Talk:Repetitive strain injury

Remove this

This is not science. This is based in fabrication, disinformation, panic and greed. This article should be removed, now. Historygypsy (talk) 14:25, 7 November 2010 (UTC)

Nonsense. This is a genuine condition, recognised by many medical professionals and organisations around the world, including the UK's NHS - see http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/repetitive-strain-injury/Pages/Introduction.aspx

Because a clear physical often cause cannot be found, it seems that people jump to the "all in the mind" conclusion. This ignores the possibility of physical causes which are hard to detect. Dr Andrew Dilley and others have been carrying out research into subtle differences in how the median nerve moves in RSI patients vs controls. Some details and links to medical papers can be found here: http://www.unisoneastern.org.uk/documents/en/RSI/RSI_Action_Newsletter_Issue_13__-_June_2010.pdf Arganoid (talk) 15:56, 4 February 2011 (UTC)

Reply The UK NHS recognises it?, Wow! ""Makes it official then". (apologies to Geoffery Rush).Historygypsy (talk) 18:26, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

What is more relevant is that the World Health Organization recognises this as disorder and has classified it in ICD-10 under category M70. Beeswaxcandle (talk) 06:47, 5 July 2011 (UTC)

Text messaging

Editors may be interested in: Texting Can Be a Pain in the Neck, Shoulders. -- Wavelength (talk) 20:37, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

The Australian Epidemic of nonsense

I lived through the creation of this nonsense, that was created and nurtured by Unions, Lawyers, people who were out of work, and I am ashamed to say, fellow doctors. The left wing media added fuel to the fire with uneducated and at times, fabricated articles warning of permanent crippling due to simple repetitive tasks, tasks that had been undertaken for prior decades without any complaint., let alone injury.

The "Epidemic" was largely restricted to certain sections of businesses who were either closing, re-locating, downsizing or being taken over. At the same time, workers doing similar tasks in the same company, or in similar companies did not report symptoms. Further, the epidemic was largely restricted to the city of Sydney, although, once the civil service started to be cut back, it appeared in the national capital, Canberra.

One cannot blame the workers who were facing retrenchment with no prospect of re-employment. At the same time, Unions, had suffered huge losses in membership due to laws that banned compulsory unionism, which became voluntary. Many left the Union movement due to high fees, intimidation and in some cases, mis-management. These were afforded the right of " Collective Bargaining" instead.

The Unions seized the opportunity, and published lurid, frightening booklets and leaflets claiming that "RSI" could led to crippling. The overwhelming claims were from women. Many of the process workers under siege were immigrants, not literate or articulate in English, and were frequently holding down the families second (and in some cases the only) source of income. The Unions appointed "RSI Co-ordinators" in companies, and scared the workers into claiming even minor fatigue aches. A union "Trade Workers' Clinic" compounded the problem by making claims that were not only outlandish, but clearly spurious. A "Workers' Compensation Court" was expanded, with a sizeable number of socialist judges belonging to a caucus called "The League of Labour Lawyers". The result was predictable, the epidemic spread like an infectious disease, jumping across oceans and land borders, but always selectively. The epidemic spread to other countries, after it was pointed out that the problem did not exist in other countries. It was at that time said that the Unions would hear of this, and would make sure that the problem would cross the oceans, and within a short time, that is exactly what happened.

No injury was ever demonstrated, not by organ imaging of any type, biopsy, electrical studies or by simple examination. Carpal tunnel syndrome, which was annexed heuristically to RSI is not due to strain. Further, most of the claimants were doing simple repetitive tasks that could be tiring, but each movement alone was not strenuous. If you do not strain yourself once, then you cannot claim strain to be repetitive, since you cannot compound nothing. On the other hand, there were some undoubted cases of clear cut strain injuries due to excessive or mis-applied force, and if that force was repeated, then the term RSI could be valid. The classic example is hitting a tennis or golf ball with an incorrect action, when, if repeated can lead to Golfers' or Tennis elbow". I had Tennis elbow from just this folly of not stopping at the first twinge of pain. In these and other cases, the nature and the site of injury was easily demonstrated in anatomic and physiologic terms.

There were increasing numbers of claimants that had been coached by unscrupulous professionals. The problem was that frequently the claimants either forgot, or were unable to reproduce, or just fabricated incapacity. This led to a variety of bizarre non-explainatory signs that, true to form, were than claimed to be "typical of, and diagnostic of, RSI".

Clearly, there were some genuine work injuries, but these were always in the category of well known afflictions. But the promotors of "RSI" in the Australian context were calling any pain, of any origin RSI. The problem was that strain was never demonstrated, repetition was never quantified and injury was simply assumed if the claimant was working. When it was pointed out that "RSI" had no diagnostic features, and fitted into no organ or physiological entity, the absurd claim was made that "The hallmark of RSI is that it has no diagnostic features"!! I had the experience of doctors telling me that they only diagnosed RSI "....because if I didn't, I would have no practice left". The tragedy was that the workers suffered. Many lost their jobs because companies were unable to afford escalating insurance costs, especially when a work place became a hotbed of claims due to fears of job loss. Such workers were then marked for ever as "suspect", and were locked out of the work force. This re-enforced the myth that RSI could cause permanent incapacity, a myth that the unfortunate ex-worker had to perpetuate in order to keep the compensation payments. This led to more bizarre and at times fabricated behaviour, since it was nigh impossible to remember how to maintain the illusion of injury.

The damage to the economy was enormous, due to companies failing, insurance payouts soaring and long term compensation payments reaching astronomic proportions.

Some doctors, lawyers, union and media folk are ultimately responsible for this tragedy which caused so much misery, which was initially motivated by a genuine fear held by hard working process workers, but fed by greed and power of those who knew better.

Finally, the epidemic died out. The demise of RSI as an epidemic was caused by a revision of the law, and by the loss of credibility attached to by those professionals who sought to capitalize on the epidemic for personal gain. doubtless, in the mad boom of the 1990's a resurgence of employment helped. But the myth lives on, and like a religion, it survives in the minds of those who do not know, or who do not wish to accept the facts. RSI is now an article of faith, and "It is harder to shake a belief than fact" , (a quote from the master of dis-information, Adolf Hitler) Readers are urged to read the writings of the eminent occupational epidemiologist, Nortin Hadler Historygypsy (talk) 18:34, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

Please move your Godwin to the first line of your diatribe to minimize lost time of wikipedia discussion page readers.98.240.67.27 (talk) 06:23, 10 July 2011 (UTC)

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• angls=120^-----Please note, I have [[Repetitive Strain Injury]] and find typing very hard. I use a form of shorthand, which may be difficult to understand. I can be contacted through MSN (sven70) or Skype (sven0921) if my meaning is unclear. (talk) 18:38, 9 August 2010 (UTC)