Can Poor Posture Cause RSI Pain?
May 23rd, 2008 | Published in RSI Stories
In Oops! RSI, Sean McGrath, CTO of Propylon, writes about his experiences with Repetitive Strain Injury:
Twenty five years bashing a computer keyboard has finally caught up with me I’m afraid. Movable aches and pains running up and down arms, in and out of my wrists, through my fingers, shooting pains in my shoulder and arm muscles…the works!
If, for want of a better label, you think of yourself as having RSI or CTS, you might find my story interesting for comparative purposes. If you don’t have symptoms, please don’t conclude this piece will be of no relevance to you. RSI/CTS can be cumulative. You do not have to overtly injure yourself to bring it on. It has most likely incubated in me for decades, silently getting stronger and stronger and then popping out dramatically. I did not have RSI/CTS for twenty five years. And now, all of a sudden, boom, I do! Next week, it could be you.
Being a computer engineer, Sean takes an analytical approach to figuring out what’s going on, but troubleshooting this particular problem proves unexpectedly difficult. Sean researches the problem, tries rest, tries massage therapy, tries stretches and breaks, but still the pain persists.
This is driving me nuts! The first thing they teach you in debugging school is to establish cause and effect. How can I do that when the effects are variable and possibly days removed from some unknown cause?
Currently, Sean is working off the hypothesis that his problem is related to years of poor posture, and is performing exercises in hopes of improving the situation.
His conclusion: “I live (and thankfully, continue to work) in the hope that I can get to the bottom of this and get it under control.” Good luck, Sean!
