• What is Sorehand?
  
  Sorehand is an online community dedicated to sharing information about repetitive stress injuries and related topics for people with repetitive strain injuries (RSIs). Sorehand members range from those severely injured to those who think they may be developing symptoms of an RSI to the friends and families of those injured. Common topics include dealing with workers' compensation and legal issues, suggestions on ergonomic equipment to use, and emotional/psychological/spiritual issues as they relate to RSI.
  
  The vehicle for this mission is an open-subscription unmoderated English-language e-mail discussion list averaging 700-800 subscribers. Our members are mainly from the U.S., however we have members from all over the world -- with significant representation from up north and down under. (Hello to our friends from Canada and Australia!)
  
  
• What is an e-mail discussion list?
  
  An e-mail discussion list is a forum to which you have to subscribe. Once subscribed you can send e-mail to all other subscribers to the list by sending one e-mail message to a common list address.
  
  
• What is RSI?
  
  Please see definitions and general information on Paul's RSI page and The Typing Injury FAQ.
  
  
• How do I subscribe to Sorehand?
  
  To subscribe to Sorehand send a message to listserv@listserv.ucsf.edu.
  In the body of message enter: subscribe sorehand YourName (e.g. subscribe sorehand Jane Doe).
  
  You will receive a message back asking you to confirm your subscription. Once the confirmation process is completed, you are subscribed.
  
  
• Who has access to the subscription list? Do you sell your subscription list?
  
  The subscription list is available only to the list owner and the list server administrator. The subscription list is never sold nor provided to anyone else.
  
  
• How do I ask a question?
  
  Sending e-mail to all other subscribers to the list is known as posting to the list. To post to Sorehand send your e-mail message to sorehand@listserv.ucsf.edu. Your message or post will then be distributed to all current subscribers.
  
  Note about Privacy: Please remember that this discussion list is a public forum with an archive available to any subscriber. To help others reply to certain types of questions you will need to provide some personal details. If you have any concerns about what you want to post being linked to a known e-mail address for you, you may want to check out creating a separate screen name or getting a separate free web e-mail account to use to post messages to Sorehand.
  
  
• How do I reply to a post?
  
  (under construction)
  
  
• What is the role of the list owner? - A note from Deanna McHugh
  
  I see my role primarily as maintaining the resource and providing technical support to keep Sorehand running. Along these lines I maintain anti-spam and anti-virus protection for the list*, assist subscribers with subscription problems, review posts from non-subscribers for posting approval, and when absolutely necessary step in to stop rude, inappropriate, or abusive posting.
  
  * I spend most of my time on providing anti-spam protection for the list. I get to see all those ads that get rejected by the list filters so you don't have to see them. I see them for a split second before hitting the delete key *hehe* You know the ads .. the ones for porno sites, mortgages, free money, mailing lists, etc. Junk mail has been steadily on the rise through all of 2002. I'm very proud that RSI sufferers do not get more junk mail through the act of subscribing to Sorehand.

Frequently Cited on Sorehand

• The Typing Injury FAQ (frequently asked questions), a.k.a. TIFAQ, is an educational site provided by the CTD Resource Network, Inc.
  • This site contains a wide variety of information about repetitive strain injuries (RSIs), resources for dealing with these ailments, and a broad description of assistive products to reduce injury risk and symptoms. Many of the entries are annotated. Just starting your research into RSI? You may want to start at the Best WWW sites section of the TIFAQ.
  • Also hosted at the CTDRN site, is the archive of The RSI Network Newsletter. Subscribe to this very informative, free e-mail newsletter by sending mail to RSINet-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
• Repetitive Strain Injury page maintained by Paul Marxhausen - Topics of particular interest include hints for musicians and FindADoc.
• FindADoc - a non-commercial, voluntary effort to list specific practitioner references and general suggestions for locating Health Care Providers for RSI patients. Sorehanders: If you HAVE received competent and knowledgable care for RSI, please consider sharing information about your health care provider with people who are in sore need of one by submitting your referral to this resource.

Bibliographic Databases maintained by United States government

• MEDLINEplus is a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine to provide easy access to medical research literature via indexes and preformulated MEDLINE searches. One feature of particular interest is the Medical Encyclopedia.
• MEDLINE is the U.S. National Library of Medicine's bibliographic database covering the fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system, and the preclinical sciences.
• PubMed - a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, provides access to over 12 million MEDLINE citations back to the mid-1960's and additional life science journals. PubMed includes links to many sites providing full text articles and other related resources.
• Fact sheet: What's the difference between PubMed and MEDLINE?
• NLM Gateway - allows users to search in multiple retrieval systems at the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM). As of January 2003, the Gateway searches MEDLINE/PubMed, OLDMEDLINE, LOCATORplus, MEDLINEplus, DIRLINE, AIDS Meetings, Health Services Research Meetings, Space Life Sciences Meetings, and HSRProj.

Other resources of interest

• On-line Medical Dictionary - a searchable dictionary created by Dr. Graham Dark. This dictionary is Copyright Academic Medical Publishing & The CancerWEB Project 1997-2002.

• Los Angeles RSI Support Group offers a monthly meeting at the Eagle Rock Branch Library. Check out their home page including suggestions for "newbies" (taken from SOREHAND posts), a good book list, and resources and links targeting treatments for RSI, Workers' Compensation, and many suggestions for daily life when you have RSI.
• Massachusetts' RSI Action offers a monthly meeting at the Kenmore Square Barnes and Noble in Boston.
• Seattle Repetitive Injury Support Team (RIST) support group offers a monthly meeting at the B.F. Day Elementary School. [ed. - This is the new location as of May 2003. Contact seattle_rist@hotmail.org for more information.]
• Virginia RSI Support Group home page.
• RSI & Overuse Association of the ACT is based in the Australian Capital Territory and may be the only RSI support organization in Australia. The site has some nice tips for everyone and some information specifically for those of you in Australia.
• RSI Support/Injured Worker Groups on the Typing Injury FAQ is a comprehensive listing of RSI and Injured Worker Support Groups. Please submit changes or additions to TIFAQ so that we may continue to grow this resource.
  
• RSI Support Groups on FindADoc.
• No group in your area area? Read this excellent article by Judy Doane on How to Start an RSI Support Group and start one in your area.
• Repetitive Strain Injury on-line forum at BrainTalk Communities - Online Patient Support Groups for Neurology. (You must register in order to post to this forum.)
• RSI-UK Mailing List Home Page.
• Voice Users Mailing List Home Page.
• Yahoo! group altkeyboards - discusses alternative keyboards and keyboard layouts (e.g. Dvorak).
• Yahoo! group kinesis_users - started by a Sorehand subscriber for the discussion of Kinesis contour keyboards and foot pedals.
• Yahoo! group thoracicoutletsyndrome - discusses Thoracic Outlet Syndrome.

There are many books, publications and articles on the subject of RSI and on related topics. Here are the ones that are most frequently mentioned/quoted on Sorehand:

• Repetitive Strain Injury: A Computer User's Guide
  by Emil Pascarelli and Deborah Quilter (ISBN 0471595330)
  Widely regarded as the primary reference book on RSI.
  At Amazon / At Barnes&Noble / At Micronite /
• It's Not Carpal Tunnel Syndrome! RSI Theory and Therapy for Computer Professionals
  by Suparna Damany, Jack Bellis, and Martin Cherniack (ISBN 0965510999)
  This 2nd generation book is probably the best single starting point book for anyone new to the topic of RSI.
  At Amazon / At Barnes&Noble
• Conquering Carpal Tunnel Syndrome & Other Repetitive Strain Injuries, A Self-Care Program
  by Sharon J. Butler, illustrated by Jacqueline Entwistle Freeman (ISBN 1572240393)
  Recommended frequently on Sorehand, this is an excellent book on stretching.
  At Amazon / At Barnes&Noble / At Micronite /
• Comfort at Your Computer: Body Awareness Training for Pain-free Computer Use
  by Paul Linden, Ph.D. (ISBN 1556433220)
  Also frequently recommended on Sorehand.
  At Amazon / At Barnes&Noble /
• Stretching in the Office
  by Bob Anderson, illustrated by Jean Anderson (ISBN 0936070293)
  This 2002 release publication is an expansion on the popular but out-of-print Stretching at Your Computer or Desk.
  At Amazon / At Barnes&Noble / Direct from Shelter Publications /
  Added bonus - print out a one-page flyer from the book of stretches to do while waiting for something to download :-)
• The Repetitive Strain Injury Sourcebook
  by Sandra Peddie and Craig H. Rosenberg, M.D. (ISBN 0737300221)
  At Amazon / At Barnes&Noble /
• The Repetitive Strain Injury Recovery Book
  by Deborah Quilter, Foreword by Robert E. Markison (ISBN 0802775144)
  At Amazon / At Barnes&Noble /
• Repetitive Strain Injuries: The Complete Guide to Alternative Treatments and Prevention
  by Timothy Jameson (ISBN 0879838027)
  Emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach and includes a rundown on the physiology of RSI and good rehabilitation information.
  At Amazon / At Barnes&Noble / At Micronite /
• Myotherapy: Bonnie Prudden's Complete Guide to Pain-Free Living
  by Bonnie Prudden (ISBN 0345326881)
  From Paul's RSI page: Exercise expert Bonnie Prudden presents her method of releasing the muscular spasms, called "trigger points", that are believed to underlie much chronic muscle pain. She covers both the "quick fix", which is to "release" the spasms with firm manual pressure, and the long-term fix, which involves exercise and fitness to keep trigger points at bay. Many RSI patients mention this kind of therapy as being helpful and it is becoming a part of neuromuscular massage across the country.
  At Amazon / At Barnes&Noble /
• Wounded Workers: The Politics of Musculoskeletal Injuries
  by Penney Kome (ISBN 0802077951) - Penney is a frequent contributor on Sorehand
  The author says: "Wounded Workers is sort of a Whole MSI Catalogue. It reviews the medical, WCB, legal, union/management, ergonomics, computer workstations, self-help and legislative ramifications of work-related upper extremity disorders, lists tons of resources online and in the real world, and generally provides a map for the labyrinth in which so many MSI patients find themselves. U of T Press arranged for the manuscript to be peer-reviewed twice, to ensure that the scholarship is accurate & up-to-date--but the text is written for the general public & provides translations for many technical terms."
  At Amazon / At Barnes&Noble /
• Repetitive Strain Injury: A Handbook on Prevention and Recovery
  by David Ruegg (ISBN 0953471802)
  Written by an RSI sufferer in Britain, this book is of particular interest to UK residents and covers UK resources.
  In UK order direct from author

Details on these publications and many others are available on these sites:

• TIFAQ's Publications page has lists of books, journals, and newsletters
• On Paul's RSI page, Learn More About It ... Books!
• Bilbo Innovations, Inc. RSI Reading List
• English language book reviews available at the Dutch RSI Center site
• Bibliotherapy from the Los Angeles RSI Support Group home page
• Seattle RIST also has a list of recommended RSI books
• Terry Slade has compiled Atlases of Human Anatomy and Body Books (some selected books on physical health and self-healing)

• The Alternative Bookshop
• Amazon Books
• Barnes and Noble
• Literary Leaps at the BookZone
• Micronite, Inc.

New to Sorehand and want to know what's been posted in the past on a topic? Ever deleted or lost some posting you had saved? Or not saved some posting and later wished you had? Try the Sorehand web-based archive at Sorehand.org.(This wonderful service is provided by David Dryden.)

Sorehand.org Archive Details

• Updated daily - New messages are added to the archive once per day, usually at 4AM Eastern (USA) time. Thus, the archive generally lags at most one day behind the email list traffic.
• Browseable by date and by subject
• Search engine available
  • Simple key word or key phrase searches.
    And for power users:
  • Supports use of AND, OR, NOT, and NEAR operators.
  • Allows query to be limited by time (e.g. only messages posted in the last year or in the last week).
  • Provides 3 result output orders: most recent first, oldest first, best matches first.
• What gets archived? - This archive contains almost all of the messages sent to the Sorehand email list since 1999, everything except:
  • messages containing the word "copyright"
  • off-topic messages - identified by "Off topic" or "[OT]" in the subject line.
  • Note however that the Sorehand LISTSERV® archive (as opposed to the sorehand.org archive) does not discard any messages.
• Privacy
  • These archives are not accessible via Web-wide search engines such as Google, AltaVista, Lycos, etc.
  • Access to these archives is possible only with a password. The password will be changed from time to time, and will be made known on Sorehand by David Dryden or Deanna McHugh.
  • Please do not publish the archive password outside of the Sorehand community.
• Getting help with lost/forgotten password - Look in the "Welcome to Sorehand" message sent to you when you subscribed. Lost or misplaced this message or joined Sorehand prior to January 2003? Send e-mail to ArchiveHelp@sorehand.org or sorehand-request@listserv.ucsf.edu.

Other Archives

• The Dutch RSI Center archives SOREHAND and several other mailing lists and newsletters. Their search engine has fewer features than the sorehand.org archive, however you have the advantage of being able to search multiple mailing lists and newsgroups all at one time.
  
  
• To use the Sorehand LISTSERV® archive send SEARCH and GETPOST commands to listserv@listserv.ucsf.edu.
  
  
• The folks at RSIProgram.com collected excerpts from Sorehand posts on given topics into The Sorehand Chronicles. The collection contains excerpts primarily from 2000 and 2001.

Here are some resources on e-mail communication and on "netiquette" (etiquette for the 'net):

• A Beginner's Guide to Effective Email by Kaitlin Duck Sherwood
• Beyond Flaming: Guidelines for Resolving Online Interpersonal Conflicts by Tracy Marks
• Recommended Emoticons and Smileys for Email Communication
• The Core Rules of Netiquette excerpted from the book Netiquette by Virginia Shea
• Netiquette by Virginia Shea
• The Net: User Guidelines and Netiquette by Arlene H. Rinaldi
  Note: As of January 2003, there are translations into 11 languages.
• RFC 1855: Netiquette Guidelines - This memo is the product of the Responsible Use of the Network (RUN) Working Group of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
• Netiquette Category on Yahoo!
• songweaver.com: On Netiquette
• Imaginary Landscape: Tips on E-mail Netiquette

Or perhaps you are not so new, and you've recently noticed a change in nature of Sorehand? Do we seem to be a happy family lately? Do we seem to be a sassy family lately? Here's a humorous look at The Natural Life Cycle of Mailing Lists, that is often only too true :-)

IMPORTANT! Send all commands to: listserv@listserv.ucsf.edu

• To start receiving Sorehand send the message:
  subscribe sorehand YourName
  (e.g. subscribe sorehand Jane Doe)

• To stop receiving Sorehand send the message:
  unsubscribe sorehand
  or
  signoff sorehand

  [Note: If you find Sorehand useful and are unsubscribing only because of the volume you may want to try digest mode instead.]

• To receive Sorehand in digest mode send the message:
  set sorehand digest

• To switch back to individual message mode from digest mode send the message:
  set sorehand nodigest

• To temporarily suspend distribution to your address send the message:
  set sorehand nomail
  [Great for when you are going on vacation.]

• To turn distribution back on after temporary suspension send the message:
  set sorehand mail

• If you do not want to see a copy of your own post when you post send the message:
  set sorehand norepro
  [Tells the listserver not to reproduce copies of your own posts to you.]

• To see your current subscription options send the message:
  query sorehand

Acceptable Use Policy for Those Posting to Sorehand (* DRAFT *)

If you post to the Sorehand discussion list you will be expected to follow these simple rules of courtesy whenever possible. Courteous e-mail behaviour is especially important on Sorehand as so many of us are in pain.

• Re-read before sending.
• When replying to a message, quote just enough of the original message to allow recall. One general rule of thumb is that new text should be at least 1/2 of the message for any message longer than about 20-30 lines. (If your hand function or pain level prevents much editing please do not let that keep you from posting. This is one place where that is understood.)
• Be sure the Subject line of your message relates to your message or the message to which you are replying. This is particularly important for those receiving Sorehand in digest format as the initial reply subject will be the date of the digest.
• Private messages that would not be of general interest to the list should be sent by private e-mail.
• When you reply, make sure you send your reply to the correct address. It can be annoying if you reply to all subscribers when you meant to reply to just one individual.
• Do not send attachments. (Not all recipients will want the attachment or even be able to view it. Also attachments end up in the digest in an encoded format which will take many presses of the page down key for the digest reader to pass.)
• If your signature is in a file, try to keep it reasonably short. Four to five lines are suggested. (If your service provider adds an additional bottom banner it is even more important that your signature file be reasonably short.)
• If you have a conflict with anyone, either let it go or settle it by private e-mail.
• If you are upset or angry, take time to cool off before answering.
• Rude or inappropriate messages will not be tolerated.
• Vendors should also adhere to the policy for vendors.
• Failure to follow these simple rules of courtesy could lead to restriction, suspension or cancellation of your subscription.

• If you are posting about a seminar or event always include specific and complete geographical information (i.e. address, city, state or province, country) as Sorehand is international in its membership.
• When asking questions about Workers' Compensation in the U.S. or the equivalent elsewhere please include the name of your state or your country.
• Posts to Sorehand should be made in plain text. HTML formatting and the text formatting available in Eudora and in MS Outlook are not readable by all e-mail software. Such formatting can make your message difficult or impossible to be read by some recipients. It may also add create long unreadable sections in the digest.

[Back to Top]

Acceptable Use Policy for Vendors

Following are the guidelines for posting to Sorehand for manufacturers and distributors of services and products and their agents.

• Only messages related to products and services in which Sorehanders would be interested are allowed, i.e. keep it on topic.
• Make your commercial association with the product clear.
• Do not make unsupportable claims about the efficacy of your product in curing or preventing RSIs and their symptoms.
• Do not quote testimonials.
• Factual information about your product is welcome (e.g. "yes, product X can be used with Windows" or "yes, product X has that feature").
• References to independent research on the effectiveness of products will also be welcome (e.g. a review from an independent source that includes your product).
• Do not overdo your posts (i.e. replying frequently to point out your product and how it could be utilized is not allowed).
• The list should not be treated as a source from which to glean contact details for the purpose of selling services or products. If you contact someone who posted to the list directly do not continue to contact that person unless s/he responds and indicates that continued contact is desired.

Below are some tips on solving problems with your Sorehand subscription.

1. I had a problem with my e-mail account and have missed some of the posts. Is there a way to have these messages resent to me?

   There is no command to make the list server resend previously sent messages. However you can use the browse by date feature of the archive at sorehand.org to find the messages you have missed. See the Archives section above for more information on accessing this archive.

2. I had trouble with my e-mail. The trouble has been fixed. However I am no longer receiving Sorehand posts. What happened? Why was my subscription deleted?

   First, there was nothing personal in deleting your subscription. Please resubscribe. (Note: For a tip on how to retrieve the posts you missed see tip #1 above.)

   As to what happened: If there are problems with the delivery of mail to your account, then each message that could not be delivered is returned to the list owner with an error message added (a.k.a. bounced back). The threshold for Sorehand for bounces that can be auto-handled by the software is that if more than 100 errors are received or errors occur for more than 5 days then your subscription is deleted. If your service provider uses a non-standard error message format so that the list owner has to handle each bounce manually, the subscription may be deleted earlier. Although notification of the subscription deletion is sent, generally it also bounces back in these situations.

3. I am subscribed to the digest. [I / My organization] recently changed [service providers / e-mail software]. Now the digest is displayed as an attachment with the error message "Cannot open mime attachment."

   Your previous situation allowed you to receive mime-encoded messages and the list server is sending the digest to you mime encoded. LISTSERV® has a setting to force the digest to always be sent to you without mime-encoding. For this setting, send the following command to the command address [listserv@listserv.ucsf.edu]: set sorehand nomime

4. My e-mail software shows me the poster's address in the From field. When I look at my list of new messages I can't tell which messages are from Sorehand. I prefer receiving Sorehand in the individual messages rather than the digest. Is there any way to be able to tell Sorehand messages apart from my other mail?

   a) If your e-mail software allows you to create separate folders for organizing your messages then it may have a feature called filters or rules. If so, a filter could be created to automatically sort your Sorehand mail into its own folder when it is received. Depending on which e-mail software you use, you could set up the filter/rule to look for messages where the Sender field or the Reply-to field contains "Sorehand".

   b) If your software can't do a) above there is another option. LISTSERV® has a setting called SubjectHeader where it will add the name of the list to the beginning of the subject line of each message (i.e. SOREHAND:). For this setting, send the following command to the command address [listserv@listserv.ucsf.edu]: set sorehand subj

   (Note: This option can not be used with any other header setting. If your systems administrator / service provider has had you set a special heading option specific to your e-mail system you can not use this setting.)

5. My e-mail software only shows me the list address in the From field. Sometimes I want to send a private reply to the sender but I don't have his/her address. Is there anything I can do? (This is known to be a problem in cc:Mail and some other e-mail client softwares.)

   LISTSERV® has a setting where it provides some additional information at the top of the body of message that includes the sender's address. Then you can either type or copy and paste the address into the To: field on your reply. For this setting, send the following command to the command address [listserv@listserv.ucsf.edu]: set sorehand dualhdr

   (Note: This option can not be used with any other header setting. If your systems administrator / service provider has had you set a special heading option specific to your e-mail system you can not use this setting.)

For more information about UCSF please see their web site.