Work Disabling Nerve Injury at Both Elbows Due to Laptop Use at Flexible Workplaces inside an Office: Case-Report of a Bilateral Ulnar Neuropathy

P. Paul F. M. Kuijer, Joris van der Pas and Henk F. van der Molen
Additional contact information
P. Paul F. M. Kuijer: Department of Public and Occupational Health, Netherlands Centre for Occupational Diseases, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, 1105 Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Joris van der Pas: Self-Employed Occupational Physician, 5221 Den Bosch, The Netherlands
Henk F. van der Molen: Department of Public and Occupational Health, Netherlands Centre for Occupational Diseases, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, 1105 Amsterdam, The Netherlands

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 24, 1-8

Abstract: Background: This case report describes whether a female civil servant who developed bilateral ulnar neuropathy can be classified as having an occupational disease. Methods: The Dutch six-step protocol for the assessment and prevention of occupational diseases is used. Results: Based on the six-step protocol, we propose that pressure on the ulnar nerve in the elbow region precipitated the neuropathy for this employee while working prolonged periods in elbow flexion with a laptop. Conclusion: Despite the low incidence laptop use might be a risk factor for the occurrence of ulnar neuropathy due to prolonged pressure on the elbow. Employers and workers need to be educated about this disabling occupational injury due to laptop use and about protective work practices such as support for the upper arm and elbow. This seems especially relevant given the trend of more flexible workspaces inside and outside offices, and given the seemingly safe appearance of laptop use.

Keywords: occupational disease; neuropathy; laptop; risk factors; workstation; prevention; elbow; nerve injury; ergonomics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/24/9529/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/24/9529/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:24:p:9529-:d:464930

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().