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- Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!news-is-not-mail
- From: turpin@cs.utexas.edu (Russell Turpin)
- Newsgroups: sci.med
- Subject: Repetitive motion injuries (was: tendonitis or what?)
- Date: 1 Jan 1993 12:33:19 -0600
- Organization: CS Dept, University of Texas at Austin
- Lines: 29
- Message-ID: <1i22pfINNo2i@im4u.cs.utexas.edu>
- References: <m8smwB2w165w@netlink.cts.com> <1JAN93.14582812@nerus.pfc.mit.edu>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: im4u.cs.utexas.edu
-
- -*----
- In article <1JAN93.14582812@nerus.pfc.mit.edu> mrl@nerus.pfc.mit.edu writes:
- > There are a lot of problems with hands due to RIS (Repetitive
- > Injury Symptoms) which doctors unfortunately don't know how to
- > treat. ...
-
- Many such problems are easily treated by one of the oldest
- medical principles. "Doctor, it hurts when I do this."
- "Stop doing that."
-
- The problem is that people -- often for excellent reasons -- want
- to continue the activity that hurts them. If one's profession is
- playing the string bass or writing computer programs, for
- example, medical advice against bowing and using a keyboard is
- most unwelcome. Which poses a problem that will often stump the
- doctor: how to solve the problem when the patient keeps doing
- what causes the hurt.
-
- Sometimes mechanical changes help. The professional musician I
- knew experimented with different bows, different stroking
- methods, and different hand positions. People using a keyboard
- try tactily different keyboards, different positions, different
- mouse mechanisms, or move to a chording mechanism (the Bat).
- Often people in the same profession who have experienced the same
- problem are more knowledgeable about such alternatives than a
- physician. After all, the average physician has only the
- foggiest notion of how a string bass is played.
-
- Russell
-