Record numbers are tripping over cables or being injured when carelessly-placed equipment falls on them.
Children are particularly at risk, according to the study of 78,000 reports at U.S. hospitals of computer-related injuries between 1994 and 2006. The number of serious accidents rose 732 per cent over the period.
child on computer
Researchers say children are particularly at risk of computer related injuries
The study, by researchers in Columbus, Ohio, was reported in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
In Britain, computer-related accidents in the home rose from around 800 in 1995 to 2,100 in 2002.
Many of the accidents were caused by the mass of cables and wires that trail over the floors of home offices and spare bedrooms.
Others were caused by badly designed desk layouts, or equipment falling on its owner.
Some of the patients suffered from bangs to the head after equipment fell on them. Others were hurt clothes were snagged on sharp corners or when they tripped on cables.
Muscle strains caused by lifting heavy boxes was also common.
Monitors caused most of the accidents – although the introduction of lightweight LCD displays led to a fall in the percentage of total accidents caused by screens after 2003.
Dr Lara McKenzie, who carried out the study at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Centre for Injury Research and Policy, said: 'Future research on acute computer-related injuries is needed as this ubiquitous product becomes more intertwined in our everyday lives.
'Given the large increase in acute computer related injuries over the study period, greater efforts are needed to prevent such injuries, especially among young children.'
In Britain, computer-related accidents in the home rose from around 800 in 1995 to more than 1,800 in 1999 and 2,100 in 2002 - the latest figures available. Since then the figures are thought to have shot up dramatically as home computers become increasingly popular.
A third of the incidents in 2002 involved a child under the age of 15, according to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (Rospa).
Most computer related scrapes are minor. However, some can be life threatening.
One case in 1998 involved a six-year-old boy who was burned by a fire caused by spilling a drink on a computer.
Whenever a piece of equipment or activity such as home-computing becomes more popular, the number of people being injured in related accidents does tend to increase,' a spokesman for Rospa said.
We noticed a particular rise in computer-related home accidents towards the end of the 1990s as computers became 'must have' items.
Accidents always happen more easily when you're rushing, so if you're carrying a computer do take care to look where you're going and don't try to lift too much equipment in one go.'
Playing computer games for more than seven hours a week can alter your biological clock, leaving you sleep-deprived and open to a host of health problems, U.S. scientists have warned. Doctors believe the bright light of a computer screen may suppress the hormone melatonin which helps regulate the normal sleep-wake cycle.
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