Millions of Americans have been involved in production for many years. They do not even think about how working conditions affect their health. Noise, chemicals, dust, and other harmful substances, incorrect forced posture and hard physical work damage the body daily. Office workers suffer from physical inactivity and adverse ergonomic conditions, prolonged stay in a sitting position.
The first place of the neurological morbidity of industrial workers is occupied by vertebral osteochondrosis. It accounts for almost 50% of all nervous system diseases. Back pain drives out of the common rhythm, worsens the quality of life and reduces the ability to work.
As a result, it becomes obvious it is necessary to create conditions in enterprises for the prevention and treatment of occupational diseases of the spine. For this purpose, mechanotherapeutic apparatuses can be used for unloading the spine and correcting posture installed in medical offices of enterprises.
At the same time, staff can always monitor their health in their free time. If you install devices for unloading the spine near to the workplace, the employees can do training between work.
What Does Industrial Medicine Include?
Industrial medicine includes a set of clinical disciplines for solving the main tasks of preventing the development of occupational and industrial-related diseases. It predicts the risk of health damage under the influence of harmful production factors. Since diseases of the spine are found in 80% of the working population and are one of the most common causes of disability, this problem requires particular attention.
Scientists, doctors, leading experts argue that a person under 30 years of age, even keeping a healthy lifestyle, needs spinal correction once a year. People of 40 years old and over should undergo preventive treatment of the spine.
To accomplish this issue, it is necessary to create health centers for unloading the spine and correcting posture on the basis of mechanotherapy devices in medical treatment, and spa centers, health centers and dispensary rooms of enterprises, schools, universities.
Unloading the spine is an effective way of preventing, rehabilitating and treating workers whose activities are associated with performing heavy physical work with a long stay in a tense (sitting) position. These are drivers of all types of transport, pupils, accountants, managers, programmers, etc.
In this category of workers, the musculoskeletal system of the spine is weakened. The back muscles cease to play the role of shock absorbers of the vertebrae, the nerve roots are violated, the so-called “backache” occurs. Back pain is very common in people engaged in physical work in the workplace. Weight lifting, prolonged stay in a forced position, vibration and other harmful factors contribute to the development of osteochondrosis, arthritis, arthrosis, intervertebral hernia, and protrusion.
Treatment of Spine Violations
It is recommended to install devices for vibration-mechanical, roller massage and traction of the spine in medical offices and health centers, dispensaries of industrial enterprises to prevent and treat industrial spinal diseases. This significantly improves the quality of life of workers, returns them to professional activities or allows them to realize professional functions more efficiently, reduces the burden on outpatient and inpatient treatment networks. As a result, the demand for medical care decreases by 2-6 times, which ultimately gives a significant economic effect.
Vertebrogenic pain syndromes are pathogenetically associated with changes in the spine. These include damage to the lumbar and sacral roots in the case of a hernia of the intervertebral disc, stenosis of the central and lateral spinal canal, spondylolisthesis, which appear in workers with occupational diseases.
Prevention of Spine Violations
Today, much attention is paid to the means of mechanical action in the prevention and rehabilitation treatment of the musculoskeletal system diseases. Properly developed and scientifically based combinations of various physical factors of a mechanical nature are of great value for medical practice.
To relieve tension from back muscles, unload spine tension, the apparatus-vibration-mechanical method of mechanical action is used. The main operating factors of the proposed devices are dosed axial traction and locally vibrational mechanical paravertebral action on the spinal column. Rollers-massagers, rigidly connected to the vibrator is used.