I am a software engineer with a multinational IT firm in Bangalore.
I would like my CRI story to be shared on your website. Most of
my office people and friends tend to think that pain is to be
borne and it signals that the person is a good software engineer!
I would do anything to remove such misconceptions.
I was suffering from numbness and tingling of hands, what I assumed
was carpal tunnel syndrome. I also had terrible shoulder and hand
pains. I was nearly inveigled into a surgery by an orthopaedist
in Bangalore (though the nerve conduction test showed no signs
of nerve damage). He told me the pain from my wrist was 'spilling
up' to my shoulders!! But today I am fine with no pain at all.
This has come about by Trigger Point therapy. The book "Trigger
point therapy workbook" by Claire Davies, who follows Dr
Travell and Simmons' trigger point treatment protocol, has helped
me to find various points on my body that were referring pain
to other parts. I went in for stretch and spray therapy, and that
cured 80% of my pain in 2 weeks. After that, regular self-massage
and massage by a professional massuese on weekends has made me
totally pain-free after a year. The only medications that I felt
were any use were the sleeping pills. I was prescribed that because
it helped me to sleep better.
The workstation at our office is not too good. The chairs have
a high armrest, and are too far away from the side of the body.
They are mostly designed for fat people, I feel! The keyboard
rest is just big enough to support the keyboard. The mouse has
to sit on the high table. Only a 6 footer and 200-kg person would
have any comfort in this workstation. :-) I have taken out the
armrest of my chair. Otherwise my shoulder used to be hunched
up, and my chair could not go far enough ahead to the keyboard,
so I typed holding my arms out in front. I am also using a footrest
so that I can raise my chair to the needed height without dangling
my feet in air. Another major reason that the pain started was
also the A/C vent that was aimed directly at my left shoulder
and blew cold air on it all the time. I didn't realise the harm
until I could no longer sleep at night due to the pain...I got
the AC to be turned off after a some running around. All these
workstation changes I did by myself, the compan
I have noted a point, which I would like to share with you: a
lot of lower back pain, for many of my colleagues in the software
industry and me, seems to be coming from the psoas. In my own
case, self-massage to the psoas immediately reduces low back pain.
Most doctors who advise the people suffering from Myofascial pain
discourage them from taking a massage. But, from what I have read
of Trigger point therapy, it would seem the only practical method
to help people suffering from myofascial pain syndrome. Stretch
and spray is a relatively inaccessible method because it is too
involved a method and needs to be learnt; whereas, anyone can
apply appropriate pressure on a trigger point for a few minutes
daily to get rid of the pain. The only catch here is in knowing
where the trigger point is!
I would also like to mention that a big factor in my pain relief
has been the knowledge of myofascial pain by my physiotherapist.
My friends have been 'treated' by other physiotherapists and have
told me how ineffectual they were. He was hampered by the lack
of knowledge of the doctors at a famous orthopaedic hospital in
Bangalore, the treatment protocol they prescribed were not tailored
to the illness of the person concerned, it seems, and no discussion
was done with a mere physiotherapist by the doctors! He left his
hospital a few months ago and now freelances.
Unfortunately doctors in India seem to be clueless about CRI
since they do not seem to have bothered to have read or trained
themselves in this new disorder. I hunted for a doctor for a good
6 months before coming to know of myofascial pain thru the net!
It was a frustrating 6 months. The worst part is, doctors are
unwilling to say, 'I don't know'. In the process, pain goes untreated,
or worse, is mistreated. My mother has been suffering since she
was in her 20's with body pain (I now realise it was myofascial)
and she was 'treated' for spondylitis and arthritis. Last year,
I thought I would take her to a good orthopedist here. He told
her that she has rheumatoid arthritis! There was no swelling or
distortion of the small joints, and the pain had been there since
30 years or more. Obviously, the wax baths did nothing for her
but waste time and money. What can one do in the face of such
treatment?
