My RSI came on rather suddenly while I was at work. Pain, burning, and tingling were my constant companions for nearly two years. I had to stop many activities. For example, I quit working, stopped playing the guitar, and avoided driving at all costs.
I tried many different forms of treatment. Acupuncture, Alexander Technique, biofeedback, chiropractic, drugs, Feldenkrais, Hellerwork, massage therapy, personal training, physical therapy... I even put all my belongings in storage and moved across the country to pursue what is arguably the best physical therapy program available for RSI.
Many of these treatments did help my condition somewhat. However, most had a very temporary impact. After all that treatment, I was still unable to go back to my old life.
Finally, I learned how to apply a mind-body approach to my RSI. I had heard of mind-body medicine before, but I did not understand how to apply it nor did I accept it as applicable to my RSI. Once I did grasp the mind-body approach, I experienced dramatic improvement immediately. Today, I am as good as new. Since my recovery, I have
I am not a doctor. The information below is largely my opinion, and is supported only by my experience as well as the experience of a number other RSI sufferers who are now cured.
Blood flow is controlled by the autonomic nervous system. In RSI, you have learned to cut off the blood to your arms in response to certain activities. Like an allergy, otherwise benign stimuli have become a trigger for a powerful, unpleasant reaction.
Your conscious fear of RSI reinforces your mind-body response, and your condition worsens as the constriction of your blood vessels increases over time.
If you doubt the new beliefs, however, your conscious mind will resist the affirmations and visualizations. I have employed hypnosis to reduce the conscious mind's resistance to new beliefs. The best way to reduce resistance to new beliefs is to gather evidence that your conscious mind can understand as supporting the new beliefs. In other words, you need to do research. The Recommendations section below lists a number of resources you can use to evaluate the three keys for yourself.
I am aware of two theories. The first, proposed by Dr. John Sarno, states that chronic pain is a defense mechanism against unpleasant thoughts and/or emotions. The second, described by Ashok Gupta, suggests that chronic pain is learned at a more primitive level, like Pavlovian conditioning. Considering that the brain is so complex and interconnected, there may be many ways for it to learn the unhealthy pattern we call RSI, and multiple mechanisms may be at work simultaneously.
The good news is that we don't care. Your conscious mind is able to override the inappropriate response regardless of how that response was generated - and once adequate blood flow is restored to the arms, recovery is quick, complete, and irrevocable.
The plan must also include rewards for achieving your goals, such as a slice of chocolate cake or some toy you want but haven't been able to use because of your RSI.
Sometimes you will experience pain when you make a significant increase in your activity level or try a new activity. You must not fear the pain; you must disrespect it. Unless you have conviction in the three keys, this is nearly impossible. Do not interpret the pain to mean that you are damaging my arms and that you are doomed to be in pain forever. If you do, you will amplify the fear response of your autonomic nervous system. The pain will rapidly get worse and you will have to stop what you are doing.
Remember, the pain means that your mind is reacting inappropriately. It must calm down. There is nothing to fear. Keep typing, or playing, or exercising - whatever it is. Conviction in the three keys means that your conscious mind is constantly checking your fear response. Your pain will not spiral out of control like it used to. You will find, as I and many others have, that an hour later you are still typing and that your pain, while not entirely gone, is far less than your pain has been for years. When you stop typing, you will feel a forgotten sensation in your arms - you are healing. Your arms will warm with blood and your pain will decrease rather than maintain its intensity for days.
Read Dr. Sarno's books: Mind over Back Pain (1982), Healing Back Pain (1991), The Mindbody Prescription (1998), and The Divided Mind (2006). His arguments against traditional diagnoses of back pain are particularly instructive.
Read Ashok Gupta's paper, Unconscious Amygdalar Fear Conditioning. Gupta's model of the neurological phenomena underlying chronic pain is compatible with Dr. Sarno's theory, but Gupta's view does not assume Freudian mechanisms are involved.
Read Jospeh LeDoux's book, The Emotional Brain: The Mysterious Underpinnings of Emotional Life, especially chapters 6 and 7. LeDoux's book explains in detail how the amygdala interacts with the rest of the nervous system and supports Gupta's model.
Listen to the Harvard RSI Action's Success Stories audiotapes. Although the audio quality is abysmal, the content of these testimonials is powerful, especially since the speakers are recovered RSI sufferers. The tapes are available through the Harvard RSI Action website.
Listen to audio tapes provided by Dr. David Schechter and go through his workbook. Dr. Schechter's materials help in the application of Dr. Sarno's theory by exploring how pain may be used as a defense mechanism in your life.
Meet with a TMS doctor or therapist. Some doctors are listed on Find a TMS Doctor or Therapist
Read Robert Sapolsky's book, Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers. It discusses in biochemical detail many examples of the mind's profound ability to affect health.
Pursue biofeedback training. You will learn to control some aspects of your autonomic nervous system, and more importantly, the power of your mind over your condition. The Association for Applied Psychophysiology & Biofeedback has an informative site (www.aapb.org). I worked with Peter Behel, who has offices in the North Bay, and recommend him highly.
Do light cardio exercise. I personally prefer riding a stationary bike using high resistance and low rpms. Cardio exercise achieves two aims: 1) it will reduce your pain and increase your function temporarily, and thereby 2) it will help convince you that RSI is all about blood flow.
Perform some large muscle, upper body exercises. There are many excellent examples given in my favorite (traditional) RSI book, It's Not Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Many physical therapists recommend these exercises to improve posture, as poor posture can restrict the space for the nerves and blood vessels going into the arm. In addition, the contraction and release of large muscles will pump blood into your forearms and hands. If these exercises are difficult, start with no weight, then move up to soup cans, and then get into dumbbells. Don't forget that the point is to discover for yourself how much better you feel when you force blood into the area. It's all about blood flow.
Contrast baths are yet another way to force blood into the area temporarily. Fill one tub with cool and another with warm water. Immerse your hands and forearms in one for 30 seconds, then the other for 30 seconds. Go back and forth several times.
Get a bilateral upper chest MRI from Dr. Collins at UCLA. His office phone number is (310) 825-8361. The MRI will
This page is from conquerrsi.com, a website written by former RSI sufferer Nate. Since the website is now inactive, Nate has given the PTPN permission to repost the content on the wiki. These pages may be out-of-date as they have only been updated sparingly. They are part of an ongoing effort by the PTPN to archive inactive TMS websites.
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