In fact, it is a repetitive strain injury caused by working with a computer mouse that can develop into a painful bout of tendonitis. "Dynamic sitting" can help prevent mouse arm, notes a new brochure published in Dortmund by Germany's Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA).
Entitled The Ups an Downs of Sitting - Sitting at Work and Elsewhere the brochure advises sedentary workers to change their sitting position regularly and to work standing up sometimes.
It is important to avoid repeating the same movements. One way to do this is to arrange one's sitting position and the position of one's working materials so that fewer movements are necessary.
Stress can lead to mouse arm too, the BAuA says: Mentally strenuous activities in which one sits highly concentrated at a workplace can easily cause muscles to tense up.
(Sapa, December 2008)
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