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Hello Lesley

Over some 25 years of microscopy now (!), I've come across two instances
of microscopy-related neck injury / pain - one in electron microscopy,
one in fluorescence...

In TEM, a technician developed symptoms similar to what you describe
which in the end was tracked down to the way he leant his head against
the microscope column whilst peering down at the screen through the
front viewing window... He ended up getting some sort of intervertebral
compression or something (I forget the details now...). We solved it by
(1) lowering his chair; and (2) sticking a pad on the column where he
(and just about everyone else) rested their head. [the padding needed to
be prelaced regularly for health reasons - I don't if there is something
especially greasy about microscopists skin, but that is another
story...]. These days, although the design of the columns hasn't changed
much, if you have one of the digital imaging systems attached to your
EM, you rarely need to peer down through the glass; also newer
microscopes tend to be brighter, which also helps...

In fluorescence microscopy, we had a colleague who had neck surgery for
another reason, but microscopy really aggravated it - it turns out it
was the continued neck flexion loading up the cervical vertebral and
associated muscles. We solved this problem by taking notice of some
simple and well known biomechanics. By lowering the chairs and raising
the microscope tables, we made sure that you have to stretch up slightly
by sitting upright and keeping the neck unflexed to see down the
eyepieces (rather than having to hunch over or bend forward). You then
support your body with your elbows on the microscope table. To set this
up may mean a bit of experimenting with tables, chairs and the exact
placing of the microscope, but in the end, once you get used to it, it
makes a huge difference to your comfort when spending hours peering down
a microscope. We train all our new people to have good microscope
posture, which is just as important as any other part of the training if
they are to get the best out of their work...

Hope that helps a bit

IAN

Lesley Weston wrote:
>
> Search the CONFOCAL archive at
> http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal
>
> This is primarily directed at people who do TEM, though it could well apply
> to other histologists and confocal-users as well. For many years I was an EM
> (and other kinds of imaging) technician, and a friend of mine still is. In
> the last few years we have both developed something that seems like RSI. In
> both cases, the disc between cervical vertebrae 5 and 6 is compressed,
> causing inflamed tissue to impinge on the nerve. This causes a great deal of
> pain in the area around the right scapula and in the right shoulder and arm,
> with a focal point at  the top of the forearm.
>     Do others on this list have the same problem? If it is common among EM
> and microscopy people, and not in the rest of the population, it could be
> the result of the stresses involved in sectioning, various kinds of
> microscopy, use of computers for graphic work etc., for hours at a time. I
> am asking mainly out of curiosity, but if it does turn out to be an
> occupational hazard, then people could try to prevent it - it really is
> quite unpleasant. Sorry about the cross-posting, but I think the overlap
> among the groups is not 100%.
>
> Lesley Weston.

--
Professor Ian Gibbins
Anatomy & Histology
Flinders University of South Australia
GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA 5001
Australia

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