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 Dr
Deepak Sharan is a consultant orthopaedic surgeon and rehabilitation
specialist, based at Bangalore. He has been conducting weekly, on-site
CRI Clinics and ergonomic consulting for Hewlett Packard (India)
Software Division at Bangalore, where he has already treated over
400 injured IT professionals. He shares his views on various CRI
related issues with G Sankaranarayanan
* Would you recommend the introduction
of mandatory labelling of workstations, IT hardware (such as mouse,
keyboard) to indicate the degree of ergonomics?
There
is no such thing as an ergonomic workstation, chair, keyboard, etc.
What will make the product ergonomic is if it is adjusted according
to the user’s body dimensions and the user is trained to use
it and is willing to use it correctly. The term “ergonomics”
in India, unfortunately, is used only to sell a product. An example
is that no Indian chair allows adequate adjustability of the armrests.
I advise my patients to remove the armrests completely because it
does more harm than good.
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To what extent is CRI created by psychological factors (like stress)?
Stress
is an important (though not the main) predisposing factor, but CRI
is certainly not a psychosomatic disorder, as was believed earlier.
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Can you give a few important initiatives
that HR firms should take to prevent, assess and address CRI in
their employees?
Many
HR managers run away from even accepting that there is a CRI problem
in their organisation, fearing employee demands for better and costlier
chairs, etc. Sensible ergonomics does not necessarily mean big money,
a lot can be achieved by modifying existing facilities, and better
still planning well when new offices are being set up.
What
I recommend is in-house CRI clinics for larger IT companies, on
the lines of what I run at HP. This includes:
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Individual musculoskeletal consultation and appropriate therapy
(neuromuscular therapy, trigger point therapy, myofascial stretches,
bodywork techniques, etc.).
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Work site evaluation and advice from a medical ergonomic perspective.
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Ergonomic furniture and accessory recommendations.
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Follow up of treatment.
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Periodic training programmes on CRI prevention, covering posture,
workstation design and modifications, chair fitting, correct keyboard
and mouse techniques, visual ergonomics, stress management, exercise
instruction for stretching and warm-up and early signs of CRI.
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Labour and health agencies of several
countries have passed legislations to address this problem. Isn’t
it the time that India, the IT superpower, did something in this
regard?
This
is really a long way off. The first step should be for to conduct
a large multi-centre study to find the exact magnitude of the problem
and the predisposing factors. Once this data is available, some
form of minimum ergonomic guidelines could be established for Indian
IT companies. Self-regulation is the best solution; the alternative
would be ugly lawsuits by “sacked because injured” employees.
*
Do you know of any compensation claims made by the victims of
CRI in India?
CRI
is not a compensated occupational illness in India. On the contrary
my experience has been that Indian IT professionals often hide their
injuries until they are unable to work any longer, fearing retrenchment
(especially in call centres). Major IT companies in India are usually
found to be insensitive towards injured employees and it is often
impossible to obtain even relatively inexpensive workstation modifications
(e.g., keyboard tray), time off work to recover from an injury,
etc. Since 2001, I know of eight young IT professionals who have
lost their computer-dependent careers due to CRI, but I am not aware
if any company has been sued yet.
*
Your assessment of the availability of speciality medical professionals
and preventive, rehabilitation agencies in India?
Early
identification of CRI and competent medical intervention is critical
to arrest and reverse the injury in its early stages. Unfortunately,
Indian medical professionals (in general) are not equipped to diagnose
or treat these injuries, since CRI is a relatively recent phenomenon
in our country and no training courses for doctors exist. Ergonomics
and myofascial disorders do not even find a mention in the Indian
medical curriculum and it is not unusual to find Indian doctors
(even specialists) and physiotherapists who have not even heard
of CRI.
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