ABSTRACT

An exposure-response relationship between VDU use of more than 2 hours versus less than 2 hours for hand/wrist problems was found by Oxenburgh (1987). Punnett and Berqvist (1997), in their review of epidemiological studies of VDU work, found that VDU work indicated higher risk of neck, shoulder, arm, wrist and hand musculoskeletal illness compared with non-VDU work. Bergqvist et al. (1995a) compared VDU work with non-VDU work. They found a cumulative incidence of 2.8 for discomfort in the forearm and hand compared with non-VDU workers. Furthermore, a dose-response relation between VDU work and hand/wrist problems was indicated (Bergqvist et al. 1992). Many factors are associated with musculoskeletal discomfort in the neck and shoulder: rapid work pace, stereotyped repetitive keyboard and mouse use. Other factors are stressful work posture resulting from poor workstation and input device design as well as insufficient

recovery time in terms of limited opportunity for rest breaks (Punnett and Bergqvist 1997). Limitation of spontaneous rest breaks was found to be associated with neck and shoulder discomfort (Bergqvist et al. 1995b).