ETD’s Display Screen Equipment Course Shows You the Importance of Exercise… in the Office?

The latest annual statistics Typically, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) affect the back, shoulders, neck and limbs. As the most common occupational illness, over 1 million people tackle MSDs in the UK each year. These disorders come in many forms, such as ‘tennis elbow’ or ‘carpal tunnel syndrome’, and can be the result of bad posture, overexertion of the back, poor working environments or repetitive movement.


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The latest annual statistics show that over 17.2 million working days were lost because of MSDs in 2020. Although some MSDs, such as ‘carpal tunnel syndrome’, can be genetic, most of these conditions occur as a result of poor working practices in the office.

But how can you prevent these poor working practices?

Safety When Using Display Screen Equipment

To prevent injury while using display screen equipment (DSE), you need to maintain a good posture, create a suitable workstation, work in good environments and adjust variables to suit your individual needs. ETD explores each of these factors in its Display Screen Equipment Course. More on that later.


To further avoid injury from over-using DSE, you can perform these four simple exercises.


1)      Back and Neck Stretch

Raise your hands behind your head. Move your head in a forward motion, slowly stretching the upper part of the neck, breathing calmly. Keep your back and shoulders level as you stretch all muscles in the back of your neck. Maintain this position whilst breathing deeply five times.


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2)      Slide Neck Stretch

Place the base of your palm just above your right ear. Tilt your head to the left to stretch the side of the neck. In this position, breathe deeply three times. Repeat on the right side of the neck.


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3)      Upper Back and Shoulder Stretch


Find a comfortable space to stand next to a wall. Keeping your elbow straight, place your right hand on the wall and move your feet close together. Raise your left hand above your head and bend slightly towards the wall. Whilst in this position, breathe deeply four times. Repeat this exercise with your left hand on the wall. This will help to stretch the sides of the muscles in your spine.


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4)      Backward Shoulder Stretch


Sit on a chair and place your hands behind your back, reaching behind the chair to expand your chest. Lift your hands. You’ll feel a slight stretch in your back. This enables you to stretch all those muscles in the chest.


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ETD’s Display Screen Equipment Course

To learn more about the different types of exercises that you can perform to reduce injury, you can take ETD’s DSE Course. Follow these five simple steps to get started.

·         Create a free company account or single user account, selecting the £12+ VAT payment scheme.

·         Purchase your user accounts using the online Elavon platform.

·         For company accounts, create your user accounts (using unique usernames) and “activate” each user by pressing the “activate” button.

·         Purchase your online training by selecting the courses that you require. Ticking a course will instantly assign it to the user’s account.

·         Once the courses have been assigned, single users can access the course under “my courses”. Company users can log into their account, go to “my courses” and start the training.

If you require any assistance with the online training, then please contact our support team , who will be happy to help.