Preventing the New Plague

My wrists were tingling a little bit in pain; I knew it was from the typing I was doing, yet I persisted. I wanted to finish the program I was working on in lab here before going home for a long weekend. However, three days later when the weekend arrived, my wrists hurt so much that it was difficult for me to open a door, brush my teeth or do any of the daily tasks I had taken for granted. Typing, of course, was out of the question. What I had also discovered was how easy it is to get repetitive strain injury (RSI). This was last July; now I am still in recovery and will spend the rest of my working career avoiding a relapse.

My story would be remarkable if it were not one heard in chorus across Harvard. In the past school year the number of cases of RSI has exploded. During times of heavy schoolwork, such as reading period and exams, University Health Services (UHS) sees 10 to 14 new cases of RSI each day. In addition, according to the disabilities office, more than 40 students required special provisions on exams this spring because of RSI symptoms. Of course, these figures do not include the many students suffering from pain who have not sought help from the University.

As I dictate this editorial to the computer, I am reminded that there are many ways for students to help prevent RSI. An administrator in the disabilities office reminds students to "listen to your body." Students need to respond to the early, painful sensations in their hands by resting from activity, rather than pushing ahead and causing permanent damage. Use the phone to contact friends rather than e-mail. In addition, UHS recommends students correct their posture, since hunching over can precipitate a repetitive strain injury. Finally, students should pay attention to the ergonomics of their desk environments, adjusting computer keyboards for ultimate comfort.

However, there are also many ways that Harvard can help prevent RSI and aid those who already have it to recover:

1. Prevention through education. Although Harvard distributed literature to first-years about RSI, all students are at risk and such distribution should be expanded to cover the campus. In addition, in every House there should be at least one tutor trained to help those suffering from the early stages of RSI and who can help students design their work spaces more ergonomically. Companies including Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard have specialists on ergonomics to help employees who are feeling RSI pain; Harvard students work extended hours at the keyboard, too, so it would be reasonable to have trained tutors performing this educational role here. Most of all, few students realize how quickly RSI can set in and information should stress the rapidity of its progression.

2. Prevention through ergonomics. Harvard's furniture does not comfortably accommodate many students. I am 5'6" (slightly above average height for a woman), but if I sit at the desk and chair Harvard supplied in my room, the surface of my desk is a full seven inches above the height recommended by UHS. When I tried going to libraries instead, I discovered that the furniture in Lamont, Cabot, my House library and my department's library also had desks uncomfortably high. If it is prohibitively expensive to buy new, adjustable chairs for dorm rooms, there needs to be at least one library with such chairs, so that any student may study without having to contort his or her body.

3. Help those with RSI to recover. In the Adaptive Technology Lab (ATL), the work center for those with disabilities, and Lamont, three computers have dictation software, but it is very out-of-date. The program requires each word to be spoken individually, and it takes several frustrating hours to dictate a single page. A much better program exists (Dragon NaturallySpeaking), is inexpensive ($170 for the multiple-user edition) and allows one to write papers at roughly the same speed as one would type them. The program should also be available for use in all House computer labs--accessible to anyone in pain, not just those who have filed paperwork with the disabilities office. This lack of software has caused individual organizations, including The Crimson, to purchase NaturallySpeaking so students can participate actively in their extracurriculars.

Finally, care at UHS should be reexamined. Currently, even if one has been diagnosed with RSI, therapists are booked a month in advance, resulting in a long wait for the initial appointment. The staff is simply overworked, and more therapists must be hired. In addition, UHS needs to hire, at least part-time, a specialist in RSI. When I saw the hand specialist, he gave a cursory examination of my hands. Then he suggested cortisone shots (a method he pointed out had been quite successful with the post-partem mothers he had seen recently--despite the obvious fact that I was not a post-partem mother) and surgery if that did not work. It took me 10 minutes to talk him into letting me see a physical therapist, the treatment that had helped my friends who had RSI and which literature in the field suggested as a first recourse.

I have learned from my own experience how to work more carefully and safely. Unfortunately, this message came a bit too late. For most of you, simply revising your study habits slightly--making time for breaks and designing your workspace with care--will prevent RSI. Harvard can educate us further about these dangers and use the House and tutor system systematically to reinforce this message.

Anne L. Brody '98 is a physics concentrator in Lowell House. She was co-editor of Fifteen Minutes in 1997