The twentieth-century smallpox epidemic and its subsequent virtual eradication offer an example of the type of response that leads to a solution. During the twentieth century, smallpox was responsible for 300-500 million deaths (Wikipedia, 2010). After the smallpox vaccine was developed, the disease was eradicated through the efforts of the World Health Organization (WHO) led in part by Dr. Larry Brilliant, who applied the strategy of “early detection and rapid response.” The pain of computer-related injuries could be similarly eradicated through early detection and rapid and appropriate response. In many cases today, individuals respond either too slowly or incorrectly. For instance, people tend to visit their primary care physician when they experience musculoskeletal pain caused by their computer usage. Because your doctor does not have control of or visibility into your personal decisions, work habits, or work environment, he or she may not be able to solve the root cause of your pain. In order to deal with this issue, people need to be more proactive, or at least reactive, to their pain and seek the appropriate response. In fact, with only a basic understanding of ergonomics and the computer athlete model, you can quickly determine changes that will help improve your situation. A large-scale media campaign and focused grassroots efforts could help tackle this issue of computer-related injuries.
Unfortunately, today, computers are predominantly controlled mechanically: you have to push buttons on a keyboard or move a mouse in order to control your computer, a situation that sets the stage for repetitive stress injuries. In the future, computer-user interfacing may not be limited by the need for mechanical operation; personally, I am very optimistic that technology will help mitigate the problem over time. However, it seems that each new technology comes with its own problems and tradeoffs. In the short term, we need to reinforce proper training regarding ergonomics and health when learning to use a computer.
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