The Repetitive Strain Injury Recovery Book [Paperback]

Deborah Quilter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1998

What do a pianist and a grocery checkout clerk have in common with a computer programmer? They continually repeat small hand movements that can cause Repetitive Strain Injury: disabling numbness, tingling or pain, mainly in the hand, wrist, arm, shoulder, and neck. In fact, anyone who spends hours at a computer terminal risks developing carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, and other disorders of the muscle, nerve and tendon! Deborah Quilter, who was diagnosed with RSI in 1991, has assembled the best RSI treatment advice, including:

• techniques to avoid further injury at work and at home
• medical, nonmedical, and natural healing therapies
• tips on dealing with depression and the anxiety of job insecurity
• personal stories of injury and successful rehabilitation

The Repetitive Strain Injury Recovery Book is an effective, inspiring blueprint to choosing the right treatment, managing RSI symptoms, and minimizing flare-ups.

• Over 15 million people have been diagnosed with RSI disorders.
• RSI accounts for over 60% of all work-related ailments.
• A leading health insurance company reported that the average cost of treating one RSI case is $100,000.
• Last December, a jury in a federal district court awarded close to $6 million to three plaintiffs whose RSI was attributed to using the computer manufacturer’s keyboards.
• The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) estimates RSI has increased 800% over the past decade.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Because its initial symptoms are innocuous, "repetitive strain injury [RSI] starts with a whisper and ends with a scream." Quilter, a health writer with her own website on RSI, focuses here on self-care and successfully living with RSI by taking a holistic approach, advocating relaxation and overall fitness. She offers tips for saving one's hands during daily tasks, improving one's sex life, and going back to work, along with the usual recommendations on ergonomics. Although much space is devoted to computer usage, the author acknowledges other occupations and activities that contribute to or aggravate RSI. The epilog provides a unique and upbeat approach by describing RSI's "gifts." Narrower in focus than Emil Pascarelli and Quilter's earlier Repetitive Strain Injury (LJ 2/94) or Sandra Peddie's Repetitive Strain Injury Sourcebook (LJ 12/97), this work is recommended for libraries serving people already diagnosed with RSI.?Dixie Jones, Louisiana State Univ. Medical Ctr. Lib., Shreveport
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Use of the hands is of crucial importance in daily life. This book explores the physical, psychological, and economic realities of long-term repetitive-strain injury (RSI) to the upper extremity, a topic on which Quilter conducts workshops and has published previously. A foreword by a hand surgeon claims that RSI is reaching epidemic proportions, due to "poor tool design and the increasingly repetitive nature of many jobs," particularly computer work. Since injury happens over months and years, it is often difficult to diagnose and treat, let alone find a practitioner able to help. Quilter charts the stages of injury, the often arduous paths to recovery, medical treatments available, self-help techniques (including relaxation and stress relief), proper posture and daily exercise, and how to protect the hands during home and work tasks. Ergonomic tips for common work-related situations, such as computer use, handwriting, and playing musical instruments, are covered. The author concludes with guidance on changing or creating careers. Penny Spokes

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Walker & Company; 1 edition (February 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802775144
• ISBN-13: 978-0802775146
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,002,675 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Doomsday scenarios don't help you recover, November 3, 2000

By 

Matmosje (Change Islands, Newfoundland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Repetitive Strain Injury Recovery Book (Paperback)

I read this book because I had severe RSI and wanted to recover. The first thing I read in it was that I had a chronic case and would never recover. This was followed by an avalanche of anecdotes about people who are radically crippled for life. These were intermingled with depressing advice about how to "handle" your newfound, chronic handicap. For example, Quilter says that people with RSI can still work any job, as long as they work at their own pace. So far, so good. Then she says most employers won't let you work at your own pace and goes on to suggest that you must change careers unless you want to do even more permanent damage to yourself. Great, just the kind of upbeat advice I needed to hear.

I suggest that unless you want to scare the pants off of someone who does not take their RSI seriously, you should get the original Pascarelli and Quilter book for overall information and the Damany and Bellis book for a concrete and helpful recovery plan.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars very dystopic with little concrete information, December 18, 2001

By 

Jill Walker Rettberg (Bergen, Norway) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Repetitive Strain Injury Recovery Book (Paperback)

This is an amazingly dystopic book, absolutely full of horror stories and unhappy endings. There's a chapter on how to have a sex life despite RSI, how to sue for loss of a career, the testimonial of a man who was paralysed from the waist down but found RSI more disabling etc - but nothing concrete about what RSI actually. OK, so now I know that if I have tendonitis I'm more likely to get carpal tunnel syndrome and the rest of them but this book doesn't give me information on what tendonitis (or the others) actually is or how to make much of a change. There are quick mentions of various treatments but there is no discussion of their relative merits. The author tells us about her own exercise program (30-40 minutes a morning with weights and 1 1/2 hours of ballet four times a week plus walking and stretching) but there are no specific exercises that can help you avoid recurrance or assist in healing.

Please also notice that Deborah Quilter is not a medical professional but a health writer who has had RSI herself.

There is a good, explicit (but short) section on how to change your typing which I haven't seen other places.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Emil Pascarelli's book remains the primary work on RSI., November 18, 1998

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Repetitive Strain Injury Recovery Book (Paperback)

Ms. Quilter's book is good when it comes to advice on selecting a doctor and therapist, and also dealing with the guilt and depression associated with RSI. But I found it enormously lacking in not only the causes of RSI, but of what the specific injuries are and how you can recognize them. Emil Pascarelli's work, even though it is now five years old, remains the No. 1 source guide for anyone who has RSI.