Sammamish elementary offers kids program to avoid computer-related injuries

Brian Pohl does homework, plays games and checks e-mail almost daily on his computer in his room. He spends a couple of hours each week on a school computer. At 10, Brian is a seasoned computer user.

But as children start spending more time on computers, they may be paying a price. Experts say kids are putting themselves at risk of repetitive-stress injuries such as carpal-tunnel syndrome, which could show up as early as their teenage years.

An ergonomics program at Elizabeth Blackwell Elementary in Sammamish is trying to prevent that by teaching students to take breaks during long computer sessions, to use correct posture to reduce strain on the upper body and to exercise fatigued muscles. It's one of the only such programs in the nation aimed at children.

"Get TechFit!" was designed by Diane Tien, the school's instructional-technology assistant, with help from some of the country's leading ergonomists who focus on children.

Ergonomics programs are important in the workplace because repetitive-stress injuries cost companies money and time. But experts say that without increased education for children, the wave of computer-related injuries that hit adults in the mid-1990s may occur next in children.

"I think all the problems that you've seen in adults, you can see mirrored in children," said Dan Eisman, co-founder of healthycomputing.com, an ergonomics-resource Web site. "Now they're starting to work on computers at 5, and by the time they are 9 and 10, they start having problems."

Problems such as back, neck and arm pain; wrist problems such as carpal-tunnel syndrome; and vision problems that lead to blurriness, headaches and possibly an earlier onset of nearsightedness, said Eisman.

"We know kids are experiencing problems," said Alan Hedge, a professor of ergonomics at Cornell University and one of the first children ergonomists.

While there is little ergonomics research on children, current research on adults gives some insight into why children may be at risk.

Peter Johnson, a professor at the University of Washington, has found that computers are better designed for men, who have broader shoulders and thicker wrists. Women must extend their wrists and arms unnaturally to type and move the mouse.

"If you're a small-wristed child, you will be in greater extension," Johnson said, increasing the risk of injury.

Children often have to use equipment designed for adults or that must accommodate many different-sized children.

"The problem is (schools) buy everything in bulk," Eisman said. "That doesn't really allow for a good variety."

And because parents and schools often cannot afford the smaller desks, miniature keyboards and adjustable chairs that increase ergonomic safety, they tend to ignore the problem altogether.

Small, inexpensive changes, such as using a pillow as support for the lower back or a crate as a footrest, can make a big difference in a child's health, Hedge said.

The goal of "Get TechFit!," which is taught for one week out of the school year, is to teach children how to change their environments to fit them, regardless of where they are or what is around them, Tien said.

In gym class, students learn exercises to ease tension and relieve weary muscles. To learn correct posture, the students use sand-filled balls placed on their heads to simulate the pressure their heads put on their backs.

"When you sit like this," said second-grader Victoria Roadifer as she slouched down in her seat, "it's hard to hold your head and it kind of hurts your back. It's easier to hold it on your head when you sit up straight."

Pohl and his fifth-grade classmates used math skills to find the correct angles for arms, wrists and legs when using computers. They used the angles to create ergonomically safe workstations for second-graders.