Word: coley
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Progress on analyzing the results is slow since Dr. Coley, lacking research assistants, runs the numbers by himself in his free time. So far, however, they do reflect the feeling around campus, or what Dr. Coley more clinically refers to as the "anecdotal experience of Harvard undergraduates." It looks, he reported, "like the number of new cases this year compared to last is actually less." This result is far from decisive, but it is the clearest index of a change that is available since both UHS and the Student Disabilities Office refused to release any numbers for publication...
...everyone sees a drop, however. Rachel W. Podolsky 00, co-chair of the RSI Action Group, attests that there is a significant number of students who are reporting RSIs this year, a population she labels a "large but silent majority." Indeed, Dr. Coley s numbers do not show a total disappearance, merely a dip. Even this trend, however, is puzzling. Why, in a student population that uses computers every bit as much as it did last year, should the RSI flag? Where, for that matter, did it come from in the first place...
...Perhaps the most often-asked question about RSIs is one of origins. Why haven t we heard of it before? Dr. Coley answers that RSIs are not new. In fact, "cumulative stress disorders," as he calls them, have been "well-known in a few professions for a long time. Meatpackers, as well as truck drivers and seamstresses, have had to deal with RSIs for years. The best known among those trades was carpal tunnel syndrome, an inflammation of the nerves in the forearm that often resulted from strenuous work with heavy vibrations-something along the lines of working a jackhammer...
...maybe the RSI story is a success story. Dr. Coley believes that it is. He sees the drop in cases stemming from an increase in awareness and the concomitant employment of preventative measures. These are the beginnings of what he hopes will be a "culture of healthy computing." For him, RSIs are "largely mechanical problems," and the solution is therefore mechanical as well. As he noted, "Recent studies of white-collar work environments show that enforced ergonomic changes have helped with the problem...
...saying that the disorder is made up. Far from it. Both Suleiman and Podolsky have developed a strong faith in the complicated, fungible nature of the pain they experienced and still experience. Dr. Coley sees factors as abstract as "the amount of control someone has over their work situation" contributing to cases of chronic injury. Perhaps, therefore, micro-breaks and wrist stretches are not enough. In an environment as manic as Harvard, maybe there is something more than mechanical to RSIs. "I hadn t ever heard of [RSI] before I developed it." Suleiman recalls. "All of a sudden people started...