Posted on 28th May 2011 @ 11:28 PM

A few years back (say the 1990′s, early 2000′s), health disorders due to improper use of laptop went highly unnoticed as few people could afford buying a laptop. With the explosion of internet and phenomenal growth of mobile computing, laptop prices have crashed across the globe and more and more people have started replacing their home desktop computers with laptops. With increased usage, comes increase susceptibility to health risks. Today, a whole bunch of health disorders are repeatedly associated with improper laptop usage. Some key ones are:

1. Hand / Wrist pain (Carpal Tunnel Syndrome): common factors which cause this are typing for prolonged period without rest, forceful and repetitive movements with your hands moving the mouse, faulty positioning of the keyboard at an increased tilt, causing excessive bending of the wrist.
2. Neck Pain or Strained Neck (Trapezius Myalgia, “Tech neck”): common factors which cause this condition are, sitting unsupported and leaning forward or slouching on the desk for prolonged periods. Monitor height not in line with seated eye level and/or too far to the side. Insufficient back support from the chair or typing with elbows and forearms unsupported can create neck muscle fatigue. Repetitive head tilting while referring to documents etc.
3. Shoulder Pain (Cervical disc syndrome, spinal stenosis): In layman’s terms this means injury to the vertebrae or disks in the neck causing pressure on the nerve roots existing close to the spine. Sitting unsupported, improper posture while using a laptop, improper posture while reading / eating in bed, slouching etc can be factors which can cause this condition
4. Male Infertility: Yefim Sheynkin, MD, FACS of the urology department at the State University of New York at Stony Brook conducted extensive research which has proven a direct link between improper laptop usage and male infertility. His experiment demonstrated an increase of between 3-4 degrees of scrotal temperature for an average male, when using a laptop for about an hour while keeping it on the lap and keeping the thighs clasped together. Elevated scrotal temperatures results in lower sperm count; thus leading to rising risk of infertility.

Did I end up scaring you? While that was not my intention, I will not be surprised if you were alarmed. It’s a known fact that improper usage of laptops can lead to harmful side effects.

Occupational Health & Safety consultants across the world, especially in Australia are acutely aware of this growing trend. Experienced consultants are more often than not retained by medium to large corporate houses in Australia. Concerns about employee’s occupational health, even in industries where traditionally the health concerns have been minimal have ensured that injuries and negative health effects have been kept at a minimum.

While OH&S consultants ensure that health risks due to improper laptop usage is minimized in large corporate houses with hundreds and thousands of employees, the small to medium business owners & individuals need not be worried. Laptop Stands website, is a 100% Australian owned and operated website. Products sold through this online store are ergonomically designed, facilitating correct posture and ergonomic use of a Laptop. Some of the popular product categories to browse are: Laptop Tables, Laptop Stands, Laptop Cooling Stands, Book Stands, Notebook Stand, iPad Stand LapDesk & Lap Desk  

Go on, get an ergonomically designed product from this website, to ensure that you avoid any of the above mentioned conditions.