Customer Reviews

Dr. Pascarelli's Complete Guide to Repetitive Strain Injury: What You Need to Know About RSI and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In a publishing climate and a culture where behind every commercial publication, you just know lurks some author and editor with $$$ in her or his eyes--particularly in such how to books like become rich in real estate, write a best selling novel, how homeopathy cured my pet anaconda, I found this book extremely informative, passionate about its subject, sincere, clearly written but, the major defect is its structure; Dr. Pacarelli has taken a lifetime of experience (he says he's treated 6,000 cases of RSI) and provided a clear explanation of the many causes and types of the disorder. You will learn that "carpal tunnel" syndrome, which is the media's and layperson's term for disorders arising many from keyboarding (in the past typical sufferers were more likely to be musicians, sewers, sign language interpreters, etc.) is the diagnosis in only EIGHT percent of the cases of hand and arm damage. Dr Pascarelli explains it all: there are anatomical charts of the muscle system, the nerve system, photographs of hand & arm anomolies among sufferers, diagrams & photos of the wrong way and the right way to sit at a computer station, exercises, treatments, ergonomics, etc. You will learn why your average doctor, even orthopedists don't make proper diagnoses, even treatment plans, and often lack the knowledge of the big picture of RSI that affects not just nerves, but soft tissue, musculature, mood, and a lot more. You will be given a chapter of illustrated exercise routines. You will learn (and understand through experience)that splints are basically worthless and often harmful (except perhaps for sleeping). You will learn a host of treatment modalities--some described in detail, lesser mainstream ones like Alexander Technique, Feldenkreis, and Rolfing--which he is not adverse to trying. He also is up to date enough to discuss devices like voice activated software and the like. The problem arises in that after a discussion of the many types of RSI, the treatment plans he advocates are not specified as to which particular RSI syndrome you have. They are all lumped together. Nevertheless, this book is written in a compassionate, authoritive, supportive tone, although the fact that he suggests some people might just not ever get better from RSI is pretty sobering and pessimistic.

Dr. Pascarelli has done us all a great service by explaining the various mechanisms of
RSI. He has done it in a way that makes a great deal of sense to the layman and has
been very helpful to me personally. Kudos to Dr. Pascarelli for writing a book for the
patients and sufferers of RSI, and not another book that only doctors can understand.

A few months after starting a demanding programming job, my hands started hurting. A co-worker recommended an earlier version of this book. Actually, he said, "Leave work, go to the bookstore and buy and read it and don't come back until you finish it."

Pascarelli has a ton of information about RSI in this book, all of which makes sense. His main thesis is that RSI is easy to prevent and hard to cure, and his advice on how to avoid it is excellent.

If your hands are hurting, do like my co-worker said. Get this book right away and read it.

I found this book to be easy to understand and very in depth. After reading it I went to my doctor with questions and I feel I was able to get more out of the expensive visit. Highly recommended.

First, I apologize to Dr. Pascarelli for only giving this book 3 stars. I feel he deserves more as the researcher and writer, however this book is too scary when read by itself. It gives a bleak prognosis, when in fact there are solutions out there not well known in the medical world.

These are other books that you need to look at: The Triggerpoint Therapy Workbook by Clair Davies, It's Not Carpal Tunnel Syndrome! by Jack Bellis and Suparna Demany, and possibly John Sarno's The Pain Prescription. All of these books contain solutions that are not well known in the medical field. Some of them might apply to your situation and some of them might not.

You can read about those books online. The most important thing I got from Dr. Pascarelli's book is that a brace can be dangerous, and can cause Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. His book is significant in the literature and I recommend it highly, but if I had read it first I would have felt doomed. Fortunately I read the other ones first...

I was hoping for a more complete discourse on Focal Dystonia, which is a pretty common musician's malady. There is some material, but I found a lot more in "Musicophilia" by Oliver Sack. Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, Revised and Expanded Edition. The resources were pretty good overall, although it's also helpful to serarch the Internet on your own, because so many musicians and others are publishing their personal experiences and describing ways they found to deal with the problem - including what did not work. For instance, I found two guitarists who tried Botox treatment, one of the standard treatments, with very negative results.

This book covers the scientific and medical knowledge about repetitive strain injury. It discusses the symptoms and causes, and sometimes awareness itself can begin the healing process. It will motivate RSI sufferers to set up ergonomic workstations and to seek medical help when necessary. The book also mentions the emotional factors that can lead to RSI, which is something that not people are aware of.

The reason that I am giving it four stars, is that it does not cover enough treatment options for this condition. Fortunately, many physical therapists are familiar with massage therapy, stretching programs that could help relieve the symptoms. Overall, I think it is a good and informative read, but more research is necessary if someone wants to overcome this condition. Dora Farkas, Author, "The Smart Way to Your Ph.D.:200 Secrets from 100 Graduates"

A few good sketches of body parts, but the general information in this book was not of much use to me. I have put the book away, and will not likely look at it again. I think that the money would be better spent on other books of this nature that include more specifics.