presents:
New Year’s Resolution: Develop Seven Habits for Health and Fitness by Jin Chang PhD Most of us are very busy and work hard to take care of all
very shallow declination (or look-down) angle and force
the urgent things in our lives. But we often lose sight of
users to excessively tilt their heads, causing surgeons’
a very important thing: our health and fitness. Before we
chronic pain and eventually injury.
address 2014’s seven habits for health and fitness, I would Dr. Wise looked for an alternative and found one
like to share a story.
at a surgeon’s meeting with SurgiTel. He replaced his After SurgiTel was created and ever since, I have heard
traditional loupe with an ergonomic loupe from SurgiTel
the same stories again and again; stories about neck pain
which allowed him to maintain a comfortable, neutral neck
with traditional loupes and relief of neck pain with SurgiTel
posture. With this ergonomic loupe he was finally able to
ergonomic loupes. I would like to tell you these stories, all
work correctly and eliminate his neck stress.
in one. This story is about a doctor I will call Dr. Wise. Dr. Wise joined a practice after finishing his training. One of his senior surgeons who had been practicing there for several years told him “I’ve been having neck pain because of my old, bad pillow. So my wife has bought a new pillow.” Another senior surgeon who had been practicing for many years told him “I’ve developed a major neck injury. I may need surgery.” Dr. Wise heard too many stories like this to relate them to coincidence or to bad pillows. He observed the working postures of other surgeons at the practice.
All the surgeons (including
him) were using traditionally designed TTL (through-thelens) loupes. He saw senior surgeons tilting their heads excessively to see through their loupes (see Figure 1). He noticed these traditionally designed TTL loupes have a
Figure 1: Loupes with very shallow declination (“look-down”) angle promoting an unhealthy posture
Dr. Wise shared his experience with other surgeons who were suffering chronic neck pain and injury. Soon, they
how they affect your working posture. 2014 can be your new start.
decided to follow suit and retired their old traditionally designed loupes and replaced them with SurgiTel’s patented
Enhance your health and fitness in 2014 with seven
ergonomic loupes. The surgeon who thought neck surgery
habits listed below:
was unavoidable was soon performing long procedures without having serious neck pain. He was able to avoid
1. Learn the right working postures. The ideal head tilt is
surgical treatment simply by changing his working posture,
less than 25 degrees (see Figure 2, and for further details,
aided by ergonomic loupes.
read our Oct. 2013 ErgoPractice eNews). At first, rotating your eyes downward to see your work area instead of tilting
The practice with multiple clinicians suffering from neck
your head may feel odd, but it is not difficult to get used
pain is real. The doctor who mistakenly assigned his pain to
to. Some people initially feel eye strain but this is soon
his pillow is real. The doctor who was on the verge of neck
overcome. This is the same adjustment experience some
surgery and was able to avoid the procedure by treating
have when learning to use bifocal eyeglasses.
the cause is real. Clinicians who have alleviated and even eliminated pain by upgrading their loupes and posture are
2. Examine your working postures regularly by taking
real. I hear these stories every year.
photos or videos. Ask a colleague or an assistant to take some videos of you working (see Figure 3). You may be
Just as Dr. Wise did, you can protect yourself from chronic
surprised to see the contortions you put yourself through as
neck pain with the right equipment and habits. Even if you
you work. If you are not working with the proper posture,
already have chronic neck pain, it is not too late. Practicing
you owe it to yourself to make the changes in equipment
ergonomically is not difficult but it requires an evaluation
and habits to protect your health.
of your equipment, including loupes and headlights, and
Average time to reach significant muscle fatigue
Head-tilt Angle (HA) VA = HA + DA
SurgiTel
®
Traditional Loupes
Horizontal Head Angle (HA)
Neck Flexion, Ventral (B)
Viewing Angle (VA)
Declination Angle (DA)
Head Erect
Head Titled
Excellent Posture
Head-tilt Angle (HA) (degrees)
Figure 2: Larger Declination Angle (DA) reduces Head-tilt Angle (HA)
Poor Posture
5. Listen to your body. If you feel pain in any part of your body, do not ignore it! Consult with ergonomic and / or health care experts. 6. Stretch before starting procedures. Different professions may benefit from different stretching techniques. Physical therapists or ergonomists may teach you the best stretching techniques for your work. 7. Exercise regularly to maintain your health and fitness. Daily exercise will not only help your physical health but also promotes greater productivity and better mood.
Figure 3: Example of a working position which causes pain at the end of the day, and injury after a few years 3. Optimize declination angle of your loupes for different procedures if your loupes allow you to make adjustments. SurgiTel’s customizable/adjustable FLM (Front-LensMounted) loupes allow you to achieve any declination angle you may need (see Figure 4). 4. Replace improper loupes with ergonomic loupes if your loupes do not support an ergonomic posture. Most traditionally designed loupes (both TTL and FLM loupes) have small declination angles.
Figure 4: A healthy, ergonomic posture with SurgiTel’s customizable FLM loupes and lightweight clip-on fiber optic light
These seven habits not only help you to stay healthy but also improve your work performance. The first SurgiTel’s ergonomic loupe was introduced about 20 years ago to help clinicians work with a comfortable and healthy neck posture. Today SurgiTel has become the industry leader in ergonomic innovation, offering a family of lightweight ergonomic loupes (both TTL and FLM loupes), lightweight portable headlights, and ErgoComfort operator chairs/ stools. SurgiTel also offers companion products such as laser and x-ray filters, and fiber optic headlights which can be attached to loupes and used with existing fiber optic light sources. To learn how your loupes may be affecting your work and health, please contact your local SurgiTel representative. Start 2014 by making a decision to invest in your health and fitness by building a Total Ergonomic Solution for your workplace. 1-800-959-0153 or www.surgitel.com
Reference 1. October 2013 ErgoPractice News, From The President, titled: “Demystifying Custom Loupes.” Stored: http://www.surgitel.com/news/ergopractice-news/
B. Jin Chang, PhD, is President and Chief Scientist of General Scientific Corporation, Ann Arbor, Michigan. From the late 1970s to late 1980s Dr. Chang lead the development of advanced head-up display systems for fighter jets such as F15E, A10 and F4. Over the last twenty years he has been extending the ergonomic principles used for military display systems designs to clinical vision systems. This has led to SurgiTel’s family of ergonomic loupes and illumination systems which prevent chronic neck and back pains. Numerous patents (awarded and pending) have been applied to designs of SurgiTel’s loupes and illumination systems.
Jin Chang PhD Ann Arbor MI jchang@surgitel.com 1-800-959-0153 SurgiTel is a Division of General Scientific Corp.