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Eight Hour Coding Session Causes DVT
NickFitz writes "The BBC reports that a UK programmer collapsed with Deep Vein Thrombosis after an eight hour programming session. The potentially life-threatening condition is more commonly seen in air passengers on long haul flights, but this should serve as a warning to many Slashdot readers (including me) that screen breaks aren't just for resting the eyes."
You jest, but considering masturbation reduces the risk of cancer, combined with any possible effect it may have on the risk of DVT, maybe there is a case for having a compulsory monkey spanking session at least once a day at work, for health reasons. I wonder if the boss will buy that?
Oh no... it's the future.
Active, healthy people can and do experience DVT.
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a soccer player: www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?arti
a skier: www.thrombosisjournal.com/content/2/1/8
The 3 major risk factors for a DVT are:
1) Venous Stasis. (Usually caused by not moving your legs/walking for hours at a time, such as in a long car/plane ride, or I guess 8hr. coding sessions)
2) Hypercoaguable state (Usually a predisposition to increased likelihood of clood clotting, such as being pregnant, having cancer, being on estrogen, smoking, certain genetic defects, etc.)
3) Injury to the leg.
So #1 was in play, but if he had risk factors such as #2 or #3, that would have makedly increased his risk for a DVT.
Ironically, he could have prevented venous stasis by a simple method such as this every 1-2 hours...
http://www.ntk.net/media/developers.mpg
There's a related story about an otherwise healthy teenager developing DVT after only 10 hours playing on a game console.
No word on any lawsuit, but the doctor is quoted as saying "However, it doesn't mean that the government should be putting health warnings on Playstations."
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/29/043425 4
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These were my comments:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=52201&cid=518
That said, I still suffer from blood clots and have been taking warfarin for over 3 years now. I can say with some certainty that if he got a clot after sitting for eight hours, it actually only revealed itself then. He's been clotting for a while.
I'm more active now, cycling minimum 100km a week and lots of walking at work and at home... but I still sit for many hours.
I recommend to anyone who works as I do, even with breaks and regualr exercise, watch yourself. Not to be an alarmist but be wary of any pain or inflammation in your calves and thighs. The alternative just ain't worth not taking precautions.
Thank god the airlines are thinking of doing something about that.
This guy's the limit!
Long story short, I used to spend long hours in a NOC (like half the people reading this). After one particularly long day of work with little stretch-time, I was walking home and boom, felt like I had a crack in my pelvis. A hospital visit revealed DVT.
A week of self-administered heparin (sp?) injections, three months of warfarin/coumadin with bi-weekly pt/inr blood tests (to adjust the coumadin dosage) and the lifelong worry that it'll act up again. I've had it reappear three times so far though I've been able to keep out of the hospital.
And it can definitely kill you. If a clot travels to the lungs or your heart you're in for a rough time. David Bloom, a reporter in Iraq, (somewhat) recently died from DVT due to sitting in a cramped M88 for days, hours at a time.
I guess what I'm saying is trust me, get up and walk around every hour or so. DVT blows.
My
Limekiller
pclminion writes:
"They make it sounds like an "8 hour coding session" is some kind of monstrous abuse of your body. Uhhh... Don't many of us do this EVERY DAY? Just get out of the damn chair every once in a while! Was this guy pissing in a bottle or something?"
This is ignorance of the dangerous variety. You can get DVT just by sitting in a cramped position for an hour or two. In fact it's more popularly known as Second Class Syndrome.
I'm going to assume that the Second Class passengers don't piss in bottles. Though with the recent amenities cutbacks, who knows?
Please stop giving bad information to people. I thought I was taking proper breaks from my desk to walk around (fetch coffee, bathroom, slack) but apparently I wasn't careful enough.
My
Limekiller
pclminion writes:
"From your post it sounds like you've suffered DVT even though you thought you were doing things right. THAT'S informative."
Not really. I was getting up to get drinks, take a leak, etc. But no set times and no real plan. Again, it can hit you with just one cramped session.
Now I ALWAYS walk around and stretch a great deal if the part of my leg than hangs over the seat feels pinched at ALL.
My
Limekiller
Drink. More. Water.
I've found some relief from Chiropractic care as well, with a competant and honest practictioner found via a personal referral from a friend. I've seen multiple shady guys practicing as well, but agree that if you find a good one they can provide substantial relief from some types of back and neck pain (I had a fair amount of both, resulting from bad posture while at my PC and reading with my head in a bad position).
The main problem I have with their approach is that it corrects the symptoms without addressing the underlying cause, which can easily lead to a really severe problem down the road. I watched a case of Chiropractic care gone really wrong, where his response to the patient should have been "you need to see a doctor immediately" after seeing the X-rays. That person ended up getting an emergency cervical fusion, and found that going to a Chiropractor first caused major problems with their health insurance coverage, as they immediately wanted to blame them for the resulting problems.
I have my doubts about their ability to recognize their own limits. Chiropractic has a small range of applications (problems which happen to occur to a larger number of people), but I wouldn't recommend it except to manage a problem that's already been diagnosed by a doctor as mild but recurring. The plentiful warnings at Chirobase are well deserved.
I was thankful to have my pain level drop to a manageable level via his banging away at spots with his little adjustment tool. As soon as I was able to, I promptly began working out the problem areas at the gym and using back exercises recommended by my doctor (he had a little cartoon pamphlet on back pain that I laughed at originally, but the sample excercises at the end rock; wish I had it handy to give more details). That routine has slowly built my muscle and flexibility back up to where my pain is almost gone, and I have no intention or need to see the chiropractor again.
Speaking out of experience...Long haul driver...Undiagnosed DVT that moved to my lung...Called a Pulmonary Embolism (PE).
5 days in hospital on Heparin with little or no movement allowed, because the clot could move to your heart (heart attack) or brain (stroke/aneurysm); one year on Coumadin (warfarin, btw is also a rat poison) with twice-weekly to monthly prothrombin checks to guarantee no wild swings (too much clotting vs hemophiliac-like bleeding); and, up until recently, aspirin regimen to decrease normal clotting once I was taken off the Coumadin.
I say up until recently because now, after being off Coumadin for 2-1/2 years I now have venous stasis in my other leg - I knew the symptoms of pre-DVT. Now currently taking Plavix and am getting compression stockings. I seem to be too good at sitting at my job!
Important to know: Once you get it once you are at a very high risk for getting it again!
I can be moderated as Inciteful...