Office work Lack of exercise dangerous as stress

Office workers: Lack of exercise is just as dangerous as stress

30/08/2011

About 17 million Germans work painfully every day in the office. Due to a lot of sedentary activities in front of the computer, some serious health problems occur over time. Common among office workers are headaches, tension in the neck and back pain. According to this, the spine not only damages physically demanding work, such as that carried out by construction workers, but also daily work in the office. This is the conclusion of a study by the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAUA). According to many experts, lack of exercise in the office is at least as dangerous as ongoing job stress.

Danger source office work
In general, working people assume that the work in the office is safe. „What should happen between desk, conference room and coffee machine?“ many people will ask. At most, the set in the summer too cold air conditioning or tripping over the trash are jokingly considered as sources of danger. But according to a study Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health about 80 percent of office workers suffer from physical symptoms during working hours and many times afterwards. In the view of the experts, this is due to the often one-sided work on the computer screen as well as the long and rigid sitting in front of it. Bad posture and one-sided stress increasingly overload the musculoskeletal system. The result: Patients complain of pain in the neck, back pain and shoulder stabbing. As a result, many sufferers also suffer „Elbow and forearm problems as well as pain in the hand or in the wrist. ", As Dr. Falk Liebers of the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety explained in Berlin.The main number one are upper back pain and pain in the shoulder and neck area caused by the acute lack of exercise, as the physician adds, "Especially the frequent and long-lasting sitting in combination with excessive and incorrect use of keyboard or mouse can cause problems," warns the doctor.

Every fourth sick leave due to suffering from the musculoskeletal system
Meanwhile, every fourth sick leave is on the account of musculoskeletal suffering, as determined by a study of the company health insurance funds (BKK) in Germany. However, anyone who adheres to appropriate health advice can reduce the risk of, for example, chronic back pain. Screen workers are not overly endangered, „unlike employees in industrial occupations, who suffer from musculoskeletal disorders much more often than the German average, "says sports physicist Dr. Michael Spallek, construction workers, farmers and waste management workers are twice as likely to suffer from back problems Like employees in the service sector, the chances are not bad to take action in advance to prevent worse.

Raised shoulder and crooked back
Most employees in the office sit too long with crooked backs, high or drooping shoulders and mostly with their legs crossed in front of the PC. Through concentrated work, many sit almost motionless in front of their screen. Inevitably, the disc and the back muscles are damaged by overloading. Such a postion are all subjectively as convenient, „but that is often poison for the back, "warns the Berlin physician „always just to sit“, does not reduce the danger. Any posture that is rigid and prolonged is bad for the organism in the long term. In the long term, tensions, headaches and muscle shortening creep in. Often also ignite hands, arms and legs. The body takes a restraint through pain and the muscles become cramped to protect against further damage.

Preventing complaints in the office
Prevention is still the best medicine here. If you want to prevent the symptoms, you should design your workplace as much as possible in order to move more frequently. For example, the phone could be placed at the other end of the room. If it rings, you have to get up, move to the phone and then phone the best standing or walking around. The printer could be in the other room, so you have to leave the room each time you print. Also advantageous are ergonomic office chairs and therapeutic balls. Anything that helps actively move and change its position creates a little relief. This may „prevent typical office diseases“, emphasizes Spallek.

To create a movement compensation for office work
If you work all day in the office, you should find a balance. Recent studies have found that exercise units that are spread throughout the day are more beneficial than going to sports just once a week. Combining both would be most useful. Instead of taking heavy food for lunch, fresh fruit, track exercises and a little walk could help a lot. Office chairs could be adapted in which, among other things, the backrest to the shoulder blades enough to relieve the back and upper body. The seat of the chair should prevent tilting of the pelvis. Attached armrests relieve strain on the shoulder and can assist in getting up. And one more thing: who makes frequent seat breaks, also protects his heart, as a recent US study found out.

Anyone who already suffers from pain, which could help with back pain exercises. For further complaints, a visit to the osteopath or chiropractor makes sense. Orthopedists or family doctors can also prescribe physiotherapy or massages. Here, however, the problem is that physicians have only a certain contingent of prescription options and therefore many patients with „still slight complaints“ to have a look. (Sb)

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Picture: Silke Kaiser