
“Micro Breaks” with Stretching Enhance Surgeon Physical Function and Focus - perlpimp
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26863399
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henrik_w
I credit micro breaks and stretching as the main reason I got over my severe
RSI [1]. Never really heard that surgeons had similar problems though, but I
guess it is the same mechanism - too much fine motor action for too long
without a break.

[1] [https://henrikwarne.com/2012/02/18/how-i-beat-
rsi/](https://henrikwarne.com/2012/02/18/how-i-beat-rsi/)

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git_SHA
This was an unexpected benefit of the Pomodoro technique for me. I ended up
walking around during the forced breaks and it definitely reduced the physical
stresses imposed by coding days.

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chmackenzie
Pomodoro technique definitely transformed my work experience. A few wrist
stretches and brief walk definitely improved focus, and relieved the wrist
strain most coders are familiar with.

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jessriedel
Since the outcome metrics (pain) are self-reported, this study was essentially
unblinded, right? That may simply be an inherent limitation that can't be
avoided in this sort of study, but worth noting it opens up the door for a
placebo effect.

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wry_discontent
To some extent, isn't the placebo effect good enough?

If my goal is to feel more focused, that's an inherently subjective thing. If
I feel like I'm more focused, I am more focused. So the placebo effect and a
more objectively observed result are essentially the same here.

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jessriedel
> If I feel like I'm more focused, I am more focused.

But the _end_ goal is almost never to feel more focused, the end goal is to
(say) accomplish a task faster or more accurately. And there are definitely
placebo interventions that make people feel like they are doing things better
without actually doing anything better.

Likewise, in this case, the end goal is for the surgeons to have a longer
career. It's easy to imagine a placebo intervention that makes one feel
better, but doesn't actually reduce wear-and-tear on joints, and hence doesn't
prolong one's career.

Also, like the other commenter said: placebo effects are often less reliable
or generalizable outside the specific context of the study. They may be
motivated by, e.g., a subconscious desire to please the experimenter which
goes away in real-life circumstances. Actual physiological interventions are
much less likely to do this.

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askvictor
Workrave is a great program for Linux and windows that creates a break timer,
and shows exercises. Has certainly prevented a lot of pain for me

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fsiefken
What do these 1.5-2m standardized targeted stretching micro breaks (TSMB's)
entail exactly? What kind of stretching exercises?

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TillE
They give quite a lot of detail in the article, including links to photographs
of surgeons stretching.

[http://www.aahs.org/medstaff/wp-
content/uploads/aparkAnnSurg...](http://www.aahs.org/medstaff/wp-
content/uploads/aparkAnnSurg2017.pdf)

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meredydd
In case "hunt the link in a PDF" isn't your favourite game, here are the
images:

[http://download.lww.com/wolterskluwer_vitalstream_com/PermaL...](http://download.lww.com/wolterskluwer_vitalstream_com/PermaLink/SLA/A/SLA_2016_01_18_PARK_ANNSURG-D-15-01821_SDC1.pdf)

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spraak
Micro breaks.. micro dosing.. micro.. kernels. What will the next micro
implementation?

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solotronics
microboners

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spraak
XD

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charlieflowers
I wish the abstract provided more details on the kinds of stretching and the
nature of the breaks.

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amelius
Related to RSI in computer workers?

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git_SHA
I'm intrigued by these sorts of studies - not coming from a statistical
background I'm amazed by how few samples they need to draw conclusions. If you
told me you only had 341 events in your A/B test I'd be suspicious of the
results you were claiming. (Note: I don't do A/B tests professionally so I may
not know what I'm talking about...)

They do mention " Random coefficient mixed models accounted for surgeon
variability" in the summary so maybe that's sufficient.

