Computer Users Not at Higher Risk of Carpal Tunnel

Jun 11 4:07pm ET CHICAGO (Reuters) - Heavy computer use does not increase the risk of developing carpal tunnel syndrome, a condition marked by pain and numbness in the hands and wrists, according to a study released Monday.

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, said they were surprised by the findings that showed heavy computer use, even up to seven hours a day, did not increase a person's risk of developing the syndrome.

"We had expected to find a much higher incidence of carpal tunnel syndrome in the heavy computer users in our study because it is a commonly held belief that computer use causes carpal tunnel syndrome," said J. Clarke Stevens, a neurologist at the prestigious clinic.

The results of the study, the first to consider the association between the syndrome and computer use, were published in the June 12 issue of Neurology.

"The findings are contrary to popular thought but nobody has studied the problem carefully," Stevens said. "I'd like computer users to know that prolonged use of a computer does not seem to lead to carpal tunnel."

Because the syndrome is a common condition in the population -- one in 10 will develop symptoms -- some computer users will develop it, Stevens said.

Investigators sent surveys to 314 computer using employees at the Mayo facility in Scottsdale, Arizona, inquiring about hand numbness and sensations of "pins and needles," common symptoms of the syndrome. Of the 257 people who responded, those who indicated symptoms were interviewed.

Unless the patients were clearly diagnosable with a condition other than carpal tunnel, they were tested for the syndrome via electromyogram, an EMG, or a nerve conduction study.

Only 27, or 10.5 percent, of the participants met clinical criteria for carpal tunnel, and in nine cases, or 3.5 percent, an EMG confirmed the syndrome.

Carpal tunnel is a compression of the median nerve at the wrist and is treated by wearing a splint or an injection of cortisone to reduce swelling.

Stevens noted that heavy computer users often get a lot of other pains in the neck, shoulder, arm and wrist, but most do not get the syndrome from using a computer.

Repetitive motions in jobs outside the office, such as working in a meat packing plant or using a jackhammer, also have been linked to the syndrome.

"There have been a number of studies of factory workers and people in packing plants that suggest that type of repetitive motion does seem to be associated with carpal tunnel syndrome," he said.

-- Anonymous, June 11, 2001