A larger category than Repetitive Stress Injury, since it includes other kinds of trauma. (RSI in turn includes more than carpal tunnel syndrome.)

Possible mechanisms / contributing conditions

Sulfur deficiency

• Cartilage, ligament and tendon are made primarily of glucosamine sulfate and chondroitin sulfate, two GAGs.
• In deficiency, the body will rob them from joints, resulting in "loose, lax and cracky joints." (Dean Raffelock, a chiropractor with diplomas in acupuncture, clinical nutrition, and applied kinesiology — inteviewed in The John R. Lee Medical Letter, September 99, pp 5-6.)
• No question I have "loose, lax and cracky joints." More than one osteopath has commented on it, and it contributes to occasionally twisting an ankle when I'm walking on level floors.
• Treatment suggestions from Raffelock:
  1. Super Sulfur: MSM (Methyl Sulfonyl methane) - Base Mineral Antioxidant
     — must be accompanied by ~1 mg molybdenum (neither more nor less)
  2. Glucosamine sulfate 500 mg to 2000 mg / day
• ?! But would this be contraindicated with a condition of poor sulfoxidation?

Sulfur incapacitation

• "Joints and the outer coats of nerves' insulation are largely made up of connective tissue called collagen. Two collagen molecules are hooked together by two sulfur atoms, one from each molecule. The sulfut from one collagen holds the hand of the sulfru from another collagen forming a cross-link.
  
  ...Mercury has a great affinity for two sulfur atoms at a time because it often has an electrical need for two. This means it can easily get in between the two sulfur atoms, holding each of their hands."
  
  This is from p. 111 of Mercury Free: the wisdom behind the global consumer movement to ban "silver" dental fillings, by Dr. James Hardy. (Gabriel Rose Press, Glassboro, NJ, 1996) He goes on to speculate that this imposition of mercury between the two sulfur atoms results in the immune system's identifying the tissue as "foreign" and that this results in the "auto-imune" diseases of Multiple Sclerosis and Rheumatoid Arthritis.

See also

• Arthritis
• Nerve pinch

General Information

• CTDNEWS
• RSI Network Newsletter information on how to subscribe is here as well as one sample copy

Products to check out

• MouseMitt International's Way Cool Home Page textx
• Kinesis Home Page
• A review of Kinesis keyboards by Andrew Laurence in TidBits
• Comfort Labs
• Coffee Break download shareware to force you to take a break
• Keyboard managers from Fellowes Paper Shredders --raise monitor, shelve keyboard, support wrists....