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Bongle Twonker has gone too far this time
Apr. 28th, 2008 07:20 pmSince June 2007 I have been suffering from Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) which has had a huge impact on my life. Recently, I have also been suffering from voice strain, which appears to have been brought on by the use of speech recognition software. Since I was relying on speech recognition to type, I have now been off work for about two months. At some point in the future I intend to write an extensive account of my experience, to warn people of what can happen. For now, my ability to type is extremely limited (this message is being written over the course of several days) so I will summarise the situation as it stands.
Right now I am capable of typing at full speed for just a couple of minutes per day. As for things such as checking emails and opening web pages, I can do this to a limited extent, but the more of it I do, the less actual typing I can do. If I do too much, my symptoms generally flare up, although often the problems are not apparent until the next day, or even longer. Currently my symptoms tend to consist of (mostly) mild feelings of weakness in the arms and hands. As bad as these symptoms are, they are considerably better than they were a few months ago, when I would occasionally experience weakness in my arms and hands so bad that I had trouble doing things like buttering a slice of bread or using a toothbrush. Mostly though, my symptoms consisted of various aches, pains, tingling and other symptoms which are hard to describe. I still get such symptoms, but less frequently than before. My process of recovery from RSI involves seeing a physiotherapist regularly, doing hours of special exercises per day, going swimming most days, and drastically reducing the amount of time spent on the computer or consoles. Indeed, I haven't played a game in months, and it looks like the days of having games as my primary (or even secondary, tertiary or quaternary) form of entertainment are permanently over.
My voice strain currently manifests itself primarily in the form of a constant soreness in the throat, which is often made worse by talking. I'm currently waiting to see a speech therapist. As a result of my voice problem, I generally avoid phoning or meeting up with my friends, out of a fear of making it worse.
Currently I am hoping that I might be able to go back to work within a few weeks - my plan is to use a device called a head mouse, alongside a piece of software called Dasher (http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/dasher/) which I discovered recently. It allows the user to type using a mouse pointer, at a much faster rate than traditional on-screen keyboards. However, I don't know if my voice will be up to speaking to people all day (or even part of the day).
I hope that people reading this will seriously consider whether they are at risk of experiencing RSI. Many of the people I know are at high risk due to the amount of time they spend on computers and consoles. I have even spoken to people who have noticed aches and pains but are not taking any action to deal with them, such as reducing computer use or seeing a physiotherapist. Both are highly recommended even if your problems don't seem that bad at the moment. For anyone suffering from RSI (or anyone who wants to avoid getting it in the first place), more tips can be found in my post here: http://www.yakyak.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=66065&start=19
Are there any upsides to this whole thing? Well, as part of my recovery process, I have been doing a lot more exercise, including swimming. When I first started swimming in September, I couldn't even do half a length without stopping. When I did get to the point where I could do a whole length, I had to rest for several minutes between each one. Now I can do a length a minute for nearly half an hour. So I'm probably less likely to die of heart disease.
Right now I am capable of typing at full speed for just a couple of minutes per day. As for things such as checking emails and opening web pages, I can do this to a limited extent, but the more of it I do, the less actual typing I can do. If I do too much, my symptoms generally flare up, although often the problems are not apparent until the next day, or even longer. Currently my symptoms tend to consist of (mostly) mild feelings of weakness in the arms and hands. As bad as these symptoms are, they are considerably better than they were a few months ago, when I would occasionally experience weakness in my arms and hands so bad that I had trouble doing things like buttering a slice of bread or using a toothbrush. Mostly though, my symptoms consisted of various aches, pains, tingling and other symptoms which are hard to describe. I still get such symptoms, but less frequently than before. My process of recovery from RSI involves seeing a physiotherapist regularly, doing hours of special exercises per day, going swimming most days, and drastically reducing the amount of time spent on the computer or consoles. Indeed, I haven't played a game in months, and it looks like the days of having games as my primary (or even secondary, tertiary or quaternary) form of entertainment are permanently over.
My voice strain currently manifests itself primarily in the form of a constant soreness in the throat, which is often made worse by talking. I'm currently waiting to see a speech therapist. As a result of my voice problem, I generally avoid phoning or meeting up with my friends, out of a fear of making it worse.
Currently I am hoping that I might be able to go back to work within a few weeks - my plan is to use a device called a head mouse, alongside a piece of software called Dasher (http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/dasher/) which I discovered recently. It allows the user to type using a mouse pointer, at a much faster rate than traditional on-screen keyboards. However, I don't know if my voice will be up to speaking to people all day (or even part of the day).
I hope that people reading this will seriously consider whether they are at risk of experiencing RSI. Many of the people I know are at high risk due to the amount of time they spend on computers and consoles. I have even spoken to people who have noticed aches and pains but are not taking any action to deal with them, such as reducing computer use or seeing a physiotherapist. Both are highly recommended even if your problems don't seem that bad at the moment. For anyone suffering from RSI (or anyone who wants to avoid getting it in the first place), more tips can be found in my post here: http://www.yakyak.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=66065&start=19
Are there any upsides to this whole thing? Well, as part of my recovery process, I have been doing a lot more exercise, including swimming. When I first started swimming in September, I couldn't even do half a length without stopping. When I did get to the point where I could do a whole length, I had to rest for several minutes between each one. Now I can do a length a minute for nearly half an hour. So I'm probably less likely to die of heart disease.
