Construction, farming and other outdoor jobs are known for the physical aches and pains they often trigger. But, office workers toiling in Durango’s air-conditioned cubicles face their own work-related health hazard: eye strain.

Dr. Lee Ann Hoven, an optometrist with Advanced EyeCare, said she regularly sees patients with eye strain caused by hours of computer use.

“It’s much more prevalent than it used to be, given the amounts of computer use and the different electronic devices people use nowadays,” she said. “We know it takes just 20 minutes for our focusing muscles to start to fatigue. The window is much briefer than people realize.”

“So we have the ‘20-20-20’ rule. Every 20 minutes, take a break, and stare at something at least 20 feet away for 20 seconds. Otherwise, it’s very difficult to sustain that type of activity for a long period for the eyes.”

Every optometrist interviewed for this story said the primary cause of Durangoans’ eyestrain is the electronic screen.

“People are on their computers for hours after hours,” said Dr. Paul Jackson, of Animas Eyecare. “In fact, my first question to patients is, ‘How many hours do you spend starting at a computer screen a day?’ Many people say ‘Eight hours a day.’”

The adverse effects of all-day computer use aren’t limited to strained and blurry vision, Jackson said. He often sees people suffering from office-induced back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain and headaches.

Computer-induced bodily aches and pains are so great for the office-working population that Jami Guido, an optician with Animas Eyecare, said she calls the steady stream of customers with occupational eye strain “seated chair victims.”

“I’m a massage therapist too, and these days, that’s most of us,” she said. “A lot of problems are caused by looking at the computer, in the upper back, neck. It affects the muscles. And it really affects the eyes.”

Beyond the strain of focusing, Guido said, another major contributor to eye strain is the light – often blue and fluorescent – emitted by computer, phone and tablet screens.

She said she rarely prescribes a pair of glasses without an anti-glare coating.

“It absorbs the light, so you can see sharper images,” she said. “Anti-glare coatings are especially important because (researchers) are beginning to find that screens emit a certain amount of ultraviolet light, and it’s damaging the retina.”

Hoven said office lighting also makes a difference.

“Typically, incandescent and LED are better for the eyes than fluorescent lighting,” she said. “Fluorescent lighting is very tough on the eyes.”

A well-chosen pair of glasses can also help ameliorate eye strain.

Jackson said traditional bifocal lenses tend to aggravate computer-caused eye strain because the upper lens is formulated for distances, and the bottom lens is formulated for reading.

“That creates an ergonomic problem because you’re having to tilt your head backwards to try and read the computer screen through the reading lens,” he said. “That creates neck strain, and you’re sitting like that – in the wrong position – for eight hours.”

He said people are better off getting a separate pair of bifocal lenses tailored to long days before the computer.

“Everybody is doing computer work these days, and hardly anybody looks at paper anymore,” he said.

“The first thing I tell patients to think about is to concentrate on ergonomics. Are you comfortable? Is your chair in the right position, so that you’re not crunching your neck? Is the computer in the right position, and not too low, so that you’re not getting that annoying glare off your screen?”

He said only when patients determine the specific distance they sit from computer screens can they really correct eye strain with a well-conceived pair of glasses.

“If you run a marathon, your feet are going to hurt, so you want the best running shoes you can get,” he said. “And if you’re going to stare at a computer all day long, you’re going to get some eye strain, so you want a balanced tool to help you in your environment. It really helps with the pain.”

He said an extra, specially formulated pair of glasses for computer-work is a more realistic solution than an extra pair of work contacts since contacts can be difficult to take in and out.

“Also, the rate at which people blink goes way down when they do computer work, which is a big deal for contact-wearers,” he said “They end up getting some dryness issues, which are then exacerbated by contacts. So if you’re a contact-wearer, to deal with your computer eye strain, get another pair of glasses that you can wear on top of your contacts” to correct for the distance between you and your computer monitor.

cmcallister@durangoherald.com