
How I Cured my RSI Pain (2010) - vsbuffalo
http://aaroniba.net/articles/tmp/how-i-cured-my-rsi-pain.html
======
bmcleod
I suspect what's happening with all the people who this works for is that
given there are some people who have a psychological component to their pain
and some who have a mostly physical component.

Even if there are far fewer suffering from the psychological version, they are
the ones who physical treatment will fail for. So they will be the ones that
get as far as trying the pseudosciencey approach to dealing with the pain. So
the mind body approach will have a high success rate amongst the people trying
it even if it would be a terrible initial remedy to try.

~~~
jwr
I am amazed at the shallow thinking of many in this thread who dismiss the
story as "quackery".

I'd encourage anyone who speaks of a "pseudosciencey approach" to do some
careful thinking and propose an approach that would let us measure the effects
our minds have on our bodies. So far most people sweep this effect under the
rug calling it the "placebo effect" (a catch-all phrase for everything we do
not understand). That's not an answer.

Notice: we live in the XXI century, and yet we treat our bodies as though our
heads were detached and completely independent. Medicine as we know it is
based on pills, syringes, vials and knives. Anything else is the "placebo
effect" or in the (decidedly non-scientific) domain of psychologists and
psychiatrists. I'd call that hiding our head in the sand (double-entendre
intended).

We do all this while readily accepting that we can sweat, or get diarrhea from
nervousness. If people accept that the mind can (subconsciously) control
sweating, why can't they accept that it can (subconsciously) control the
narrowing of blood vessels?

Most people dismiss psychosomatic effects without understanding what they are.
Psychosomatic pain isn't any less real. The physical changes are there, they
just might not be exactly the changes you are looking for (e.g. no
inflammation). And they are caused by the mind, which is why we call them
"psychosomatic". But they are not hallucinations, or misfiring neurons in your
nervous system.

I am all for scientific approach to medicine. But that includes not shutting
your eyes to an entire huge branch of it that we simply do not understand —
the connection between the mind and the body.

Also, many people don't understand the mechanism behind all this. It's not
that Sarno is a magic-voodoo healer. All he does is show you the mechanism —
which is very often enough: the mind, once exposed to its own tricks, starts
working differently. This is why just _reading_ his books and thinking about
them causes changes in so many people (either the pain is gone, or the
symptoms shift and change).

Source: myself. I got rid of joint pain after 8 years of fruitless doctor
visits. It is now almost completely under control: if it happens, I can tell
why it happened and control it. As a bonus, it turned out that my frequent
throat infections and the allergies are gone, too.

Don't dismiss psychosomatic effects. Sure, go see a doctor first, but if
multiple doctors are unable to find a cause of your pain, at least read one of
Sarno's books and think (critically!) about it.

------
robomartin
Many years ago I suffered nearly life-changing RSI pain. It happened in the
middle of an extreme project where I found myself coding and running CAD for
16 to 18 hours a day, seven days a week for months.

The first good decision I made was to stop all work.

Next, I sought medical opinion. I was horrified to learn medical professionals
were all over the place. I got recommendations spanning from surgery to
vitamins.

I concluded that I'd do my own research and come to my own independent
conclusions.

I focused on two areas: understanding the physiology or mechanics of the
damage and taking a deep dive into ergonomics.

I came out convinced that the root cause was poor ergonomics. I had not caused
enough damage to require surgery. I set out to test out various ergonomic
products. Nearly all of them sucked. Gimmicky crap.

The ultimate solution was to design my own desk. The goal was to promote a
fully relaxed posture with proper alignment and support.

The standard 29 to 30 inch high desk was designed in the dark ages for
writing. Placing a keyboard or laptop on it throws your entire body out of
alignment. Your fingers, hand, wrist, arms and shoulders end-up operating in
tension as opposed to from a neutral stance.

My desk featured a dropped (about three inches) front section for the keyboard
and thumb-operated trackball. I ditched the mouse as it caused too much
tension. I found a thumb-operated trackball to flow naturally and comfortably.

A dropped keyboard shelf wasn't enough. The front edge got a solid piece of
wood, 2x2 inches in cross-section with generously rounded edges. This created
a forearm support across the entire width of the keyboard shelf. The net
effect was that my hands very naturally drooped onto the keyboard and
trackball. My shoulders were not unnaturally pushed up or pulled down.

I played with monitor height and settled for looking slightly down at the
monitors (24 inch). I tend to alternate between sliding down in the chair and
sitting up, which means that at times I am looking straight at the screens.

The end result was that all pain was gone and I could get back to work. I also
took regular breaks every two to four hours based on flow.

~~~
maglos
Jesus, you didn't think working 16-18 hours per day could be the cause? I bet
slaves live better then that.

~~~
robomartin
Launching a self-funded challenging hardware + software startup is not for the
weak hearted. I am not saying it is smart. Sometimes you have no choice.

------
leashless
Two words: music physiotherapists. Musicians get RSI-type problems a lot, and
when it's career-ending for a concert pianist, people really pay attention.
Plus there's several hundred years of accumulated experience dealing with
these problems.

I still have fluid around my tendons 20 years later, my RSI was so bad -
visible roundness in my forearms - and I haven't had a day of pain in a
decade. It took six sessions, and they only worked on my neck.

Highly recommended.

~~~
collyw
The Alexander technique is also popular amongst musicians, and there seems to
be a lot of overlap with the principles described here.

------
verisimilidude
I won't begrudge anyone who finds comfort in this "mindbody" stuff. If your
pain is gone, good for you. But I _really really_ hope you folks won't take
away the wrong lesson and assume that all RSI is mental. It's not.

Overcoming my own physical pain was tough, but I eventually conquered it.
Here's what worked for me.

* I learned to type Dvorak. Since learning how to type on a C64 at the age of 3, my typing form has always been terrible. If nothing else, Dvorak taught me how to put my fingers in the right places.

* I picked up a split-in-two-halves keyboard. The right half of the keyboard is rotated counter-clockwise to address the extreme ulnar deviation in my right forearm (following an old injury).

* It's also nice, with these broad shoulders, to spread out the two keyboard halves. This helps a lot with my neck and shoulders.

* I tented that keyboard to ease pronation in my wrists. I started at about 70 degrees (almost fully vertical) and eased down to 15 degrees over time.

* I grabbed a vertical mouse to match my vertical-ish keyboard.

* I stopped leaning my head toward the screen. Huge help for my neck.

* I started using a sit-stand desk. This is a great way to "take a break" without actually taking a break.

Some other important observations.

* Being in good physical shape reduces all my RSI problems/risks across the board. When I'm fit, I can type in any awkward position for days without pain. When I'm fat, I get RSI just thinking about my keyboard. Being fit at the moment, all my new equipment and good computing habits are making me far more productive.

* Good sleep and good food also help. Sometimes I lose focus and slip back into bad habits when I'm in a cheesesteak coma, for example.

It may be possible to fix your RSI physically if you pay really close
attention to what your body is telling you, and earnestly experiment with
possible solutions. Some big organizations in SV have ergo labs where you can
go test out equipment for free. Use that resource if you can. Do what you
must, but don't discount the physical solutions.

~~~
cpncrunch
But how do you know it was the physical changes you made that cured your RSI?
It could just as easily have been the placebo effect. From what I can see,
there is no good evidence that RSI is physical at all, and your 'cure'
certainly doesn't bolster your case that it is physical. Example: how could
good sleep and food possibly help a physical injury in your hand?

I'm wondering why you are so convinced that RSI is physical ("It's not")?

~~~
verisimilidude
I am convinced that _my_ RSI was physical. I'm not convinced it's physical for
everyone. Which is exactly what I said ("It's not").

There's no question, ZERO, that it's anything but physical in my case. It's
worth mentioning (again, by the way) that I have debilitating problems with my
right arm following an old injury. Some of us have real physical problems that
cause real physical pain. I understand the mechanics of my unique situation
well, and took careful, deliberate steps to physically address those
limitations.

Finding the right equipment was not something that happened overnight. It was
a long process that took at least a year. I could feel, physically, when new
approaches were working and when they weren't. I could feel, physically, when
introducing certain parts of the setup introduced new problems, etc. For
example, while playing with my keyboard and mouse, I started fixing my wrists
at the expense of my shoulders and neck, which then called for the leaning
discipline, standing desk, and so on and so on.

Otherwise, good sleep and good food help me maintain the focus that's required
to keep myself from slipping back into bad habits. One of the worst habits of
mine, that's been the toughest to shake, has been stopping myself from leaning
into the screen while getting into my work. It's terrible for my neck. Leaning
back helps immensely. I can stay on top of this easily when I'm properly
energized. I slip when I'm tired or it's getting late.

------
zmitri
For what it's worth, I read this recommendation a year or so a go and it
helped a lot despite my initial skepticism. It's mostly a mindful awareness
thing.

------
evmar
I'm another person that was helped by this. I was also pretty skeptical
entering it, and I hate that I am embarrassed to tell my RSI-suffering friends
about it when I know that it has helped many people (including others of my
RSI-suffering friends).

To those talking about how it's pseudoscience, all I have to say is that there
are at least some people, including the author of the post, who have tried
many other options and found that this approach helps. As far as I'm
concerned, I'd be happy to sit in a crystal pyramid or any other sort of
quackery if it genuinely improved the problem.

(And in reading the book, the author does have some reasoning as to why it
works. I think it's at least indisputable that there are physical consequences
to many mental ailments like stress, so it doesn't seem like such a reach to
me to try treating the mental issue to improve the physical symptoms.)

------
wam
I've been seeing this book pop up all over the place for the past year or so.
It seems to be the go-to recommendation from friends to other friends who are
frustrated at not finding relief from chronic pain after trying many other
treatments.

I haven't read the book. All I can say is that the results, from my
perspective, have been mixed. Some people who have tried it and not seen their
pain alleviated blame themselves for not getting to the root of their stress.
I haven't heard of anyone's pain disappearing in 2 weeks. I've heard people
recommend it for all kinds of pain, not just muscle and back pain. Claims
about its efficacy seem to have broadened over time.

The book is set at a very good "it can't hurt to try" price point, and the
word of mouth marketing makes it very appealing to people who feel desperate.

I am a random person. My experiences are anecdotal.

------
xenophanes
Never read the book, but psychology changes helped my RSI issues tremendously.

> if you are unconsciously worried about something (including worried about
> your wrists hurting while you type), then this can cause your wrists to hurt
> while you type.

This. If you're scared of RSI and scared of typing, that can itself cause
problems.

~~~
president
> including worried about your wrists hurting while you type

This is the thing that fixed my problem. After trying so many different
"methods" and "tricks", I read about this approach on an HN thread a few years
ago. I was skeptical in the beginning but now I'm just dumbfounded how
effective it was.

------
zwegner
I'm another person cured of RSI by the same approach. Initially, when learning
of TMS, the RSI got worse (progressing from just constant pain to feelings of
numbness and nerve damage).

Certainly worth a look if you have RSI--clearly if people can be cured more or
less overnight by just reading, there's SOME mental component, whether or not
Dr. Sarno's explanations of the mechanisms of TMS are correct.

~~~
typpo
Me too. I spent about a year after college in constant pain from carpal tunnel
and sciatica. Even basic actions like opening a door were extremely painful.

I blew a lot of money on ergonomic equipment, PT, steroidal treatments, and
was strongly considering surgery until I treated my chronic pain as TMS. My
desk setup has not changed at all but I've been completely pain free for about
a year now. It was eye-opening to realize that such severe pain, which
inhibited simple daily activities, could be entirely psychosomatic.

The nocebo effect[1] is a well-documented phenomenon that is closely related.
When you expect an autonomic symptom, you are much more likely to experience
it.

[1] [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/12/opinion/sunday/beware-
the-...](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/12/opinion/sunday/beware-the-nocebo-
effect.html)

------
lunix
Claims to be sceptical but then:

"The first medical specialist I consulted was a chiropractor"

Chiropractic was founded by magnetic healer, D.D. Palmer. Magnetic healing is
also a pseudoscience but less people take it seriously.

~~~
lunix
He also promotes this book:

[http://www.amazon.com/4-Hour-Body-Uncommon-Incredible-
Superh...](http://www.amazon.com/4-Hour-Body-Uncommon-Incredible-
Superhuman/dp/030746363X)

If you look at the reviews you'll get a better understanding.

~~~
emmelaich
Indeed, it doesn't look good. I don't know how you can be skeptical but then
also try chiropractic and acupuncture (without trying a lot of other stuff)

The wikipedia talk page is interesting.

Here's my personal story about how I conquered my RSI: stopped using Emacs. It
helped that I moved from a developer to a sysadmin role.

When I do occasionally use Emacs, it's with viper mode.

~~~
dvdkhlng
After reading multiple comments criticising Emacs for wearing down the hands,
there's some more stuff (apart from viper-mode) that makes Emacs use less
damaging:

* ergo-emacs key bindings ([http://ergoemacs.org/features.html](http://ergoemacs.org/features.html))

* partial-completion-mode

* auto-completion (e.g. binding dabbrev-expand to an easy reachable key/combo)

* put window/buffer navigation onto easier reachable keys (for me F7, F11 work well)

* Make buffer switching smarter by using ido-switch-buffer and ido-find-file instead of the normal switch-buffer and find-file functions (see documentation for ido-mode)

* desktop-save-mode so you don't have to repeatedly re-open files after restarting emacs

* Using auto-generated boilerplate when creating new files (see Emacs manual for define-auto-insert and friends)

* using a Kinesis Advantage keyboard helps with emacs key combos as Ctrl/Alt can be reached via the thumbs without moving the hands.

...

------
vsbuffalo
I am unsure this book's claims are correct, and I still remain skeptical. But
one epiphany I had in dealing with my recent RSI is that it does make me worry
— quite a bit in fact. Programming is not only how I make a living, and also a
hobby and my future life as a grad student. Having it all be at risk because
of RSI makes me incredibly stressed. Previously when I've had RSI, it's gone
away after a week or so. Now I'm the most stressed I've ever been about it
because it just hasn't gone away. I don't think it's so odd to suspect that
there is a psychological component (and now that I am aware of it I am
addressing this it from angle more). There's an unlimited positive pain
feedback cycle, which could explain the persistence. I could see some sort of
process where RSI's origination is physical (overuse, definitely was in my
case) but its lingering is a function of stress.

This article also made me realize that it is silly for skeptics to use the
placebo effect (a purely psychological effect) to attack pseudoscience healing
crap, but then dismiss psychological explanations for pain. If the mind can
limit pain through the placebo effect, why is it so suspicious the brain can
cause or continue pain?

------
throwit1979
While we're discussing anecdotal cures for RSI, I'll disclose mine:
deadlifting.

That's it. Consistent, heavy deadlifting has kept it away for years.

I have no medical explanation.

------
cupcake-unicorn
Maybe I'm missing something here, but from his very brief description of the
methods used, I thought that there was at least some "method" or "logic" to
it.

But then I brought up:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tension_myositis_syndrome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tension_myositis_syndrome)

Which seems to indicate that the "treatment" is something much more vague
like...journaling, support groups, therapy...?

Pardon the stereotype, but I'm imagining some old women's knitting group or
something...or all the stuff about "repressed anger" "childhood abuse",
etc....if that were the case, wouldn't women's circles, group therapy,
individual therapy, anger management classes, spontaneously start curing
people of their pain? I don't see anything specific about this method.

Maybe I'm missing something very basic? Distraction and getting your mind off
of it is a well known way to deal with pain. I didn't think that was new.

------
wallflower
The cycle is like this:

1\. Pound away at the keyboard indiscriminately for years, no pain 2\. Pound
away, start to get pain but it goes away after some off time (could be as
little as a night) 3\. Pound away, get pain but it goes away after extended
rest time 4\. Pound away, the pain never really goes away, it just subsides.

It is much like the straw the breaks the camel's back, the frog in a boiling
point of water - what you take for granted (the ability to input your thoughts
into a machine) might not always be toll-free.

If you get pain, stop. Don't be macho or in denial. Go out and do some whole
body exercise like swimming
([http://totalimmersion.net](http://totalimmersion.net) rocks)

-Someone who has residual pain of 3 on a scale of 10, with spikes going higher. I've become very efficient and have long ago since started diversifying out of programming.

------
eli
I guess whatever works for you.

Personally, I was having problems in my dominant hand and switching from a
mouse to a Wacom tablet with a pen made a _colossal_ improvement.

~~~
rafski
My wrist pain is gone ever since I moved on to Wacom.

------
bluemetal
To anyone suffering significant hand, arm, neck & shoulder pain, I suggest you
consider asking your doctor about Thoracic Outlet Syndrome.
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoracic_outlet_syndrome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoracic_outlet_syndrome))

I was diagnosed with bilateral arterial T.O.S. last year after reading about
it in a comment on HN. I very recently had corrective surgery on my right side
and I hope to have my left side done soon. I was diagnosed when an ultrasound
showed full occlusion of my subclavian arteries whenever I lifted my arms (but
only when sitting or standing upright, like at my desk, which was not a
standard discovery).

If anyone has any questions feel free to message me.

------
huhtenberg
Me too, not the RSI though.

I am generally as skeptical as it gets, but I read the book, then spent some
time contemplating how it applied to my situation and - poof - a debilitating
hip joint pain I had a mispleasure experiencing every few months was gone. I
went through an MRI and a bone scan prior to that and all I got back was that
everything was A-OK. Frankly, I was stunned that _thinking_ about the problem
was the remedy. You can basically talk to your body, say "stop that" and it
will comply. Really weird.

------
mr_donk
My experience was almost identical to the author's. As improbable as it
sounds, reading the book and following it's advice completely eliminated my
RSI pain after 3 years of dr visits (steroid cream), physiotherapy (tens, ims,
massage, art, etc), and every ergonomic input device I could get my hands on
failed to help. My RSI was starting to bother me even when I wasn't at a
keyboard, to the point where it hurt to drive. I'm the last person I would
have ever expected to use some "new age" treatment, yet as soon as I started
to read the book, my pain lessened and was 100% gone within a month. I
strongly agree with the author's premise about emotions playing a role in
this, and in my case the onset of RSI corresponded with a very stressful time
in my life.

Maybe this won't be the case for you, but it certainly was for me. I can once
again type on a normal keyboard all day with no pain. 2 years ago I would have
never believed this possible. If you're in a similar situation, you should
give it a shot. It costs nearly nothing, and has helped many people (read the
book's reviews on Amazon).

------
johannesg
I like this article about Dr. Sarno's theories:
[http://www.bettermovement.org/2011/a-skeptical-look-at-
the-t...](http://www.bettermovement.org/2011/a-skeptical-look-at-the-theories-
of-dr-john-sarno/). In summary: his treatment probably works, but his theories
explaining chronic pain are most likely incorrect.

------
fabvanso
This does not work at all. The causes behind RSI are physical and real.

~~~
logn
Somewhere is the many paragraphs of typing he did for this article, he
mentions that perhaps fixing the psychological component improves the physical
condition. His idea is that mental stress over RSI restricts bloodflow to the
parts of the hands/arms that need blood.

While I don't buy into this article's theory, I do think that the mind is
tightly coupled to the body and that people who draw too many distinctions
between the two are misguided. That said, I still seek out good ergonomics
personally and think RSI, at least for me, is due to me typing for 12 hours a
day. I never worried about RSI until I had pain in my hands the went on for
weeks. We can debate until the cows come home about whether the mental stress
caused the hand pain or whether the ergonomics caused it--in the end it's the
same pain and same RSI and just semantics. If wearing wrist pads eliminates
the pain or if telling yourself to not worry makes the pain go away--the
physical and mental result is the same. For me, wristpads worked. But I know
from experience that stress on the mind and stress on the body is basically
the same in many regards.

------
bluesmoon
I don't know what's more impressive... the results, or that the top comment on
the article is by Jeffrey Friedl. I've communicated with Friedl a bit at Y!,
and if he says you changed his life, I believe him.

------
domdip
Pain treatment is one of the few areas where a placebo actually 'works' (in
the sense that it leads to better outcomes than non-treatment). See Pollo et
al, "Response expectancies in placebo analgesia and their clinical relevance."

So even if it's full of nonsense, it's not surprising that the book could work
(and not just anecdotally). The question is whether this book is any better
than a placebo, and anecdotes can't answer that. (I also wonder if it's any
better than any other book that would help you cope with psychological
stress.)

------
jongraehl
The book helped me try to stress out less about some frightening RSI I had
years ago. The speculative mechanical explanation for the "stress -> pain",
something like: stress means less oxygenated blood to extremities, was never
convincing - more like a dumbo's feather for those skeptical of general mind-
body woo.

Coincidentally, I got better. That was probably just rest and time, but I'm
grateful that the book helped me not worry so much.

------
smrtinsert
I'm not selling this dvd, but even the 5 or so videos here really helped.
[http://www.youtube.com/user/HealthyTyping](http://www.youtube.com/user/HealthyTyping).
It is very practical, showing how tendons are strained in positions that seem
like they should be pain free.

Since then I don't use arm rests so I can keep my elbows in, and dont curl my
fingers. The pain went away almost over one weekend.

------
snth
I was also very, very skeptical about this. But I have to say, it worked for
me. I read this book in desperation _after_ learning Dvorak, getting a fancy
Kinesis keyboard, and getting expensive physical therapy (massaging of my
forearms, hand strengthening exercises) to no effect. I repeat, _no_ effect.

I don't know what else to say. It still sounds like bullshit to me, but it
worked when all of the other methods did not.

~~~
dvdkhlng
When talking about physical therapy, did you ever consider referred pain
patterns [1], like neck/shoulder muscle tension causing pain in the
wrist/fingers?

I found the Trigger Point Therapy Workbook [2] quite enlightening in that
regard. Maybe you should think about doing some weightlifting or jogging
instead of trying to strengthen your hands :)

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Referred_pain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Referred_pain)

[2] [http://www.triggerpointbook.com/](http://www.triggerpointbook.com/)

------
asdf333
I have to say it does not help your case that the your link to the book on
amazon is an affiliate link....

------
tosseraccount
Learning and using macros helps a lot. Don't keep pounding the same sequence
of keys.

If, for instance, you use vim, check out the map feature ...
[http://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/map.html](http://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/map.html)

------
plainOldText
Thank you for sharing. It's always great to learn about effective strategies
to deal with/cure RSI; especially when so many said cures are failing. Already
ordered the book, and I hope I won't be disappointed :)

------
jimgardener
these
links([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myofascial_pain_syndrome](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myofascial_pain_syndrome)
and
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myofascial_release](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myofascial_release))
seem related to the above problem ..In fact, couple of my programmer friends
(been coding for 17 yrs) had this posture related problem and massage therapy
more or less cured them

------
mrexroad
i was hoping that my rsi pain was either bad ergonomics or just mental, then
last week i got the results from a 2nd MRI of my wrist:

\- torn TFCC \- positive variance of distal ulna as well as an intraosseous
cyst

it's going to suck to get this fixed (especially the bone saw + plate + screws
part), but the pain is pretty bad these days and the success rate is pretty
high for what needs to be done. it's hard to bring myself to the keyboard when
it's not absolutely necessary these days.

------
Apes
Please be careful with this article. It is not remotely skeptical, and seems
to be highly biased in the favor of Dr. Sarno's book. Chiropractic medicine
for anything other than lower back pain and Acupuncture are two forms of
alternative medicine that are well known to work off the placebo effect, yet
the article mentions their use despite alleging to be a skeptic. This is a
major red flag.

There is not a large amount of unbiased information about Dr Sarno's methods
that I could find quickly, but from what is available TMS appears to be a form
of alternative medicine that has no basis in science, and instead relies on
pseudoscience and the placebo effect.

Rather than the pain relief being due to TMS, there is probably a more likely
cause behind the result. Perhaps stretching exercises or pain medicine was
involved. Or perhaps even just the placebo effect itself.

Please read this article for more information. It even contains a brief
mention of Dr. Sarno.

[http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/why-do-people-turn-to-
al...](http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/why-do-people-turn-to-alternative-
medicine/)

~~~
rafski
You're saying "placebo effect" like it's a bad thing. Many doctors agree
placebo is a powerful drug, and a component of every type of pill administered
to a conscious person. Even a consultation with a doctor can have a positive,
even if unmeasurable placebo effect on a patient's health. If this method is
about effective application of placebo and it works, at least for some people,
what harm can be in it?

~~~
Apes
The negativity that you are sensing is not against the placebo effect, but
against treatments that claim legitimacy and use anecdotes that are easily
explained by the placebo effect as evidence of their effectiveness.

A placebo is by definition something that has no effect at all. Any
improvement in the state of someone taking a placebo must be attributed
instead to something other than the placebo. However, patients will attribute
their improvement to the placebo. This is the placebo effect.

No doctor would literally say that a placebo is a "powerful drug", since it is
by definition completely inert. However, they may say so in a figurative
manner to mean that patients will claim effectiveness of ineffective
treatments due to the placebo effect.

Treatments that rely on the placebo effect have two major negative aspects.
First they may prevent people from seeking a truly effective means of
treatment. Second, they take money for providing a treatment that has no
actual value.

~~~
thwest
What is "actual value" and how does it relate to subjective use-value? If
people value the placebo effect, why is that bad? And if they value the
effect, what is wrong with valuing the source of it? (The distinction between
placebo and placebo effect stinks of Cartesian duality). Do you see meditation
or talk therapy as placebos? Are we obligated to deny people self improvement
that isn't a result of ingesting a chemical?

Alcoholics Anonymous has the same effectiveness as cold turkey and a few other
sobriety methods (about 10% success). Are you suggesting that alcoholics
should never attempt the AA program? Some solutions work for individual cases
and are worth being explored on a personal basis.

------
efnx
verisimilidude touched on a couple of these points already but apart from
training your mind to not worry about pain you can also train it to type in
Dvorak. I went even a little further and bought a $30 datahand keyboard (a
really, really good price) but even with that dvorak'd wacky thing it only
took me about 3 weeks of typing to get proficient and pain free. A good chair
goes a long way as well.

------
skore
"Relax" to ease pain stemming from tension. Who would've thought.

~~~
pawrvx
It's actually hard to impossible to relax when you don't know the source of
the tension. Finding that tension within a network of hundreds of billions of
neurons can be like finding a single sand on the beach.

Worse, as time goes on you tend to compensate instead of resolving the root
cause, leading to an increasingly complex web which you have to untangle first
before being able to reach the root cause.

Most people die before any of the above is accomplished.

~~~
jakebellacera
This is why I think that the methods taught in this book seem to work for some
people. When you're stressed beyond all means and don't deal with it mentally,
the tension you give yourself causes physical harm. Sort of like how stress
can cause you to grind your teeth at night. Dealing with your problems and
just simply relaxing can help tremendously.

------
MichaelGG
This book is NOT "rigorously scientific". The guy comes off as a bit of a nut,
and wastes paragraphs defending Freud (seriously, wtf?).

That said, he might be right that there's a psychological component to RSI,
even if his explanations and theories are incorrect. After all, fall and
winter come even though Demeter isn't actually crying for Persephone.

This book helped my RSI by convincing me enough that it might be
psychological, even though I tossed the book in disgust after a few chapters.
For a few years my pain seemed to have gone away completely, although it's
back somewhat now.

