Bookmarkers beware: Bookmarks to pages other than the home page may not work after we change our server in April Editor's Choice | This Week in BMJ | Press releases BMJ No 7131 Volume 316 News Saturday 21 February 1998 Repetitive strain injury patients have vibration loss Repetitive strain injury affecting keyboard users may be associated with loss of vibration in nerves supplying the hands, according to researchers from University College London. Coauthors Jane Greening, a clinical physiotherapist, and Dr Bruce Lynn, a neurophysiologist, say: "Patients with repetitive strain injury have objective signs of minor polyneuropathy, with the median nerve being more severely affected than the ulnar nerve or radial nerve." (Int Arch Occup Environ Health 1998;71:29­34). Using a vibrameter - a Swedish device for measuring vibration thresholds in sensory nerves - the researchers studied patients with diffuse arm pains deemed to be repetitive strain injury, a group of office workers who frequently used keyboards, and age matched controls who rarely used keyboards and had no symptoms. They found that the patient group had raised vibration thresholds, which meant that they were less able to feel low intensity vibrations, for the median and ulnar nerves, and the office worker group had raised vibration thresholds for only the median nerve. Repetitive strain injury may affect 11% of British people Photo: KIM STEELE/PHOTONICA Ms Greening said: "The use of vibration testing, which is relatively inexpensive to carry out, may offer a simple way to monitor the progress of patients with repetitive strain injury." Many clinicians do not accept that repetitive strain injury is a real disease. This study was small, and although the researchers accept that they are far from proving that keyboard use leads to vibration loss - and eventually to repetitive strain injury - the unions and support groups for those affected are hailing this research as evidence for the existence of repetitive strain injury. Peter Kilbride, the director of the Repetitive Strain Injury Association, said: "We welcome these findings as they show real evidence of the effects people with repetitive strain injury have been experiencing. While we have known for years that repetitive strain injury is a real condition it has been hard to prove to some people . . . Perhaps now there will be greater realisation of exactly what it means to experience the effects of this condition." Repetitive strain injury, which is claimed to affect 11% of the population, has also been described in musicians, supermarket checkout operators, and those working in the food processing and packaging industries. Dr Lynn, however, accepts that more research is needed before a link between vibration loss and repetitive strain injury can be established. The next step, he says, will be a larger trial over a two year period, using magnetic resonance imaging with the aim of pinpointing areas of nerve damage. Kamran Abbasi, BMJ Home | Current issue | Past issues | Classified ads | Career Focus | Feedback Collections | About this site | About the BMJ | BMA | Medline