Occupational diseases are traditionally associated with unfavorable working conditions: dust, noise, heavy and chemical industries. The technological and informational revolutions of the 21st century force us to look at this issue from a different angle: “white collars” also have their own occupational diseases.
And if there are clear hazard standards for industrial workers, criteria for safe work have been developed and a system for protecting their health is being introduced, then with people from non-production professions, everything is still vague. They are just beginning to talk about their occupational diseases, to conduct research.
Who is at risk?
Let’s consider what diseases and disorders are inherent in five common professions:
· dentist / dental assistant; · Accountant / office worker; · IT industry worker (programmer); · Teacher; · Driver. All these professions are devoid of the main harmful factors: physical overload, work in unfavorable climatic conditions, excessive noise, but there is harm. Dentist and dental assistant The work of a dentist is associated with the following unfavorable factors: 1. Working in a forced position of the body, performing the same type of repetitive movements. 2. Everyday contact with a vibration instrument (drill, for example). 3. Noise from working instruments. Noise leads to impaired attention, slower response of the doctor and impairment of memory. Forced position of the body becomes the cause of scoliosis, cervical osteochondrosis with myofascial and neurological manifestations. Vibration and drill tips cause wrist tendovaginitis (inflammation affecting the inner sheath of the flexor and extensor tendons of the fingers and hand, arises from constant muscle strain), chronic epicondylitis (degenerative-inflammatory tissue damage in the elbow joint), tunnel syndromes of individual nerves (caused by overstrain diseases of the peripheral nerves and muscles). Other pathologies occur with a lesser frequency in dentists: myositis, defarthrosis, neuralgia of the forearm, ligamentitis of the palmar ligaments, plexitis of the brachial plexus. Accountant / office worker Now we will deliberately not focus on working at a computer, since we will consider this topic a little below. The main problems of a typical office worker are physical inactivity and a large amount of paperwork. The consequences of such phenomena are: · asthenic syndrome – depression, poor memory, mood swings, general loss of strength; · Dry eye syndrome – pain and burning sensation in the eyes, conjunctivitis; · Cervical and thoracic osteochondrosis – hypertensive crises, panic attacks, arrhythmias, neuralgic disorders; · Tunnel syndrome is found in every sixth person working with a computer. It is manifested by numbness and paresthesia in the region of the middle, ring fingers (in the areas of innervation of the median nerve). IT workers Writing spasm is characteristic of professional IT specialists – a dystonic syndrome associated with a violation of the muscle tone of the hand and forearm. This is when, due to constant movements of the same type with the hand and fingers, the nerve centers of the brain responsible for fine motor skills are depleted. Fingers stop obeying, errors appear in the text, etc. Teacher The profession is associated with a large noise, intellectual and psycho-emotional load, it is recognized as harmful at the legislative level. Among teachers, the most common neurological disorders are: · asthenic phenomena; · Depression; · Tics; · Cardioneuroses; · Neurotic conditions. Teachers often suffer from arthrosis and scoliosis. Driver The main hazard factor here is a sedentary lifestyle. And driving on bad roads adds axial loads to the spine. The following neurological diseases are characteristic of drivers: · osteochondrosis; · Asthenic syndrome; · Cardioneuroses; · Myositis from air conditioners and open windows. Summing up The article contains far from all the problems faced by representatives of “harmless” professions. But those that have been considered are enough to start taking care of the health of such workers. If you experience any recurring symptoms that may be caused by professional activity, be sure to contact a specialist for examination, diagnosis and, if necessary, treatment. In our clinic you can get expert advice, incl. and about the prevention of diseases that we described above.