October 2010
A marvelous, often-quoted article entitled Twenty Clinical Truths About RSI provides a great intro to RSI. In the following list, we present our own list just for computer-related RSI based on the consensus of anecdotal info and our own theorizing.
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Ten Commandments of Computer-Related RSI
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Address your symptoms
early.
This is the single most quoted sentiment of those who've lapsed into
chronic RSI problems. For some reason, mostly the slowness of the nervous
system to heal, RSI is much harder to reverse when you allow it to progress.
The tricky part is that damage is often accumulating long before you start
to notice symptoms. Regard minor symptoms not as cause for alarm, but
as signals that your body is changing and you may be pushing it too hard
or doing something wrong. Start reading everything you can about RSI immediately,
particularly if you cannot live without using computers.
Keep your joints moving.
The best long-term recommendation for prevention, if you are forced
to choose only one, is keep all of your joints moving. When our leg falls
asleep, we realize that the solution is to uncross them. Yet the realization
is more difficult to address when it happens so so slowly... and our livelihood
is at stake. The most common advice you're likely to see is to take frequent
breaks. This is excellent advice, but we think ours is slightly more on
target. Notice that if you keep moving, you won't be able to rest your
arms, wrists, or palms on pinch points... you'll be breathing more and
better... you'll oxygenate your joints, and so on.
Work and rest in proportion
to your capacity.
Learn to adjust your keyboard time and take breaks so you stop short
of bringing on your symptoms. Breaks can be productive. Use your non-keyboarding
time to stay in motion and get your blood flowing.
Apply ergonomics sensibly.
A staggering range of devices and recommendations come under the umbrella
of ergonomics. Be skeptical of "miracle cure" devices... find
out from others whether they work for circumstances similar to yours.
Anything that helps you work with straight wrists, relaxed muscles, better
circulation, and fewer pinch points should help. Posture is tricky topic,
but it's reasonable that if your torso is balanced, you need less muscle
tension to support it.
Expect gradual results
from reasonable controls
Perhaps you've noticed that the phenomenon of having your foot "fall
asleep" happens more easily as you age. Similarly we become more
susceptible to the rigors of computer work as the years pile on. But younger
users are also at risk when the hours add up early on. All of the general
advice to combat aging (or its frailties) applies; moderation, exercise,
general health. It also implies something about prognosis: almost all
sufferers can improve their RSI symptoms, some almost 100%, but the more
you've accellerated the process, the less you can expect to "turn
back the clock." This will be impacted by the number of years you've
been tying, the severity of the circumstances that contributed to your
damage, and your age.
Do
not emphasize stretching and strengthening until you resolve chronic tissue
damage.
Improving flexibility and strengthening are vital long-term combative
measures, but you are not ready for them until you resolve chronic tissue
damage. Stretching and strengthening are perhaps the most widely acknowledged
advice you'll see to fight RSI. But if you've got muscle inflammation,
either technique might cause you agony. You may need professional help
to reduce the inflammation or you may need to get away from the keyboard
for some period of time. If you've got scar tissue adhering to your nerves,
tethering them in place, you need professional help to free up the nerves
before any form of exercise could logically be expected to help. We at
rsirescue.com are proponents
of medically sound massage therapy and physical therapy to resolve such
damage.
If
you've already got chronic tissue damage, ergonomics is not enough.
Ergonomic improvements (making your work match your body, instead of
vice-versa), though vital, are not enough if you've already got chronic
tissue damage. It's never too early to improve your ergonomics, but the
problem is that many people who are only starting to learn about RSI hear
so much about ergonomics that they believe that's the "whole story."
Far from it, there are many physiological conditions that might need to
be resolved before a friendlier work environment might have any chance
of turning things around.
If
you address only symptoms, the problem will move to another part of the
body.
This is the hard lesson learned by many sufferers who've had less than
hoped-for results from various invasive technique, not just surgery but
medicines and other alternatives. Medicines (palliatives) and braces (crutches)
can backfire if your situation has in fact been caused by long-term sources
that you continue to ignore. As for surgery, its miracle work is not applied
to its greatest advantage with RSI because the source of the problem is
cumulative, not instantaneous. RSI is not like breaking a bone, or other
problems that are caused by an "event." For RSI that is truly
caused by cumulative, long-term circumstances, surgery is the last resort.
If you simply expect to get an operation and continue making the same
mistakes you've been making for years, any surgeon who's followed RSI
should be able to confirm that you're in for disappointment. Other techniques
should be tried, and should be more successful because they attack the
source. However, if you've caused a lot of damage to your body, nerves
in particular, there are cases where surgery is the proper choice to prevent
further loss of whatever functionality remains.
Improve
your stress level, nutrition, and activity level.
Don't wait for conclusive (scientific) proof... it probably will never
be established. It just makes sense that all of these measures will help.
Listen to your body
and learn what works for
you.
RSI seems to elicit extremely broad and absolute statements from folks
as to what works for them. But what works for others might be completely
unrelated to your scenario.