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SELECTED RSI ON-LINE RESOURCES
GENERAL RSI INFORMATON
PERSONAL EXPERIENCES WITH RSI
PRODUCTS
VOICE RECOGNITION SOFTWARE & THE DVORAK KEYBOARD
MISCELLANEA

Selected RSI On-line Resources

Paul Marxhausen's R.S.I. Page
    Musicians and Injuries
    Changes I've Made...
    FindADoc, Health Care Providers Recommended by RSI Patients

The CTD Resource Network, Inc. is "a California nonprofit corporation providing information and assistance to the RSI community."
    The related Typing Injury FAQ, "The RSI Community's Online Resource," has a wealth of info on many aspects of RSI, including product evaluation.     The RSI Network Newsletter is archived on the CTDRN site. Subscribe to this very informative, free e-mail newsletter by sending mail to rsinet-request@lists.best.com.

The sites listed above are information intensive, updated regularly, and provide a wealth of links which cover everything from ergonomic products and services to advice for the initially injured.

Intended *for* kids, the Kid's Health site has a great article entitled Computers Can Be a Real Pain, designed to educate children about safety at the computer while playing games, working, etc. We recently had an injured 12-year-old girl at a meeting. Children can - and do - become injured on the computer, while playing musical instruments, etc. Please be aware of the first signs of injury in your child so that you can take immediate steps to prevent further injury.
 
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General RSI Information

Deborah Quilter's RSI Web Site has prevention tips, lists warning signs of injury, and includes several articles written by her.

SOREHAND is a San Francisco-based listserv mailing list for those with RSIs. You can choose to receive each SOREHAND posting as a separate piece of e-mail or select either a daily or weekly digest form of the list. The latter option is sometimes more manageable for people trying to limit their time at the keyboard. If your hands and arms are up to it, SOREHAND is a truly outstanding resource. Subscribe by sending e-mail

      To: listserv@itssrv1.ucsf.edu
      Body: subscribe sorehand your name

The SOREHAND FAQ is now available on the web.

For those of us (probably most of us) initially flummoxed by the medical/anatomical terminology associated with our conditions, these pages from Medical Multimedia Group are invaluable. Medical terms common to RSI are explained in detail. There's also information regarding the anatomy, causes, diagnoses, and treatments of the conditions described, all amply illustrated with photographs and color drawings.

A Patient's Guide to Cumulative Trauma Disorders - Introduction
Treatment Approaches
Rest, Relaxation, and Recovery
Posture (the importance of which cannot be overstressed)

Shoulder
Thoracic Outlet Syndrome
Impingment Syndrome

Elbow
Lateral Epicondylitis (Tennis elbow)
Medial Epicondylitis (Golfer's Elbow)
Radial Tunnel Syndrome
Cubital Tunnel Syndrome

Wrist and Hand
A Patient's Guide to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Intersection Syndrome
DeQuervain's Tenosynovitis
Guyon's Canal Syndrome
Trigger Finger and Thumb

RSI-UK Home Page - lots of solid information - lots of helpful links. You'll find a couple of articles here on The Double Crush Syndrome - another - and Richard Donkin's article on Adverse Mechanical Tension.

MIT's RSI Information Page

Harvard RSI Action Home Page includes tips on using voice recognition software

Computer Advocacy at NYU, Health & Safety Committee

UCSF/UCB Ergonomics Program

Exercises may prevent carpal tunnel syndrome, a News Release from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, is a page suggested to us by a correspondent. It's quite short and to the point, and it contains stretches that'll take only minutes of your time but which may save your hands and arms.

Onsight Ergonomics Home Page. includes some thoughts on Wrist Braces and Cumulative Trauma.

Ergonomics of Computer Workstations Papers from the pages of the American Industrial Hygiene Association

From the archives of ABC News, here's an informative article on Computer Mouse Traps.

Two excellent University of California sources of information on occupational safety and health are UCLA's Labor Occupational Safety and Health program (LOSH) and UCB's Labor Occupational Health Program (LOHP). (contributed by Joan Lichterman of the Bay Area Support Group)

Repetitive Stress Injuries by Bill Peay is a seven-part series of articles on the "transverse friction massage" technique. This technique was perfected by sports massage therapists as a result of their experiences at the 1984 Summer Olympics. Peay claims the technique can help to prevent and treat RSI injuries.

Fibromyalgia and RSI appear to be closely linked, as RSI sufferers are not infrequently diagnosed with fibromyalgia. Information about fibromyalgia is available from the National Fibromyalgia Research Association.

This site is devoted to Myofascial Pain Syndrome and explains how to differentiate between MPS and fibromyalgia.

The home page of the Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome Association Of America in English and Spanish.

Bayshore Chiropractic Holistic Health Center Lots of excellent information available here.

You'll find An Illustrated Guide to Muscles and Clinical Massage Therapy at this site, as well as information on magnets.

Portuguese speakers who would like to read about RSI in that language can visit the page of Fernando Oliveira about Ergonomia.

Here's the home of The Dutch RSI Center which is in both English and Dutch.

There's a lot of useful preventative advice, not only for Australians but for anyone interested in ergonomics, at the Ergonomics in Australia site.

An RSI-related newsgroup:

      misc.health.injuries.rsi
      moderated by Jonathan Bailin, Ph.D.,
      Exercise Physiology-Ergonomics-Biomechanics,
      University of Southern California

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Personal Experiences With RSI

The author of Repetitive Stress Injuries and Needlework gives her methods of dealing with RSI while practicing three hand-intensive activities: typing, piano-playing, and needlework.

Amara's RSI Page Terrific site.

"So How Are Your Hands?" Thoughts From A CS Student With RSI

Read the ruminations of a Cal Tech alumni with RSI in Two Guys talking about their Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

ON THE RISE IN CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME, a letter to the editor of CPU, an electronic publication for workers in the computer industry. This document deals primarily with RSI among computer programmers.

A programmer tells his story on his Sorehands site. He was fired when he took time off to get treatment and successfully won a lawsuit against his employer.

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Products

We're very favorably impressed with a new product on the market, the Armaid, designed for RSI sufferers. If you've ever used a tennis ball to massage your aching forearms, you will probably find this product very helpful. The Armaid beats a tennis ball massage all to heck. It comes with a 30-day money back guarantee and is definitely worth a try.

People often ask which keyboard we recommend. There are many good ergonomic keyboards on the market now and we suggest you try several and find one which is comfortable for you. There's no 'right' keyboard. Purchase a keyboard you think you may like with the proviso that you can return it within a month or two if it doesn't work out well for you. It takes a while to adjust to an ergonomic keyboard so give yourself a little time to get used to a new way of working.
    The Kinesis keyboard is one (of several) keyboards that some of the people in our group use. It takes some getting used to and you may find yourself getting very frustrated in your initial attempts on this board but its layout is particularly well-designed if you decide to learn Dvorak. Even if you don't go that route, this is a great keyboard once you're used to it.

The author of this helpful program says that "RSIGuard is a comprehensive tool for managing and preventing repetitive strain injury (RSI). It contains an advanced trauma model that tells you to take breaks when you really need them. It also has an artificially intelligent mouse-clicking feature to reduce mouse stress. In addition, RSIGuard keeps track of: typing rate, mousing & typing intensity; length of computer use each day; and more. It can show and print graphs of this data over the years, so you and your health practitioner can see trends.
    RSIGuard was designed to help without getting in the way. Each feature can be enabled or disabled, and features are designed to help without conflicting with your work. For example, the BreakTimer feature has a willpower setting which adjusts how difficult the computer makes it for you to skip a break. At the highest setting, a break ends with a single keystroke. At the lowest, a break cannot be ended early."
    Visit the webpage for more information.

As most of us have found out, mice can be dangerous to the health of your hands and arms. The MouseTool is for those of us whose injuries are aggravated by mouse clicking. Jeff Roush, the author of this software, developed an injury and finally came up with this great solution to avoid repetitive clicking. You can download the software for a free, 20-day trial and it's a modest $19.95 if you decide to keep it. MouseTool requires Windows 95 or 98, or NT 4.0. Check it out!

We've heard good things about Morency Rests, forearm supports developed by Bob Morency. The R & D Ergonomics Inc. site features articles on ergonomic factors related to RSIs and ordering info for the Morency Rests.

"Speaking personally, over the last few years I have prevented, aborted or helped the body cure more painful arms, hands, elbows, wrists or shoulders of people who type for a living using the Morency boards and rests than I can keep track of. And, more importantly, I have saved people with thoracic outlet syndrome from being operated on for a non-existent CTS. The beauty of the Morency devices is that they work, they're the most cost effective devices I know, they have no moving parts and they never crash." -- Ken, a physiatrist in Syracuse

Raise awareness of Repetitive Strain Injury with one of these beautiful pins. They're shown just slightly larger than actual size (1.25" diameter with jeweler's pin safety-latch backing that can be operated with one finger). Useful for invisible conditions such as arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, tendinitis and other repetitive motion injuries.

RSI Pin

Pins are $10 + $1 S/H. CA residents add sales tax (85 cents). Major credit cards accepted. 60-day money-back guarantee if not satisfied. If ordering by mail, indicate Style 1 Gold or Style 2 Silver and include your mailing address on your check or money order: HandWise,1150 Kirkham St., San Francisco, CA 94122. Or call toll free 888-664-5155. E-mail at HandWise@aol.com. (C) 1997 HandWise

Safe Computing sells "Ergonomic Accessories for the Information Worker" - everything from alternative keyboards and books to telephone headsets and wrist rests. The site also has links of interest to RSI sufferers.

The Windows-based Stretch Break program was offered free to 500 people on the Sorehand listserv on RSI Day last year. As a result of user feedback, the program was improved and reissued. Paratech expects to release a Mac version of the program at the end of summer. Arthur Saltzman of Paratech wrote, "...our improved ergonomic software reminds you to stretch every 30 minutes (default) and then, with your permission, animated figures show you how. Several of you asked for more control of the stretches, so in our latest version 4.4, the user has complete control over the stretches they see and how often they see them. Also, we have added more stretches, and, in our ErgoHints module, we added a new section on keystroke alternatives to mouse movements. Please continue to give us your feedback so that we can improve the program."

PowerPause is "software that pops up at user-defined intervals with a set of stretches designed by a physical therapist. It also includes an in-depth help file on RSI, setting up your workstation, stress management, and other topics." A fully functioning version can be downloaded for a 30 day evaluation.

ErgoMinder is software for the Mac, PC and OS/2 which reminds you to take a break and gives you exercises to do while you're taking one.

Early Intervention for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Repetitive Stress "The Pil-O-Splint was invented by Dr. Ian MacMorran, M.D. This therapeutic and unique splint provides wrist and hand comfort at rest or sleep while the hand and fingers are cushioned in a gentle healing position."

Bilbo Innovations, Inc., keyboard control pedals: "Three custom-programmable foot switches emulate Ctrl, Alt and Shift or any other keystrokes, sequences or even mouse clicks."

Found an ergonomic keyboard, mouse,or trackball you like but you have a Mac and the device is PC compatible? The KeyStone Mac Interface costs around $119 and converts PC keyboards to Mac ADB. It's made by the Silicon Valley Bus Company. They also have an interface which sells for about $299 and is available by special order for Sun/SGI workstations.

The heel-bow is a protective device which can be worn on the elbow or the heel. It's basically a tube made of heavy, elastic gauze containing a cotton pad. Heel-Bow, Inc. can be reached at 1-800-323-5444 or write them at 1134 N. Homan Ave., Chicago, IL 60651. Most medical supply dealers also carry this product which protects from further damage to the ulnar nerve caused primarily by pressure on the under surface of the elbow.

Ask Ergoworks Inc. is a California company which sells ergonomic accessories.

Many products designed for ease of use by those with restricted or painful mobility can be found in the free catalogues furnished, upon request, by these companies:

  ADL 800-821-9319 or 800-558-8633
  AliMed 800-225-2610
  After Therapy 800-634-4351
  Enrichments 800-323-5547
  Maxi 800-522-6294
  AdaptAbility 800/566-6678

DataHand Systems, Inc manufactures and markets Assistive Technology computer keyboards and desktops.  (800) 875-7171.

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VRS & the Dvorak Keyboard

Dvorak is an alternative to the standard QWERTY keyboard pattern, easily implemented on most computers. It's reputed to be a much more efficient, less physically stressful keyboarding method and not as difficult to learn as one might expect.

Introducing the Dvorak Keyboard lots of information - lots of links

Dan Wood's ABCD, A Basic Course in Dvorak - an interactive tutorial

It's been suggested that anyone considering the purchase of voice recognition software is well advised to first have a Baseline Voice Test done by a speech/language pathologist who understands voice RSI. It's quite possible to injure your voice if you jump into voice recognition software without any preparation and/or training.

MacSpeech is VRS for Mac users.

The voice-users mailing list page contains FAQs, information on subscribing to the list, and other helpful information.

The Computing Out Loud site is brought to us by a longtime user of voice recognition software "to help people using speech recognition software for Windows, whatever the variety, and to do so without the filters of vendors."

A group member found the Say I Can site helpful for learning about voice recognition software.

CNet currently has reviews of speech recognition software. Included are reviews of a few non-word processing apps that are somewhat interesting.

VoiceAutomated develops continuous speech recognition language models for medical and legal fields specialties.

For page of "good ideas," the folding luggage cart can be purchased for under $20 from Independent Living Aids, Inc. 800-537-2118, www.independentliving.com. This company has been very good-- has all kinds of adaptive products at reasonable cost.

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Miscellanea

Americans With Disabilities Act Information on the Web

New Mobility's Interactive Cafe features news, resources, and a jobline for the disabled.

My Handi-Capable Reporter is the site of this monthly newsletter which presently has a Southern California-based circulation. Read the latest issue on-line, find volunteer opportunities, and check out the links and the community events calendar.

A new, non-profit organization, Working Today, is for "workers who are changing jobs, starting their own businesses, or working on a freelance or independent contractor basis ... WORKING TODAY steps in to fill the gap that is left when employee rights and benefits do not meet the needs of workers today." Looks like an idea whose time has come. Membership dues are a mere $10. Well worth a look if you're striking out on your own.

About.com has a link to our pages on their Repetitive Strain Injury site. The site "features a huge library of repetitive strain injury-orientated web links, divided into a couple of dozen categories, and updated weekly. Plus there's a new feature article every week on something relating to RSIs (i.e. types of RSIs, treatments, diagnostic techniques, ergonomics, support groups and etcetera), along with a 24-hour chat room and a bulletin board."

New Mobility's Interactive Cafe features news, resources, and a jobline for the disabled.

at-la.com Los Angeles resource site including section for Musculoskeletal/ Muscles/ Bones.

www.disease-resources.com online resource including section for musculoskeletal disorders.
Key Resource
Links2Go
Repetitive Stress Injuries
   med411.com Award
     Awards for Our Site

LAFN Logo   Looking for an inexpensive ISP without the annoying ads of the freebies? If you live in Los Angeles or the surrounding area, try the Los Angeles Free-Net, a non-profit organization. It's only $40 a year (including e-mail--and their spam filters are unsurpassed). To find out more about the Free-Net, request an e-mail message with information about the LA Free-Net. You will receive an automated reply immediately.

@LA @LA - the guide to Greater Los Angeles and Southern California has a link to these pages.

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The LA RSI Support Group can be contacted at asklarsi@yahoo.com.

 

 Home - Site Map - Meetings Scheddule - Success Stories - Erik's Story - Links - Home Remedies - Resources Recommended Reading - Treatment Options - Workers' Comp - Support Groups - Contact LA RSI

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Site updated 10 October 2003