My RSI experience
Andrew R. Gillett
you can find my own writings on the subject here:
http://argnet.fatal-design.com/rsi.php
Here is an extract (written in Apr 2008):
Since June 2007 I have been suffering from Repetitive Strain Injury
(RSI) which has had a huge impact on my life. Recently, I have also been
suffering from voice strain, which appears to have been brought on by
the use of speech recognition software. Since I was relying on speech
recognition to type, I have now been off work for about two months. At
some point in the future I intend to write an extensive account of my
experience, to warn people of what can happen. For now, my ability to
type is extremely limited (this message is being written over the course
of several days) so I will summarise the situation as it stands.
Right now I am capable of typing at full speed for just a couple of
minutes per day. As for things such as checking emails and opening web
pages, I can do this to a limited extent, but the more of it I do, the
less actual typing I can do. If I do too much, my symptoms generally
flare up, although often the problems are not apparent until the next
day, or even longer. Currently my symptoms tend to consist of (mostly)
mild feelings of weakness in the arms and hands. As bad as these
symptoms are, they are considerably better than they were a few months
ago, when I would occasionally experience weakness in my arms and hands
so bad that I had trouble doing things like buttering a slice of bread
or using a toothbrush. Mostly though, my symptoms consisted of various
aches, pains, tingling and other symptoms which are hard to describe. I
still get such symptoms, but less frequently than before. My process of
recovery from RSI involves seeing a physiotherapist regularly, doing
hours of special exercises per day, going swimming most days, and
drastically reducing the amount of time spent on the computer or
consoles. Indeed, I haven't played a game in months, and it looks like
the days of having games as my primary (or even secondary, tertiary or
quaternary) form of entertainment are permanently over.
My voice strain currently manifests itself primarily in the form of a
constant soreness in the throat, which is often made worse by talking.
I'm currently waiting to see a speech therapist. As a result of my voice
problem, I generally avoid phoning or meeting up with my friends, out of
a fear of making it worse.
Currently I am hoping that I might be able to go back to work within a
few weeks - my plan is to use a device called a head mouse, alongside a
piece of software called Dasher
(http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/dasher/) which I discovered
recently. It allows the user to type using a mouse pointer, at a much
faster rate than traditional on-screen keyboards. However, I don't know
if my voice will be up to speaking to people all day (or even part of
the day).
I hope that people reading this will seriously consider whether they are
at risk of experiencing RSI. Many of the people I know are at high risk
due to the amount of time they spend on computers and consoles. I have
even spoken to people who have noticed aches and pains but are not
taking any action to deal with them, such as reducing computer use or
seeing a physiotherapist. Both are highly recommended even if your
problems don't seem that bad at the moment. For anyone suffering from
RSI (or anyone who wants to avoid getting it in the first place), more
tips can be found in my post here: http://www.yakyak.org/viewtopic.php?
f=2&t=66065&start=19
Are there any upsides to this whole thing? Well, as part of my recovery
process, I have been doing a lot more exercise, including swimming. When
I first started swimming in September, I couldn't even do half a length
without stopping. When I did get to the point where I could do a whole
length, I had to rest for several minutes between each one. Now I can do
a length a minute for nearly half an hour. So I'm probably less likely
to die of heart disease.
--
Andrew Gillett http://argnet.fatal-design.com/
Abductor-arsis-metatarsis-quinti