Fiona Blackman discusses her insight into the positive use of loupes from a physiotherapist’s point of view.
As a chartered physiotherapist, professionals have been visiting my clinic on a consistent basis due to on-going musculoskeletal complaints. There is an array of neck and back shoulder complaints brought on by the way dental professionals sit and carry out treatment in practice.
In comparison to other professions, for example, those who work in an office, there tends to be a lot more information and ergonomic assessments available on how to sit properly at a desk with a computer and phone. Dental professionals struggle to change their posture and positioning to try and get comfortable whilst working. Physiotherapists can treat them with the problems they’ve got, but they tend to come back to visit because they aren’t able to address the cause of the problems in the first place.
Posture in place
Working predominantly in the NHS within musculoskeletal services, I undertook a secondment at the University of Birmingham, School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences in 2013, which included a teaching session on posture and ergonomics for the MSc in Advanced General Dental Practice.
As the delegates involved themselves in a practical hands-on session, my primary objective was to assess each person’s posture and their problems and concerns, in order to offer advice and recommend some simple changes they could implement to improve their muscular complaints. Dentists who were wearing loupes were working in a far better ergonomic position. More upright and less inclined to lean heavily to one side, these delegates gave less rotation of the head when peering into a phantom mouth. Rather than an awkward lean right to the side, their loupes provided just a small tilt to the head towards the field of vision.
This is particularly interesting for physiotherapists, as dental professionals come to clinics and summarise what seating arrangement they have in their practice. It can be hard to understand exactly what they’re talking about without seeing them in action and in practice, so the phantom demonstration gave a more realistic picture of what a dental professionals posture is like when they conduct treatment. One-to-one consultations with a loupes specialist and provider whilst demonstrating your individual working position can teach you how to improve your posture and ergonomics in practice.
There are consistent reports of musculoskeletal complaints by dental professionals, one of the main reasons for early retirement. The problem is that if they haven’t got any musculoskeletal problems when they are younger, many don’t think of it or plan to try to prevent it. Once you begin having back and neck complaints, it is much harder to treat – trying to prevent the occurrence and origin obviously makes much more sense.
Customised for you
Everyone is different in terms of anatomy, so if you are trying to maintain your ideal posture and seating position, individual custom-made loupes are always going to be far superior to a generic loupe system. Consider your posture and the ergonomics in the way you work – magnification and precision lighting should be considered as a crucial aspect for all dental professionals.
To find out more about selecting the right pair of loupes for you, click here and we’ll be in touch with our recommended solutions.
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