Preventing RSI in your Child
By admin on Mar 5, 2008 in Children and RSI
When it comes to repetitive strain injury and children the effects can be long lasting. Since the dawn of the computer age, children are in front of the computer more and more for both entertainment and educational reasons. As a result of this and over time, this can cause swollen hands, fingers, neck, and back problems in kids that will have the effect of the child sitting incorrectly for long periods of time.
There are measures you can take to help children avoid the onset of repetitive strain as they sit at the computer.
For example, if a child has reason to be at the computer, you should limit their sessions to no more than a couple of hours.
If a child is at the computer longer than a couple of hours, they may begin to feel pain. It is essential to insure that your child stays active. Make sure that they have their outside time… particularly after being on the computer.
Even though children will occasionally need to research items for reports and other projects, this research rarely requires the child to sit at the computer for hours on end and doing so only increases the risk of some type of repetitive strain injury. Encouraging your child to run, play, and maintain a natural childlike activity schedule is the best way to help prevent injury caused by sitting in one place for extended periods of time.
A child’s computer environment should include a workstation that fits the child. When children use computer workstations suited for adults, their posture is many times compromised by the simple fact that it is a bad fit. In addition, parents should not try to overcome the lack of this poor fit with the use of phone books or other items to lift the child up in the seat. This type of temporary fix will create unhealthy posture and could even affect your child’s circulation.
A good fitting workstation (and one that is adjustable as they grow) is more than a good investment for your child. It will help them maintain good posture and they won’t have to look up at the screen; as looking up at the screen for too long can cause neck and back pain and eventual injury. Repetitive stress injury in children is just too easy to avoid and prevent; it should never be an issue with just some of these simple common sense precautions.
Teaching your kids the importance of good posture and developing good heath care habits go a long way toward preventing repetitive strain injury – not only throughout their childhood, but throughout their entire life.
In summary, RSI can be prevented by practicing good posture and by not spending too much time on the computer and taking frequent breaks for activity.
Remember, your children will not intuitively know of these risks, it will be up to you to teach your child and be sure to follow up to ensure they stay injury free.
RSI is one of the leading causes of injury at the workplace. Teaching children at a young age will help prevent this type of injury later in life.
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