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Do you sit at a computer all day every day? Check these common syndromes below. How many do you have?


  1. Office Depression: Women who work overtime and in stressful surroundings can sometimes suddenly feel pain, fatigue and grumpiness.
  2. Cervical Brachial Syndrome: When your neck is so stiff that you can’t move or often feel pain on your palms and elbows. You have probably overused your wrists and fingers.  Be careful if your elbows are lower than the keyboard when typing.
  3. Spondylosis: Pain in neck, back, arms and chest, often caused by poor postures at work.
  4. Frozen Shoulder: Pain in the shoulders due to overuse or poor posture. The tissues around the joint stiffen, and shoulder movements become difficult and painful.
  5. High Tech Headache: If you frequently feel nauseous, it would be advised to watch out for the electronic devices in your office.
  6. Computer Vision Syndromes: Common symptoms are blurred vision, dry or red eyes, and eye strain. Many of us start the day with staring at the computer for long hours. You should give your eyes a break every once in a while.
  7. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome:  It occurs more in computer engineers, journalists, editors and musicians. The major symptom is feeling numbness and tingling of the palms and fingers caused by a pinched nerve in the wrist.
  8. Information Anxiety Disorder:  It occurs more in people who work in the web, media and advertising industry. Common symptoms are sudden nausea, anxiety and tiredness. These people are often exposed to mass data and information, causing them to constantly feel nervous or anxious.

Prevention and treatment are the best ways to ease your pain. Just ditch the 6 bad habits below. Let office worker syndrome go!

  1. Do you sit like this at work? It’s easy to change this bad habit. Just sit straight, stretch out your arms, and make sure the monitor is at arm’s length away.
  2. The top of your screen should be at eye level. Otherwise, you will bend your neck or back and put pressure on them. According to “Employers”, America’s top workers’ comp insurance, 42% of small businesses do not provide monitor stands for employees. KCAL employees are really lucky to have monitor stands at work. It really soothes soreness from keeping your head up all day!
  3. Knees and elbows should be bent at 90° angle or greater. When using the keyboard, forearms should be parallel to your thighs.
  4. The spacebar on the keyboard should be at the central line of the monitor.
  5. The mouse should be positioned as close as possible to the keyboard and be at the same level.
  6. Comfortable posture is not always good for you! The proper posture should be sitting up with your back straight and shoulders back, bending your knees at a right angle. If sitting on a chair with a backrest, sit towards the back of the chair to prevent muscle soreness. Take a break from sitting every hour to ease leg pain.

Other than changing those bad habits, what else could you do to ease pain that is already bothering you?

Acupuncture and Chiropractic are covered in many group health plans in the U.S. Employees can use these services for up to 12 times a year. If you don’t have this coverage, it will only cost you $2~$3 a month to have this service.

In the U.S., office worker syndrome can be a big deal for employers. According to statistics from the Department of Labor, employee work-related injuries cost businesses $60 billion every year. Half of the cases are back injuries caused from lifting heavy objects, making repetitive movements, etc.

Therefore, preventive protection for employees’ neck, back, or shoulders is an important chapter of loss control. If you want to save on workers’ compensation premiums for your company or get more benefits on the group health plan for your employees, contact us now!