Preventing e-thrombosis: Keeping Healthy Through Inconvenience

By June Campbell

Are you at risk of developing e-thrombosis?

You spend your day at a computer workstation or executive desk. The furniture item fills up the corner of the room, holds your computer, fax/phone/copier, scanner, filing basket and a year's worth of office supplies. There's enough space left over to spread out a picnic lunch if you are so inclined. You settle comfortably into a big executive type chair on casters and get ready to call a few colleagues in for a meeting. As you wait, you talk into a telephone receiver that you're squeezing in place by crunching your shoulder up towards your ear.

That scene is SO nineties, workplace experts tell us. The trend of the new century is towards office furnishings and office equipment that encourage mobility. Get rid of all that big, expensive office furniture before it kills you, they say. Replace it with a smaller "just big enough" desk and equipment that encourages you to move around as you do your job.

In other words, get rid of all that "convenience." Force yourself into healthy action by making your environment inconvenient.

In the first years of this new century, the health hazards associated with a desk job have moved beyond conditions like repetitive strain disorder and carpal tunnel syndrome. Not that we can forget about those conditions, but there's more to worry about now.

e-thrombosis is a newly-recognized condition that afflicts people who sit still for extended lengths of time. And, sitting still for extended periods of time in the workplace is usually associated with computer use.

E-thrombosis (medical terminology is Deep Vein Thrombosis or DVT) is similar to the condition suffered by long distance air travelers. It's no laughing matter. E-thrombosis can be life threatening. A blood clot forms in the legs due to long hours of inactivity. The clot can break off and move into the lungs with sometimes fatal results.

Although only one case has been diagnosed at this time, researchers believe that e-thrombosis may have contributed to many cases of pulmonary embolisms, but gone unnoticed.

Sitting still for hours on end leaves us vulnerable to this and possibly other health hazards. And, according to physiotherapists, working out at the end of the day isn't the solution. By that time, the damage has been done and the workout could do more damage.

Prevention is not difficult. All that is required is that you move about regularly throughout the day.

Get a desk that’s just-big-enough, or an e-work station with movable modules. Put that fax machine in one corner of the room and the copier in another. Provide yourself with articulated arm rests for computer use. Get both an adjustable chair and a fitness stool. Switch back and forth between the two, and at intervals throughout the day, sit on a fitness ball instead of the chair or stool. Sitting on the ball forces good posture and strengthens core muscles.

Have room so you can pace about as you think. Get a phone with a wireless headset that allows you to pace during phone conversations. Have standup work surfaces so you can sort papers, read reports or talk to colleagues while standing. Look into foot switches that allow you to transfer some of the computer tasks to your feet instead of your hands.

Walking around only five to ten minutes each hour is all that it takes to substantially reduce your risk of e-thrombosis. In short, get moving! It's good for you.

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I believe both of my clots - dvt and pe - were caused by my sitting at the puter for hours on end. The chances can only be mulitiplied by any recent invasive surgery.

That's really scary. And I know that you're living proof of the danger. Thank goodness yours was found and fixable. Is this something that once you've had, you tend to be prone to it?

I too sit at the desk/computer all day. I do move some, but not every hour. I guess I really need to start making it a practice to move more.

Thanks for the article,

Betty

Originally posted by New Hope

That's really scary. And I know that you're living proof of the danger. Thank goodness yours was found and fixable. Is this something that once you've had, you tend to be prone to it?

Yes! Once you have had a clot, the valves in the arteries have been damaged and it's almost inevitable that you'll have another. The artery walls themselves are affected as well. Then, sometimes a person has certain qualities in their blood which causes it to be 'sticky' or too thick.

I've had all kinds of tests for hereditary factors or certain syndromes because I have systemic lupus and my father's side of the family have a terrible history of clots. They tell me I probably do have some sort of disorder, but it has yet to be named. I guess we could call it the 'lethal' syndrome. lol (but not cause it's funny.)

Leatha, do you take any kind of maintenance RXs for blood clotting, etc.? I remember you saying that you had a filter put in. How does that work? What kind of precautions do they have to take for a surgery now?

Originally posted by New Hope

Leatha, do you take any kind of maintenance RXs for blood clotting, etc.? I remember you saying that you had a filter put in. How does that work? What kind of precautions do they have to take for a surgery now?

Yes. I take coumadin , which I hate to take. I have it checked very often to make sure it's at the right levels. (Twice this week since surgery.)

I did have a vena cava filter put in at the time of my first banding last year. Such a relief to have that secondary precaution!

For me to have any kind of surgery or extensive dental work, I have to stop my coumadin at least 5 days in advance, then I have to give myself shots of Lovenox for those days in the interim and until I begin my coumadin and get it back to a therapeutic level. No emergency surgery for me, unless it absolutely IS an emergency. Then, I've learned they can give me shots of Vitamin K to thicken the blood.

It sucks and I hate it. However, I begged off of it after the first DVT and wound up with a PE 6 months later. During this time, I was also on Hormone Replacement Patches which they made me take off immediately. That proved almost harder to get over than the DVT! 2001 was a year of hell for me. I've spent the 3 yrs in between trying to get back to something close to what I was before all this began.

Wow, Leatha, you have definitely earned your stripes! Sending hugs and prayers your way that from here forward is smooth sailing for you.

Wow! That article just described my office! The only thing I don't have in here is the copier. I have a walking buddy, and we usually walk laps around the warehouse every morning, but I know thats not enough. Isn't that what NBC's David Bloom died from?

Yes. Because he was cramped up in an army tank for hours on end. That was very sad. He was the picture of health. Tragedy knows no address.

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