Is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome A Hoax?

ZaMoose writes: "It seems as if all of the hoopla re: repetitive stress injury (RSI) in the high-tech sector might just be group hysteria. Canadian officials are quoted in the following article as saying that many RSI cases have mysteriously 'gone away.'" Hard to deny that extended typing sessions can have painful after-effects, but at issue here is how serious (and permanent) those effects can be. I know plenty of painful typists complete with wrist guards and wincing who probably won't agree that their symptoms aren't genuine.

Comments

maybe overblown, but not a hoax

[dutky]

I am certain that the pain in my right arm is no hoax or mass delusion, but it doesn't seem to be nearly as debilitating as I have heard other people claim their injuries to be. It also doesn't seem to be due to typing, so much as to use of a mouse or other pointing device in the wrong position.

In the three years that I have been suffering from this pain (usually just a slight twinge in my wrist and the palm of my hand, but occasionally reaching up to my elbow or even to my shoulder) I have not had to undergo surgery, wear a brace, or even take any kind of pain killer or anti-inflamatory drug. What I have done is obtain a host of assistive ergonomic devices (wrist support pads for keyabord and mouse, and assorted 'ergonomic' keyboards and trackballs) and pay extra attention to the position of my arms and body while I'm working at the computer.

I've spent several hundred dollars on these accomodations (all of it my own money) and I've been able to reduce the pain from the arm numbing agony I was experiencing in 1999 to slight twinges in the hand and wrist. There may be folks for whom CT, and other RSI's, are real debilitating disorders, but not for me.

That said, I wouldn't be suprised to find lots of folk exagerating the seriousness of their problems in order to get some concession out of employers in tight labor markets. Similarly, I wouldn't be suprised to find that, with the loosening of the labor market, there has also been a reduction in CT/RSI claims: the sqeaky wheel quiets down when there's less grease to be had, if it knows what's good for it.

Re:A hoax?

[rkent]

However, for every one true RSI sufferer, there're probably a dozen fakers who smell a big lawsuit/government check, and claim mysterious pains here and there.

I think I agree about the "faking," but not for the causes you site. Not to dismiss the suffering of people who are genuinely afflicted, but I've noticed a strange pattern of RSI among friends of mine.

It seems that many of them are conveniently stricken when they want to get out of the computing industry anyway, but can't seem to admit it to themselves. One guy I knew took an early retirement when he was diagnosed with RSI, and another friend was starting to question what he really wanted to do with his life when he "came down" with it. It's like they're subconciously looking for a way out without having a concrete plan of what they'd rather do, and this malaise gives them cause to quit. They do, and bam, symptoms go away. But of course they can't return to work because it would lead to a flare up of symptoms.

I don't know. Again, I don't mean to dis anyone's particular situation. It's just kind of shady sometimes, from what I've seen.

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Alex Chiu's RSI Rings

[zpengo]

Doesn't Alex Chiu have something to combat repetitive stress injuries?

/. misrepresenting the facts again

[issachar]

I don't know why I'm saying this, because /. is perpetually misrepresenting the articles it links to, but the article in question DOES NOT say that Carpal Tunnel Syndrome doesn't exist. Rather it says that there does not appear to be a link between keyboard use and carpal tunnel syndrome. (i.e. Office workers using regular keyboards, have the same incidence of carpal tunnel as the rest of society).

I suppose that if the editors of /. were told that they were not infected with HIV, they would conclude that AIDS is a big hoax...

Re:/. misrepresenting the facts again

[thelexx]

This is supported by my experience anyway. It isn't the keyboard which hurts me, it the damned mouse. Switched to an MS Trackball Explorer and have had 80% of my right side arm/wrist/shoulder aches disappear. Tried several other trackballs but unfortunately they just didn't quite compare to the one signed with the mark of the beast hehe. And switching pointer devices is a hell of a lot cheaper than getting a new chair and/or desk that are more ergo perfect. Hope this encourages even one person with pains on their mouse side to try an alternative because it really does help. No more bottles of generic ibuprofen on the desktop!

LEXX

Pain != Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

[Golias]

My coach in high school used to make a big deal about the difference between pain and injury. Pain in your wrist is just pain in your wrists (probably from tendonitis; a swelling of the tendons commonly caused by things like bad tennis form, long hours playing the old Pac Man arcade game, or using the torure devices known as the PC keyboard and mouse). Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is damage caused by your swolen tendons constricting around the bundle of nerves that pass through your wrist to your hands. It is an injury. A serious and crippling one.

If you have pain in your wrist that doesn't go away after a day away from the keyboard, it does not mean you have permanent RSI damage yet. Change your ergonomics and/or work habits, and you may be back to being your old self. Or you could ignore the pain, pop a couple asprin, and end up crippling yourself. Your call.

BTW: If you have tendonitis, a lot of doctors will tell you to take Advil (or a generic version of it). That's because Advil is an anti-inflamitory drug that actually reduces the swelling in your wrist. Since the swolen tendons is what is causign all the friction (which causes more pain and more swelling), reducing it is a Good Thing. Other pain killers will 1: not reduce the swelling, and 2: ease the pain, allowing you to cheerfully type away and hurt yourself more.

In spite of articles like this... take care of your hands. Getting along without them would be tough.

Maybe for "carpal tunnel syndrome"

[update()]

I'd like to see Dr. Shorter tell my wife that the pain is all in her head. You'd have to surgically remove her hands from his throat.

On the other hand, what struck me about the article was the emphasis on carpal tunnel syndrome. My impression is that very few people have that. The term is used as shorthand for RSI injuries in general, much as people talk about having "the flu" when they get a cold. Tendonitis is far more common, in my experience -- I'd like to have seen that discussed in this context.

Unsettling MOTD at my ISP.

A hoax?

[Turq]

Speaking as a sufferer of carpal tunnel and other repetitive-stress-injuries, aggravated by a genetic predisposition to arthritis, RSIs are -not- a hoax. However, for every one true RSI sufferer, there're probably a dozen fakers who smell a big lawsuit/government check, and claim mysterious pains here and there. These cases up and disappear whenever someone bothers to scruntinize them.. "What? See a doctor? Oh, I, uh, feel much better now. My wrists have healed! It's a miracle!". Often, real RSI sufferers are reluctant to seek the help that goes along with a government check. We love our machines too much. I for one, suffer through the aches, stiff joints, numbness, and keep a-typin. I use a wristwrest and try to keep my wrists/arms/hands at happy 90 degree angles like in those oh-so-nifty ergo diagrams, and I may as well own stock in Bayer for all the asprin I consume. And one day, when the arthritis sets in full force, I hope somebody's perfected cybernetics to the point I can buy new hands from Wal Mart. ;)

What non-Canadians should know about the article

[s20451]

The National Post, the source for this article, is well known as an unashamedly pro-business newspaper. They frequently publish articles which defend existing business practices regardless of their cost - as an example, one of their regular columnists, Terrence Corcoran, is famous for his articles denying the existence of global warming.

In this case, it's likely that the article is intended to reduce the perception of employers' liability for their employees' carpal tunnel injuries, and thereby to dissuade those who are possibly suffering from seeking redress.

n (ouch) o (ugh)

[gnurd]

b (owie) u (ouch) l (ah) l (yikes) s (medic!) h (arg) i (doh) t (uuhhhh)
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