Word: rsi
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...Prof. Harrington s introduction of a cultural context might, it seems, be usefully applied to the discussion of RSIs at Harvard. One of the central RSI mysteries is its reputation as a strictly Harvard problem. Last year, even as the least fatalistic Harvard undergraduates began to resign themselves to the inevitability of voice-activation software and scribes (a combination of high-tech wizardry and ancient luxury that did have a certain appeal), it was hard to ignore the fact that our long-distance boyfriends and high school roommates and co-salutatorians attending other similarly stressful and high-powered colleges...
...thing, this perception of uniqueness is only partially true. A study by Dr. David Diamond at MIT reveals "similar proportions"-both of students reporting pain and seeking treatment-as those found at Harvard. And the real world has its own share of RSI problems: with 20 million people affected, RSIs are the nations foremost work-related injury. Yet disparities remain. Sarita M. James 98 is in her first year of working at Microsoft. "None of the Microsoftees that I ve met have RSI," she wrote in an email, "which is rather surprising, considering the pervasive Microsoft slouch. " Similarly incongruous...
...disease. Gordon, with a note of amusement in her voice, describes a herd instinct she has observed in students reporting problems, "Whenever there s an article in the paper about that sort of thing we get a lot of people in here wondering if they have it." If RSI and chronic pain conditions like it are as culturally mutable as recent models suggest, perhaps in a limited sense the fear can aggravate the pain...
...This is not to say the pain is imaginary. Like Rowland Quinlan with his searing back pain, RSI sufferers are not making anything up. But as Dr. Howard Fields, a neuroscientist at the University of San Francisco Medical School, explained, expectations might play a part in the perception of pain. In an email, Dr. Fields described the nervous system as unique in that it has what he called "intentionality." This philosophical term means, quite simply, that "it is about something other than itself." Specific neuronal impulses trigger perceptions that are then projected onto the body. "Your finger hurts," he wrote...
...they don t even need to be touched to cringe. Even if they don t produce pain on their own, these neural patterns can "lower the stimulus intensity so that normally innocuous stimuli produce pain." In this model, Harvard students, aware of what they see as impending danger of RSI, might jump the gun and anticipate the pain. This would fit what Suleiman described as the almost faddish nature of the disorder, its "trendiness." Students made hyper-aware of the dangers of RSI from a sudden rash of articles in campus publications might therefore be more likely to come down...