Success Stories

My RSI Account

100% Recovery from Stage 3 RSI: Thoracic Outlet Syndrome

By M Chelliah

I had neck pain on and off for the past 4 years. The last 2 episodes spread over 2003 were so severe that his illness began to impact my productivity at work. I had connected this pain in the neck, probably by mistake, with personal/work-related stress. I had also not visited any doctor since I was based in the US at that time and medical care was expensive. So, I had to make do with the company-provided nurse who suggested some postural changes, which seemed to help for a while.

As soon as I returned to India, I went to see an orthopedic surgeon in Jan 2004 who misdiagnosed my neck pain as early spondylitis. He suggested some physiotherapy which probably worsened the pain and made it radiate to my arms. I was bed-ridden for a week and the MRI that the doctor recommended showed some disk bulge in the spinal cord. I was paranoid with the diagnosis that I stopped seeing this surgeon. I went to another orthopedic surgeon and a neuro-surgeon (both recommended as the best in Bangalore) with all my collateral. While benevolent, the senior doctors said that either my pain will subside slowly or I have to live with that!

Before giving up altogether, I went to Dr. Sharan as recommended by my company HP who informed me that orthopedic surgeons, not qualified in ergonomics, often diagnose RSI as spondylitis or spinal cord compression. He assured me that I had none of those based on my x-ray and MRI. Unlike other doctors, he also suggested simple remedies (rather than pain killers) to ease my pain. I had probably 10 myotherapy sessions with Mr. Baiju, as recommended by Dr.Sharan, which provided me immense relief within a few weeks. Thus, this whole ordeal lasted almost 1.5 months.

After 80% recovery from my stage-3 RSI (Thoracic Outlet Syndrome) and another month of gentle stretches, I am pain free now. As a precaution for life, I am engaged in yoga nowadays. Thanks to this wonderful medical team which made me pause for a moment in my career, and take good care of my biggest asset, my health.

M Chelliah (muthusamy_chelliah@hp.com)