muscle atrophy, an important aspect of the glove.
The built in wrist pad also offers protection from the heat of a laptop. You know it -- the slow burn feeling on your skin after hours of working on warm metal, or the red creases in your skin from the edge of the computer; or the sore skin from rubbing the heel of your hand while using a mouse -- all eliminated while wearing the protective, comfortable Computer Glove.
Whether your profession is IT and you move around from computer to computer within the office; a business traveler and use your laptop wherever you are; a college student going from typing notes in class to typing a paper -- which becomes an all-day typing affair, the gloves will offer continual support. What’s more, the computer glove offers the user the flexibility to go from typing to writing to gaming and back again, all the while feeling incredibly supported and protected.
“I am not only a gamer, but a computer programmer as well,” says Marc "Makosuke" Marshall, webmaster. “I found that these gloves take a great deal of strain out of typing and mousing for long hours.” This non-restricting health device is an additional tool -- an extension of your hand -- to help keep you going. It will help to protect your wrists and hands from injury so you can keep doing what’s most important to you.
The Computer Glove is hand washable, one size fits most and because they’re reversible, one glove fits either hand.
Established in 1997 and located in San Diego, IMAK Products Corporation makes orthopedic and ergonomic products for pain relief and prevention of repetitive stress injuries.
Find the Computer Glove at Drug Fair, Frys (www.outpost.com), Longs Drugs, Micro Center (www.microcenter.com), and Office Depot. Or more information visit their Web site at www.IMAKProducts.com or call (800) 231-8226.
EDITOR’S NOTE: ErgoBeads is a registered trademark of IMAK Products, Inc.
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