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The Clarington Independent, Bowmanville, Saturday, August 27,1994 15 By Dr. Kathlynn Hoch, D.C., F.I.A.C.A. Repetitive strain injury refers to a wide range of ailments. In the United States, it is often called cumulative trauma disorder or repetitive stress injury. Essentially, it is a matter of overuse - an injury resulting from doing a particular action over and over. Sufferers experience different symptoms depending on which nerves and muscles have been affected. affected. They might have tingling in their Fingers, numbness, burning sensations sensations in the palms, pain in the arms, tightness in the back, shoulders and neck, or pains that just seem to migrate migrate from one point to another. In advanced cases, they might even experience experience a tingling sensation in the. feet. One of the most publicized types of RSI - although one of the least common - is carpal tunnel syndrome, syndrome, in which tendons passing through the narrow tunnel in the wrists swell up and put pressure on the median nerve. This causes a tingling tingling sensation in the thumbs and adjacent adjacent fingers, and a burning sensation sensation in the palms. Much more common is thoracic outlet syndrome, in which veins and blood vessels leading from the neck to the arms are trapped by tight muscles. muscles. . Doctors may also diagnose: • Tendinitis, the inflammation of a tendon, a fibrous cord that joins muscle muscle to bone or to another muscle; • Tenosynivitis, an inflammation of the lining of a sheath surrounding a tendon; • Epicondylitis (tennis or golfer's elbow), an inflammation of the elbow at the point where the tendon joins it. In fact, the specific diagnosis will likely depend on which doctor is doing doing the examining. Go to a different doctor, get a different opinion. Some might not even recognize the condition condition as RSI. People with RSI symptoms may also be diagnosed with fibromyalgia or fibrositis - inflammation of muscle muscle fibres - after a doctor finds a number of "trigger points" or tender spots on the patient's body. Leading RSI experts say a diagnosis diagnosis of fibromyalgia is meaningless. It does not indicate what caused the illness illness or suggest how it should be treated, says Dr. Jennifer Chu, director director of electrodiagnostic medicine and associate professor in the department of rehabilitation medicine at the Hospital Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Dr. Chan Gunn, a Vancouver pain specialist, says fibromyalgia is nothing nothing more than an advanced case of repetitive repetitive strain injury or the end result of a sudden trauma. Regardless of whether an accident happens slowly at a computer or suddenly suddenly in a car accident, Dr. Chu says, it has the same long-term consequences. consequences. It produces a predictable pattern of trigger points. Stuart Donaldson, a Calgary clinical clinical psychologist, agrees, "the number of trigger points you have is solely dependent upon how long you've had RSI unchecked. The trigger points keep spreading throughout the body as more and more "muscles become affected". Once RSI develops very specific intervention is needed. To fix the problem, doctors may prescribe antiinflammatory antiinflammatory drugs. Physiotherapists may use ultrasound, cold packs, heat packs or stretching exercises. These treatments usually provide only partial partial or temporary relief. Seeking to unravel the complex pain patterns of RSI, researchers working on RSI have devised several new treatment methods and developed developed their own theories. They believe, believe, as I do, that RSI is not merely a muscle problem, but also involves abnormalities in the body's electrical circuitry (nervous system) and joint function. Furthermore, they agree that although RSI usually shows up as pain or numbness in the arms or hands, it often starts in the neck or ' back. The new treatment methods include include joint and spinal manipulation to restore normal movement and thereby thereby relieve pressure on the nerve and blood flow and electromyography. The treatments build on pain research research carried out over the past half century. Two key U.S. pioneers are Dr. Janet Travell and Dr. David Sin- ions. Dr. John Bosmajeun, a Canadian, Canadian, is considered the father of electro myography. Using electromyography you can find out accurately which muscles are not functioning properly. This is very helpful because in most cases of RSI there is no outward sign of injury and nothing shows up oh x-ray. It is easy to doubt the pain is real and it is often difficult to get workers' compensation compensation benefits or time off work. The information in this column is of a general nature. Consult your health care professional for specific health concerns. Dr. IToch, D.C. of the Bowmanville Family Chiroprac tic Centre and Clarington Rehabilitation Rehabilitation and Sports Injuries Clinic is in her eleventh year of private practice and has personally attended more than 30,000 patients. She works within within a health care team which includes a multi-disciplined approach, including including Chiropractic, Massage, Homeopathy, Homeopathy, Reflexology, Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Medical and Psychotherapy Psychotherapy referrals. She supports and educates her patients to create conditions for Optimum Health. She has a large pediatric practice with a holistic approach. Poll Results Good for Clarington Collis and Reed received no compensation for conducting the. survey. The survey was conducted as a community service. Copies of the results have been sent to Claring- ton's municipal council; senior municipal municipal staff members; Durham East MPP Gord Mills, Durham MP Alex Shepherd and members of the media. media. Ron Collis explained that his research research company does a lot of surveys surveys for organizations, associations and companies. For example, their work includes research on employee and customer satisfaction and the gathering of opinions from members of organizations. He said the firm is interested in doing more public opinion polls in the future. Other things people liked about their municipality were: Its convenient convenient location (12%); its quiet and peaceful atmosphere (11%); and friendly people (7%). Five per cent From Page One of the respondents offered other answers. answers. They said, for example, that they liked the town's cleanliness, safety and affordability. Eleven per cent ventured no opinion. Dislikes In the category of dislikes, a large number of residents (22%) offered offered no opinion. However, 19 per cent of respondents respondents cited a lack of stores and businesses businesses as the major down-side to life in Clarington. High taxes were cited by 12 per cent as the one thing they disliked the most about living here. And equal number (12%) bemoaned bemoaned a "lack of community services services and facilities." Other dislikes were as follows: Too much growth (9%); no public transit (4%); and traffic congestion (4%). Eighteen per cent listed other pet peeves, such as the proximity to the Darlington Nuclear Plant or the proximity to a proposed dump. In response to the question: "What do you feel should be the Clarington Town council's number one priority? ,"19 per cent of respondents respondents cited improved community services and facilities. An improved business environment environment was the choice of 14 per cent, while 9 per cent called on local government government to improve road conditions. Other responses were as follows: protect the environment (9%); improve improve local government (7%); lower taxes (7%); other opinions (16%) and no opinion (19%). Youth Programs Suggested Of those residents who felt that Council's number one priority should be improved community services services and facilities, 58 per cent specifically specifically wanted to see better youth programs and services. Twenty- eight per cent wanted to see more general community facilities such as community centres, swimming pools and parks. Fourteen per cent indicated an expansion of services Jean-Paul Craig province-wide. Small town personalized service, you're a name, not a number. 1! 1! 9. Top quality, low mileage, local trade-ins. Don Felteau j Jill Coombes i i n c PONTIAC -- BUICK LTD. BOWMANVILLE -- ONT. Buy the cars your neighbours help to build. : :Y& m | .1 mm ||| * Don Groves ■ !■! Tom Cowan © for older adults was needed. In Ward One (which includes the Courtice urban area) the highest per centage of respondents indicated municipal council's first priority should be to improve community service facilities. Collis and Reed noted in a summary of the poll's findings that this may reflect the intensive intensive lobbying effort for a community community centre that took place in this area prior to the poll being taken. The results of the poll were broken broken down in a ward-by-ward summary. summary. Telephone Interviews The poll took place by random telephone interviews which occurred occurred during June and July. The percentages are considered to be accurate within 4 per cent 19 out of 20 times. In addition to being asked what they liked best and least about living in Clarington and what they felt Clarington Council's number one priority should be, residents were also asked how long they had lived in Clarington. Official Opening of Oshawa Centre From Rage 4 boasted 29 stores in 1956 when it first was built as an open-air strip mall. Today, with five retail giants (Zellers, (Zellers, The Bay, Eatons, Sears and Lo- blaws) anchored at every comer of the mall, there are more than 180 stores and services in the 1.1 million square foot centre. Oshawa Mayor Nancy Diamond said: "We led the way in the 1950's. Today is the start of a new era." She congratulated the development team on their vision and faith in the City of Oshawa. "They did their research and they saw a good thing in Oshawa. They found not only the economic base here, but the workers, the contractors the building trades -- all those who would bring about this achievement."