"You say potato..." RSI , CTD (Cumulative Trauma Disorder), OOS
(Occupational Overuse Syndrome), OCD (Occupational Cervicobrachial
Disease), WRULDs (Work-related Upper Limb Disorders), or WMSDs (Work
related Musculoskeletal Disorders) are crippling by any name.
The term WMSDs corresponds best to the World Health Organisation's
definition and concept of work-related disease. It also "avoids the
confusion of including both the postulated cause (e.g. 'cumulative' in CTD
or 'repetitive' in RSI) and the effect ('disorder ' in CTD or 'injury ' in
RSI) in the same term." Work related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs): a
reference book for prevention, Kuorinka, I & Forcier, L. editors, Taylor &
Francis Ltd, 1995.
Repetition, stress, overwork-- especially intensive work with few breaks,
posture, poor ergonomics, all matter. So anyone who wants to depend upon
voice recognition software (especially if they are also using the
telephone, lecturing, ie using their voices throughout the day) must be
careful. I drink warm water throughout the day and avoid tea, coffee,
citrus drinks and anything else likely to dry me out. There are tons of
useful tips on the Internet as there are so many sufferers dependent upon
their voices and voice technology.
I also use a Cirque Cruise Cat (rebranded as the Fellowes Internet
Touchpad) instead of a mouse. The Wacom and other graphics pads are less
comfortable for me to use, as are pens. The point is that there is no
surefire answer that will work for everyone. It sounds as though this
person needs a thorough Needs Assessment, of the sort we perform regularly
for students and see too rarely for members of staff. Desk, chair,
modification of work are among the many things that will have to be
considered. I am sure that most of us have seen how difficult some of the
most necessary changes can be, not least for the "sufferer".
At 05:05 10/05/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>Well, RSI is short for Repetitive Strain Injury and anything that removes the
>repetition should be considered. However, there was a report out some years
>ago that suggested that extensive use of voice recognition software could
>cause 'RSI' of the vocal chords due to the manner in which many people spoke
>to vr software. Many singers and some teachers have reported similar problems
>arising from the continued unnatural use of their voice. So VR may not be
>suitable for everyone but I would not discount it automatically.
>Mick Trott
>
>In a message dated 10/05/02 09:49:28 GMT Daylight Time,
>[log in to unmask] writes:
>
><< Ahem! RSI is also caused by overwork, in my humble experience.
> Chris
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TERRY HART [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 09 May 2002 18:42
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: RSI
>
>
> Dear Metta
>
> RSI is caused by bad posture / working position. >>
Regards,
Celia
Disability Co-ordinator, Equal Opportunities Office, King's College London,
7.36 James Clerk Maxwell Building, 57 Waterloo Road, London SE1 8WA Tel:
020 7848 3799 Fax: 020 7848 3490. This message may have been typed, but
on a typically bad RSI /WMSDs (Work related Musculoskeletal Disorders) day
it will have been produced using voice recognition software; please ignore
any dictation errors I failed to recognise and correct.
For appointments, please contact Sarah Junor ([log in to unmask]); 020 7848 3398.
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