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Repetitive Strain Injury: The Hidden Workplace Danger

The number of cases of Repetitive Strain Injury, a crippling work-related condition, is on the increase in Japan. Many employers, however, still refuse to admit that condition exists.

by Thomas Caldwell

Junko (not her real name) was just another of the millions of employees who work for a large Japanese company. Her job required her to sit in front of a computer for several hours each day and key in information ó nothing out of the ordinary. She was just your typical office worker.

One day while typing, Junko felt a sudden twinge in her arm that, she says, felt like a jolt of electricity. At first, she thought nothing of it. Perhaps she had been working too hard óan easy thing to do at her company. But over the next few days, the pain gradually became more intense. She found it increasingly difficult to move her fingers and arms. After several weeks, she could not use her hands without feeling pain and found it difficult to sleep because of the constant aching.

RSI on the increase

There are more and more cases like Junko's appearing in Japan. She and countless others are victims of a crippling condition called Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). As the name suggests, RSI is brought on by performing the same task over and over again under conditions your body finds unnatural. RSI isn't new. Reports of the condition date back to the 1700s, when craftsmen did the same tasks hundreds of times a day. But the number of reported cases has been growing worldwide in recent years. Repetitive Strain Injury has become one of the top work-related injuries in the industrialized world.

A common cause of RSI is typing at a computer keyboard under poorly designed conditions. It isn't just a nuisance: the damage it can do is positively frightening. Some of the people who have developed the condition find themselves crippled for life. Ask around, and you'll hear stories of computer operators who have permanently lost most use of their hands. In particularly severe cases, they can't drive a car, open doors, or even pick up a sheet of paper without enduring terrible pain.

Japan ignores the problem

Over the past decade, cases of RSI have been on the increase, and many can be traced to PCs and the increased number of hours that people are spending in front of them. After billions of dollars in lawsuits that underscored the severity of the problem, many developed nations now have regulations in place to protect workers using computers in the same way that employees in traditionally hazardous industries, like construction and manufacturing, are protected.

But not in Japan. To date, there are no Japanese regulations in place to protect office workers from RSI. The pig pen-like offices, which have traditionally been the source of jokes about how the Japanese work, can be far more dangerous than they might at first appear. The commonplace gray steel desks, draconian chairs, poor lighting, and cramped working conditions were never designed for humans ó let alone those chained to a PC.

There is still a tradition in Japan among some firms that a well-designed office which looks too "pretty" is not a proper places to accomplish real work. This mentality contributes to the increasing number of RSI cases. To make matters worse, many Japanese employers refuse to acknowledge that RSI even exists.

Only one solution

There are no official figures yet on Repetitive Strain Injury, so the number of workers affected is not precisely known. Lawsuits over RSI are still rare in Japan, mostly because ó as far as the Japanese government is concerned ó it has not yet been conclusively proven that the condition is a medical reality. The fear of becoming a social outcast and being deemed lazy or branded as a "troublemaker" by the boss or coworkers if you complain is also a concern among Japanese employees.

When Junko visited a doctor, he advised her not do so much repetitive work. She then explained the situation to her boss, who at first became belligerent when she asked for better working conditions. Her employer insisted her pain had nothing to do with her job, and refused to make any special arrangements. They also refused to grant her sick leave to give her hands a badly needed rest.

Luckily for Junko, her doctor eventually intervened, and her employer did give her some time off to recover. When she returned, she was given a much lighter computing work load interspersed with menial office tasks.

Six months after she was diagnosed with RSI, Junko found a better place to work. Her new job didn't involve working at a keyboard, and the pain eventually went away. According to experts on the condition, Junko was lucky that she caught it in time. Had she gone on working and not complained, she might have permanently crippled herself and lost at least partial use of her hands.

Junko says she no longer suffers pain in her arms, but she is very careful about the time she spends in front of a keyboard. She puts no extra strain on her hands and works under the most ergonomically correct conditions possible. Her life is pretty much back to normal, but she misses her old hobby of rock climbing. She may try to scale a rock face again someday, but she is not sure when, or if, she can fully trust her hands again.

Tom plans to look further into the problems of RSI in Japanese companies for a future issue. If you think that you might suffer from RSI, or if you know of someone who does, contact the editors or drop Tom an e-mail note (caldwell@gol.com).

No company or job is worth crippling yourself for life. Don't trust your employer to put your health first (Remember asbestos?) or wait for the Japanese government to admit that a problem exists (Remember AIDS?). It is far safer to take matters into your own hands by learning about RSI and how to prevent it. One good book on the subject is Sitting on the Job: A Practical Survival Guide for People Who Earn Their Living While Sitting, by Scott Donkin (Houghton Mifflin, 1988; $7.95).

There is also a company in Colorado called Stretching, Inc. In addition to many books, it publishes a quick-reference card that describes sixteen stretching exercises you can do at your desk to prevent RSI. This is a great little accessory to keep next to your computer terminal. (Stretching, Inc.: phone +1-719-481-3928, fax +1-719-481-9058; reference cards are $3.95 each, quantity discounts.)