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From: raveling@Unify.com (Paul Raveling)
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Subject: Re: Carpal Tunnel& Ulnar Nerve Entrapment
Message-ID: <ujbs0os@Unify.Com>
Date: 26 Jun 91 18:59:56 GMT
References: <1991Jun25.183429.3457@aucs.AcadiaU.ca>
Sender: news@Unify.Com (news admin)
Distribution: na
Organization: Unify Corporation (Sacramento)
Lines: 47

In article <1991Jun25.183429.3457@aucs.AcadiaU.ca>, 880139h@aucs.AcadiaU.ca (Rob Hutten) writes:
> 
> Have any of you had experience with getting either carpal
> tunnel syndrome or ulnar nerve entrapment from using computers
> on a regular basis?

	Several years ago I got a modest case of what may or may not
	be carpal tunnel syndrome.  It fit the description of what
	was then called a temporary arthritic condition due to
	repetitive motion.

	This occurred when I worked as a consultant and had to
	edit a couple thousand pages of MIL spec documentation
	on a VT-100, using the EDT editor.  In addition to ordinary
	typing, using EDT involved a lot of functions bound to keys
	on the keypad to the right of the main cluster.  Essentially
	all function keys including cursor motion required keystrokes
	with the right hand.

	I developed persistent pain and stiffness in both hands and
	to a lesser extent in the forearms, feeling more discomfort
	in the right hand than the left.  Apparently ordinary typing
	was sufficient to cause the problem, but it was aggravated
	by DEC's keyboard layout and by their software's use of that
	keyboard.

	After that assignment I returned to editing with my own
	non-QWERTY keyboard layout, though still not using a mouse
	for a couple years.  The soreness and stiffness abated and
	vanished over a period of a couple months even though I
	was still doing about the same amount of typing.

	The remapped keyboard layout was intended to boost both
	speed and comfort.  Apparently it succeeded in reducing
	stress of the sort that gives rise to at least one form
	of a repetitive motion syndrome.


	P.S.:	I still don't understand why Digital persists in
	using what's now the most awkward keyboard I know of on
	computing gear.  I'd LOVE to have a DECstation, but would
	refuse to buy one if it meant having to use that keyboard.


------------------
Paul Raveling
Raveling@Unify.com