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S U R G E O N
E R G O N O M I C S
Laparoscopic procedures are a pain to perform, period. Ironically, the continued evolution of minimally invasive surgery aimed at easing patients' recoveries has inflected more damage on the surgeons caring for them. Their necks ache, backs stiffen and forearm muscles scream from overuse. Pain sometimes shoots up and down my back and neck after surgery — and I set up the sterile field for comfort. There's no magic bullet when it comes to improving laparoscopic ergonomics, but there are steps you can take to ease the physical toll of surgery's most technically demanding specialty.
Instrument design
Unfortunately, many surgeons still use older handles and ratchets — designs characterized by narrow metals and small pressure surfaces — that are really difficult to manipulate. Standard laparoscopic graspers, for example, cause significant musculoskeletal symptoms in surgeons' upper extremities and require 3 to 5 times more muscle force to perform the same task as a hemostat, and 2 to 5 times greater thumb and forearm force than open instruments to perform a static grasp, due to inefficient transfer of mechanical force from the handle to the tip. Laparoscopic instruments also require greater hand, forearm, and shoulder muscle force than open instruments to perform dynamic tasks such as suturing. In addition, wrist flexion when manipulating the instruments leads to inefficient transfer of muscle
Hear Dr. Berguer's simple solutions for solving ergonomic issues in the OR
at OR Excellence, Oct. 23-25, at the Red Rock Resort & Spa in Las Vegas.
Register today at
www.orexcellence.com.
