Whats the more common complaint 1) pain 2) cramping or spasm, or 3) functional complaints–can do an important set of activities?
Well, if you want genuine statistical facts, only a scientifically controlled survey will suffice, right? The first thing to keep in mind is that RSI is many things and has almost as many attitudes as sufferers. But I’d like to answer for myself and the many people I know who suffer from RSI as a result of intensive computer use. The answer is emphatically #3, not being able to do our jobs, not being able to sleep, and not being able to perform some of the other activities of daily life (ADLs). I don’t want to diminish the suffering that many experience from unremitting pain, but most of the people that I encounter are accustomed to many forms of pain and would gladly accept a known amount of pain in exchange for a promise that their livelihood would be unaffected. That is the real pain of RSI for most computer workers… workers who are generally self-motivated, obsessive about work and doing a good job, and often unable to tear themselves away from the keyboard. On the flip side ther
