More and more computer users--from occasional word processors to round-the-clock gaming geeks--are succumbing to repetitive strain injury (RSI), a grab bag of maladies that make banging a keyboard a nightmare. But help may be on the way: Scientists are about to test some non-keyboard technologies that could head off disability.
RSI--which includes carpal tunnel syndrome, rotator cuff syndrome, tendonitis, and tenso-synovitis, to name a few--is growing ever more visible these days. Informal surveys at Harvard have revealed that about one-quarter of grad students in the astronomy, physics, and computer science departments have problems ranging from mild wrist ache to acute pain that makes typing impossible. And at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, physician David Diamond says that some 250 RSI patients sought help last year--a 20% increase over 1995.
Hoping to reverse this disturbing trend, Stanford engineer Neil Scott and his colleagues will launch a study in January to test more wrist-friendly technologies in 80 employees from Stanford and the Bay Area offices of Boeing and Hewlett-Packard who are showing early signs of RSI. Half of the participants will have the option of using voice-recognition technology instead of a keyboard, as well as a device that allows the mouse to be operated by head movements--a mouse is even harder on the body than a keyboard, Scott says. If the modified work station prevents full-blown RSI, the savings could be tremendous: It costs less than $10,000 to set up a workstation and train a user in voice recognition, while RSI treatment costs and lost wages for an individual can run up to $100,000.
But RSI does not promise to be an easy enemy to vanquish. At times the cure is as bad as the disease--some people "bark" at their computers, Scott says, straining their vocal cords. And the repetitive movements of head tracking can cause neck strain. Still, the time is ripe for attacking RSI before the problem gets worse. "I suspect we're going to see the problem at earlier stages in people's academic careers," says Joan Bisagno, director of Stanford University's Disability Resource Center. "People are living in front of their computers now."
