ULTRASOUND Messages for February, 2008: Re: More on the Ultrasonographer's Wrist.

Re: More on the Ultrasonographer's Wrist.

From: Damaris Gonzalez

gdolphin16@aol.com

Sun Feb 10 18:14:31 2008

I have been an ultrasound tech for almost 9 years. I recently starting feeling pain at my wrist and forearm. I have been going to therapy for a year now without any relief. My doctor has diagnosed me with radial tunnel syndrome. The pain in the right forearm is intense at times and my hand turnes purple and gets pretty swollen. I have a difficult time scanning heavy patients which as we all know require more pushing. I work at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, IL. I am scheduled for a radial tunnel release in March of 2008. I must say I am pretty scared given the risks. I love my job and have a particular passion for vascular cases. It brakes my heart to think that I might not be able to do my job in the future. Please write if anyone knows of any other thigs out there beside surgery for this particular syndrome.

Thank You,

-- Damaris Gonzalez, RDMS, RVT At Mon, 26 Jul 1999, Martin Necas wrote: > >Dear Mary, > >RSI or OOS, as we call it today, is a particularly tricky topic. It is >unpopular >1) with those who are unfortunate enough to acquire a disabling injury, >2) with employers and insurance companies, because of it's epidemic >proportions in modern society >3) with researchers, because of the inherent difficulties in pinpointing >what it really is and how it behaves on the physiologic level. > >I am unable to provide you with more information about your disorder and how >it pertains to performing sonography. While most of us are convinced that >performing repetitive tasks in the ultrasound workplace can lead to OOS (and >my study demonstrates that quite nicely), there are those who claim that the >OOS is far more related to some hidden spurious factors unaccounted for in >the (you may rightfully say-) anecdotal OOS studies in sonographers. OOS is >still not well understood today. It's direct relationship to repetitive >tasks, family predisposition, age, recreational activities, smoking, diet, >etc, etc is not at all known. Is a healthy 25 yo female O&G sonographer with >small wrists more likely to get OOS after ten years of working 40 hours a >week than a 35 yo left-handed smoking echocardiographer who work part-time >but plays semi-professional golf? No one can possibly assign a risk-ratio to >these individuals. There's just too much that we don't know yet. So it >follows that some of these "hidden" factors are omitted from most studies, >but they may have a real impact on the incidence of OOS in a specific >population. The difficulties in studying OOS just keep going. While you can >watch meat-packing workers and relate their risk of OOS to the number of New >York stakes they carve out, in sonographers the relationship of workload and >RSI incidence did not appear that clear in my study. Is it possible that we >all carve out our ultrasound studies in a different way, and that is why you >can't simply sit back and count the amount of Gallbladders we scan as >function of OOS risk? That is likely. There is a definite cumulative effect >over many years (% people with OOS @ <5 years in Ultrasound is virtually 0, >but this climbs to +20% in 20 or more years), but this is only a crude >observation. > >Of course, in the above discussion, I provide an oversimplistic viewpoint. I >omitted many aspects of the OOS discussion, but I wanted to present at least >a hint of the difficulty that encounters anybody who deals with OOS, whether >you are a patient, lawyer, researcher, or a sonographer who would like to >prevent OOS from happening. > >I wish you the best of luck at dealing with your injury, and gaining >compensation. OOS can have tragic consequences on one's career, and I don't >wish this on anyone. Unfortunately, we are in a profession, where there is >little escape from repetitive work and many of us by default will eventually >develop OOS. > >...I'm starting to feel my own wrists as I type. But is it because I scanned >15 patients today, or is it because I have typed 10,000+ words into my >computer since I got home? I wish I knew, I would cut down on one or the >other... > >Best of luck to you, > >-- >Martin Necas >OBGyn.net Ultrasound Section Coordinator >Martin.necas@obgyn.net > >Diagnostic Medical Sonographer, >Waikato Hospital, Hamilton, New Zealand >Exiled@clear.net.nz > >-----Original Message----- >From: ultrasound@obgyn.net [mailto:ultrasound@obgyn.net] On Behalf Of mary >ellen grueneberg >Sent: Monday, July 26, 1999 8:57 AM >To: Multiple recipients of list ULTRASOUND >Subject: Re: More on the Ultrasonographer's Wrist. > >At Thu, 13 Aug 1998, Martin Necas and Tania Keep wrote: >> >>Dear OB-Gyn Colleagues, >> >>In 1996, I implemented and published a study in the JDMS which examined >>Occupational Overuse Syndrome in 149 sonographers in the Northwest. (Necas >>M: Musculoskeletal Symptomatology and Repetitive Strain Injuries in >>Diagnostic Medical Sonographers: A pilot study in Washington and Oregon. >>JDMS 1996;12(6):266-273. ) If anyone is interested in reviewing this >>article, please let me know and I will forward the original text to you in >>the form of an attachment. Some of the highlights of this study were: >> >>1) Most common sites of pain: shoulder, wrist, neck, elbow,... >>2) Strong correlation between number and severity of RSI with number of >>years in the profession >>3) No obvious correlation with workload expressed as cases/day or time/case >>4) Females tend to suffer more than males but only marginally >>5) Certain body positions and movements which are generally recognized as >>"poor body mechanics" correlate positively with body symptoms >characteristic >>of RSI >>6) Ganglia are more common in people with RSI >>7) One does not seriously think about the impact of sonography on their >body >>until one develops RSI. >> >>More details in the body of the study for those of you who have an interest >>in the subject. >> >>Many Regards, >> >>Martin Necas, RDMS, RVT. >>Waikato Hospital, Hamilton, New Zealand. > >I have these articles but was hoping for something specific regarding >sonography and radial tunnel syndrome. I am a female sonographer with >18yrs exp abd,sm parts, obs,gyn,cardiac and have had tendinitis in rt >wrist(1988) and tennis elbow(1998) and now radial tunnel syndrome since >jan 1999. I am having difficulty with the compensation board they wont >accept this as an overuse injury. I am going to appeal with my doctors >help but need further info. thank you. mary ellen grueneberg rdms. >Home evenings(780)986-8680 >

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