Vocola Information Pages   by Rick Mohr (this page updated December 13, 2004)
 
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My RSI Story

My RSI Story

In March 1998 I worked an entire weekend to meet a major deadline with important revenue consequences for my employer. By Sunday night my wrists and hands were tingling and sensitive, and the next day I had significant wrist pain. In previous years I had had minor symptoms, but they had always gone away.

I knew to treat my injury seriously since I have friends with debilitating RSI problems. But, I was starting at square zero in terms of knowledge and treatment, and still in the middle of a high-pressure work situation. As I began to realize my injury was serious I started searching for solutions. Everyone I talked to had different ideas, and every idea seemed to involve 30-90 minutes a day of work on my part. I could handle the regimen of one or two of these, but in the absence of real progress it was hard to have confidence. In the subsequent months I tried doctors, occupational therapy, anti-inflammatories, massage, a new chair, acupuncture, rolfing, special keyboards, physical therapy, drinking lots of water, chiropractic, vitamins, myotherapy, and glucosamine sulfate. Nothing seemed to make a reliable difference.

Meanwhile my company was supportive and willing to provide what I asked. But while it was easy to ask for new equipment and small schedule accommodations, I couldn't bring myself to ask for major time commitments from other people or major project slippage. I adjusted all my habits to require as little typing is possible, but continued to type when necessary (occasionally a considerable amount).

Unfortunately it took a year of this before I began using voice recognition and started truly resting my hands. I can't know for sure, but I believe that had I started using voice recognition right away I would have recovered. During several periods I've made significant recovery, but despite vigilance in most every activity I have always slipped up. Once it was snow shoveling, once un-careful fiddling, and once not-wimpy-enough weightlifting in a strengthening program. Of all the things I have tried, the only ones that have reliably helped are avoiding irritating activities and voice recognition. Of some help have been stretching, posture improvement, myotherapy, and massage.

Since resting my hands seemed so important I tried for hands-free computer use as much as possible. The Dragon Macro Language made this possible but was excruciatingly cumbersome, so I was very excited when Joel Gould released NatLink. Shortly thereafter (at NEFFA) Patricia Hawkins and I were comparing notes about NatLink. Her comment "yeah, but you still have to change two places" got me thinking about Vocola.

Designing, implementing, and using Vocola has been a rewarding bright spot among otherwise unsuccessful attempts at recovery. And thankfully, with Dragon NaturallySpeaking, NatLink, and Vocola I've continued to be effective at my job.

The main lesson I take away is to stand up for my own needs when they conflict with the needs and desires of others. That Monday deadline seemed very important at the time, but everybody would have survived just fine if I had delivered a week later. The customer was adamant about the deadline, but as it happens they ultimately canceled the project! And even after my initial injury, if I had been brave enough during the first year to ask for difficult adjustments at work I might have been able to recover quickly.

One doctor I saw said "With constant vigilance you can get a little better every year" and at this writing (December 2004) things are looking up somewhat, I'm starting to type a little and play some careful fiddle.

Rick Mohr, Watertown, Massachusetts, USA, December 2004


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