Category: RSI

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commentary Lifestyle RSI

When is the last time you really listened to music?

A good few years ago, whilst visiting a Biofeedback practitioner (in the US), before they got a chance to attach electrodes onto my shoulders arms etc and do the technical task that is part of biofeedback, they did a talk through to find out my background, and observe what stresses may be involved in my life. It was part of a holistic approach to dealing with RSI before the technical measurements.

One question they asked that has stuck in my mind to this day was, “When was the last time you listened to music?”, to which I replied well, “In the car driving here”. Their response was, “No, when was the last time you listened to music just to enjoy the music, not as part of something else?”. I really had to rack my brain to think that one through. I couldn’t remember. Not for many years and probably when I was a lot younger, had a lot more time on my hands and a lot less to worry about – probably in my teens! I had to be honest and say, “I really don’t remember”.

The lesson she was trying to impart was that we rarely take the time in life any more to just enjoy simple things that once were a source of relaxation. Music should have been there to enjoy and relax to on its own. By then my life was so busy that music had been demoted to something less.

It may be a part of the reason we hanker after music during our childhood to teen years. Back then, we had more time to listen to music with fewer worries and distractions in our lives. Not only that, but we spent time listening to whole albums from start to finish (which back in my day were on vinyl) and playing them to death whilst memorising the lyrics. This changed in my busier twenties, demoting music to be something listened to when I was driving about, at my desk whilst working or when I went for a workout at the gym. It just wasn’t something I had time for any more on it’s own, yet it was still an important part of my life, just not for relaxing to. In other words I always added something else into the mix with music without obtaining any of the mental relaxation that could be found from listening to an entire album and doing nothing else.

Move forward a couple of decades, and we find ourselves in a completely different situation. The invention of home computers, MP3 files and players have completely revolutionised music and the way we listen to it. We now have thousands of files on our players that are very easily mixed and are frequently listened to in random order, which can be great, and really allows you to find stuff in  your collection that you’d forgotten about. However it has led to being spoiled for choice, and we tend to flick through music tracks at the push of a button, not listening to albums in the way they were intended to be appreciated. Many artists spend a lot of time sequencing an album into a specific order which ‘flows’ or tells a story, and is really part of the overall experience of that music. This sequencing is more often than not completely wasted with shuffle plays of MP3 players, and really adds to the sense that music is just a cheap commodity in our already over commoditised life.

If we spent a dedicated hour a day to do nothing but listen to a favourite album the way it was intended to be listened to and for no other reason but to enjoy that album, we’d find that the music does a wonderful thing and takes us to a different place, where we can lose our worries and stresses for an hour and start to relax again, just as we did when we were younger. It may also help us to de-stress and unwind from tension induced conditions such as RSI.

So when was the last time that you really listened to music?

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RSI Tips

RSI Pain Relief – Contrast Baths

Some temporary RSI forearm muscle pain relief is achievable using an easy to administer method called contrast baths. I was taught how to use this procedure by a hand/arm physical therapist while living and working in the US.

The idea is to have two waterproof (plastic storage boxes work fine) containers. Each one  should be just greater in length than the distance from your elbow to you finger tips. These should be filled with water to a depth enough to cover your arms when fully submerged.

One container should be ‘hot’ – not too hot.  ie. no greater than 40-45oC (104-113oF)

The other container should be ‘cold’ – cold tap water with a few ice cubes (or an ice cooler pack) in it to chill further to no lower than 10-15oC (50-60oF)

You will also need to have a clock or timer handy with seconds/minutes easily visible. A kitchen timer or stopwatch is good for this purpose.

The procedure is simple, and involves submerging your arms into the ‘hot’ bath for 1 minute, followed by submerging them for 1 minute in the ‘cold’ bath. Then repeat this switching between baths for 10 to 15 minutes (longer if desired).

You can repeat contrast baths a few times a day if necessary, but it may be impractical to do this at work. You could also increase the time from one minute in each bath to two minutes in each bath if found to be more effective.

This temperature cycling should help relax any stressed out muscles a bit, and give some immediate pain relief. At the peak of my RSI condition after coming home from work every night, I would do contrast baths to get some pain relief. Its a low cost and self administrable procedure that can help reduce RSI pain.

Please check with your health advisor first if you have diabetes, heart problems or Raynaud’s Syndrome before doing contrast baths so that they can determine whether it is advisable for you to proceed.

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commentary Input Devices RSI

Text input controlled by thought?

In an interesting article in Hplus Magazine entitled ‘By thought alone: Mind over keyboard’, the author describes studies into how we can use the brain’s thoughts to control a keyboard input. The findings indicate that people with electrodes implanted in their brains can learn to type by using thoughts alone. It’s also possible to achieve this without these electrodes by using  an EEG type interface, although speed rates for typing seem to be slow if we take the current findings –

“Tweeting by thought alone is a somewhat slow process using this prototype technology –- we speak at approximately 120 words per minute. But, as with texting, users can improve as they practice using the interface. “I’ve seen people do up to eight characters per minute,” Wilson says.”

Ouch.. that would be a significant downturn in workload!  I can see this form of input being a considerable benefit to people with severe disabilities, however I do wonder what the long term health impacts are of having an electrode implanted in your brain. My guess is that it must surely at this stage be a large unknown. It is, however, an interesting area of research.

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Facebook RSI

Ergomatters RSI Blog page on Facebook

facebooklogofreshErgomatters RSI Blog is reaching out with our RSI awareness effort with a presence now on Facebook, one of the world’s largest social networking web sites. Come and join us, become a fan and help spread the word!

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Career commentary Ergonomics faq Input Devices Lifestyle RSI Tips

New RSI Frequenty Asked Questions (FAQ) Page

rsi_faq_mdI am happy to announce the release of my latest update to this site, a Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) Frequently Ask Questions (FAQ) page along with answers! This is basically a download of information from my head as to my understanding of RSI, along with relevant links and information, and is without doubt the largest information release I’ve done on this site. Hopefully you will find this useful. Please feel free to comment and share.

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Ergonomics RSI

Bio Feedback as a tool to combat RSI

Bio Feedback, is a method of measuring an individual’s stresses by monitoring muscle tension, sweat gland behaviour, heart rate etc. It is a non-invasive, non-medical process, designed to raise the awareness of the subject to how their body is reacting to their working environment.

Previously, while living in the US, I was sent for Bio Feedback monitoring, and was ‘hooked up’ to many electrode pads around my neck, shoulders, and arms. These were to be used to measure muscle tension in all the upper body limbs including the neck and shoulder area.  The sensors are connected to a computer which plots out the associated muscle tensions on a monitor, so you have real time visualisation of the various muscle tensions you hold in your upper body when operating computer equipment. You are actually seated in front of a real keyboard and mouse, and asked to type and enter data like you normally would in your daily life.

I was actually quite surprised at how much tension the signals showed, and was constantly told to relax the posture to drop the tension levels – not an easy task!

I had to really try to relax my whole body from my head to neck to shoulders to arms to wrist angle to make even the slightest difference. The difficulty was trying to hold it there whilst typing and using a mouse.

Emphasis was placed on relaxing muscles that control the upper limbs, as well as suggestions on how to become more relaxed in the mind both inside and outside of the office environment.

As with other RSI awareness education therapies, there was no magic bullet for me with Bio Feedback, but it certainly helped to raise my awareness of how tense my upper body limbs (including shoulders) became while operating computer equipment, and that really is an important part of the RSI education process.

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commentary Ergonomics Miscellaneous RSI

Brace yourself! – wrist braces and RSI

Wrist BraceI’ve been through a fair share of wrist braces in my time with RSI. Wrist braces are often the first item you will obtain after seeing a physical therapist about an RSI condition. They can be a lot of help to a RSI sufferer, but have to be used correctly, comfortably, and should not be used if they worsen your RSI symptoms.

There are a lot of braces out there, and what works for one person may not work for everyone. Braces are usually made out of neoprene or elasticated material coupled with a metal or hard plastic support to immobilise the wrist.

The primary use of the wrist brace should not be forgotten ie to rest wrist joints and forearm muscles that drive the wrist motion (forearm extensors, flexors), and reduce the pain associated from overuse injuries. While this may sound like a good thing, quite often if you wear a brace while using a computer, you will end up using other muscles in a strenuous way to do the same work, and can cause other injuries because of this.

There is no such thing as an ideal wrist brace, it really depends on what they are trying to do.

In the course of your RSI journey you way well encounter many different styles of wrist braces.

My general rules concerning wrist braces are –

  1. You shouldn’t jump in and buy a wrist brace without first seeking advice from a physiotherapist or doctor.
  2. Ideally, it should be used to rest (heal) the wrist and the overused (painful) muscles that drive the wrist extension and flexion, and not worn when using a keyboard or mouse.
  3. Exceptions to the rule are perhaps specific braces intended to stop excessive flexion of the wrist if you are prone to this. It’s a far better idea to be able to spot this flexion yourself and change it, but if you have difficulty doing this then a brace may be required. Alternatively have someone stand and watch over you with a big stick, you will learn faster then!
  4. Braces used to rest the wrist should not be too tight, just a snug fit. Over tightening can lead to restricted blood flow to the hand and wrists.
  5. Consider wearing a wrist brace at night in bed to avoid sleeping with your arms/wrists/hands in bent positions. It is critical that you don’t have a tight brace when doing this so as not to restrict blood flow.
  6. Don’t use them unless you have to. Its better to know your pain, when it happens and try to make adjustments to your  work practice etc to reduce the causes than it is to just ‘bandage up’ your injured wrists into a brace.
  7. Neoprene braces can be hot, sweaty, smelly and itchy to wear even for short periods of time. Better to look for ventilated elastic material ones.
  8. Wrist braces are not a good  universal fit for everyone, so you may have to make some adjustments to it to make it comfortable, including cutting bits out of it or adding some customised padding.
  9. Wear them at work and they do flag to your employer and colleagues that you have a RSI problem!

Remember though, wrist braces are not a solution to RSI, they are really only there to rest an injury and ease pain. To address your injury it is far better to try to make adjustments to your work to stop the motion that is causing you to have the pain. In other words, you should monitor your wrist, hand motions at a keyboard etc, and make adjustments to your bad working practices, including posture changes. You should also introduce more regular breaks away from your computer along with a good stretching routine and some physical activity.

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Career commentary Ergonomics RSI

Too young to be taught about RSI?

There is a  revealing quote from Dan Odell (Microsoft‘s in-house ergonomist), in an article titled ‘Elementary Ergonomics’ from ‘T.H.E journal.com’ by Jennifer Grayson . He states that –

“There is a growing awareness of how much of an impact there is on students. A lot of the ergonomists I work with at different companies have been noticing that students are graduating from college and coming into the workforce already with chronic repetitive strain-injury problems. It seems at least from the anecdotal stuff that it’s important to start focusing more on the student population.”

This could unfortunately be the start of the RSI epidemic wave that I have long been expecting. The younger generation coming through universities and colleges of further education are the ones that have been exposed to ‘technology’ since they were born and have grown up accustomed to a hi-tech life full of computers, mobile phones, gaming systems and other ‘daily use’ gadgets in complete ignorance of the danger that they pose. They are the generation that have grown up with an ever expanding level of text messaging.

What this generation does not appreciate are the dangers associated with RSI type conditions and their implications for future employment (and earnings) prospects. I also wonder whether employers realise the risks of employing people with these conditions, especially into computer intensive jobs. It may not be too far in the future before employers start to check for these conditions during a pre hiring medical examination, although it may be hard to diagnose without honesty from the potential employee.

What is obvious to me is that ergonomic and RSI health awareness training currently aimed solely at employed adults has to be brought into schools, colleges and universities also to educate the future employees before they succumb to a debilitating RSI condition when they start their employed adult life.

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commentary Ergonomics Lifestyle RSI Tips

Breaking the RSI Pain Cycle

Breaking the RSI Pain CycleThe RSI pain cycle is the cycle of pain that a RSI sufferer can be locked into with their condition. The first diagram on the right (click image to enlarge) should allow a sufferer to understand the underlying mechanisms of the RSI pain cycle and realise that there may not be one single ‘magic bullet’ to address the RSI pain.

The RSI pain cycle once ‘locked’ into is a hard one to break free from. The common mistake is to address only one or two factors. If the sufferer is at an early stage of RSI, and is fortunate then one change eg ergonomic setup may be enough to break free, but any medium/long term sufferer who is trapped in this cycle should consider addressing most/all of the underlying trigger causes to allow the transition to an RSI free life. The second diagram (click image to enlarge) shows the key areas to address to break the cycle.Breaking The RSI Pain Cycle

You can also download the 2 diagrams in Breaking The RSI Pain Cycle (pdf)

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Lifestyle Miscellaneous RSI

Trigger Finger and RSI?

I’ve just been dealing with a bad case of trigger finger – a condition where a finger becomes locked in a gripped position.

It’s happening (quite badly) on the middle finger of my right hand – so much so that I have to use my other hand to prise the stuck finger open again! I also have minor trigger symptoms on some of my other fingers. It’s not just an inconvenient condition, it can be quite painful too! Usually trigger finger cases can clear up with some rest, ice and anti-inflammatory medication but this one has been with me for quite some time.

The trigger condition has been diagnosed as such by doctors, and has been treated twice with steroidal injections (to no avail). Surgery looks like the next option for me to relieve this condition, and is only a day patient procedure done under

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