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Health Care Providers for RSI Patients

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Computer users and musicians who experience the aches and pains that may signal a potentially dangerous Repetitive Strain Injury, or RSI, are always advised to see a doctor without delay for evaluation and treatment.

But what if you don't have a regular doctor, or your health care provider does not seem to know much, if anything, about the diagnosis and treatment of R.S.I? Many persons now find themselves in this frightening situation.

This is a non-commercial, voluntary effort to address this problem with list of specific practitioner references and general suggestions. Most have been contributed by RSI patients, and many more have been compiled from other sources. All sources are explained at the start of the practitioner list.

• Health Care Providers for RSI
  
• General Comments on Finding RSI Care
  
• RSI Support Groups
  

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. E-mail this information (names, city, office phone numbers), and any other hints about finding good RSI care, to me. ONLY THE HEALTH CARE PROVIDER INFORMATION will be added to this list; each contributors' name and e-mail address will be stripped out and permanently discarded to maintain privacy.

WARNING:

I can do NO verification of any kind on the suggestions I receive. This file is ONLY a raw list of patients' recommendations and must be used with the great caution one should bring to all health care decisions. A listing here is NOT the same as a professional referral and I disclaim any responsibility for decisions made on the basis of this information. I STRONGLY SUGGEST you check any references here out with your local medical or professional associations to confirm they are reputable practitioners. Your library may also have professional listings in their reference section. In addition, it is now possible to check on practitioner qualifications for a small fee through Medi-Net Reports.

Other Useful Information . . .

(Note: I'm aware that the following list of resources is getting very long and chaotic, but it is well worth your while to look through it . . . there are quite a number of other doctor "lists" and indices and professional organization websites here that may go a long way towards helping you find the caregiver you need.

• OTHER "RECOMMENDED DOCTOR" LISTS: I've come across two separate "patient recommended doctors" lists recently (4/29/04) on forums concerned with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (TOS), a condition that is more widely implicated in repetetive injuries than most people realize. These lists are:
  • Braintalk Communities' Thoracic Outlet Forum has their continuously updated Dr. List and more recommendations can be found among the postings.
  • The Tell Me About TOS website also maintains a Doctor's List and has a lot of other terrific information.
• An excellent article for any patient is David Elfstrom's How To Talk To Doctors. Read it before you go for your appointment!
• an important new on-line service is available from HealthConsult, Inc. . . . they write, ". . . patients can access medical information about various medical conditions. The website's contents are updated daily with the latest medical news, a new treatment breakthrough and new medical trials section, a wellness facts and tips section, a patient information center about various medical conditions and treatments and a large medical question and answer database among other features. Please come and visit us, there is no charge for accessing the information. For patients that require a personalized medical answer from a physician there is a minimal charge."
• To find details of over 26,000 UK consultants and over 34,000 GPs, check at www.specialistinfo.com .
• Rosemarie Atencio's advice If You Need To See A Professional.
• A Fibromyalgia & Chronic Myofascial Pain Syndrome website has a Care Providers List of "doctors ... knowledgeable in the fields of FMS and MPS."
• The Center for Safety in the Arts has a list of OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH CLINICS.
• An excellent resource is the The Association of Occupational & Environmental Clinics Web page, which has many clinics listed. It's not certain they all specialize in RSI but your odds of finding help there seem good.
• An important group concentrating on performing arts injuries is the Performing Arts Special Interest Group of the Orthopaedic Section of the American Physical Therapy Association. This site includes affiliated clinics that deal with performing arts injuries.
• UK residents should absolutely see this detailed list of UK Resources which includes physician and clinic suggestions, as well as support groups and more.
• The Classical music department of the WWW Virtual Library has a list of Medical Clinics for Performers (in the US and Canada) .
• Finding a Computer-Savvy Doctor , an article by Don Sellers in Macworld Online.
• American Osteopathic Association
• Some background info on osteopathy .
• Some more support group info is available here.
• home pages of the Los Angeles RSI Support Group , the Repetitive Strain Injury Support Groups of Toronto , and The Seattle Repetitive Injury Support Team , and The Virginia RSI Support Group.
• On-line physician listing services are available from DoctorNet , The Doctor Directory , MedSeek , DocsOnline, Physician.com , and Mednet-Mall .
• A commercial service that locates doctors for you (at a considerable fee) is Best Doctors, Inc.
• Make hospital comparisons on the basis of Medicare average charges, average payments, average length of stay and mortality percentages by diagnosis through Healthmart .
• The North American Chronic Pain Association of Canada has a Directory of Canadian Pain Clinics and Pain Specialists and Links to Directories of American Pain Clinics as well as a great many other valuable links and articles concerning chronic pain.
• The National Pain Foundation has " An on-line education and support community for persons in pain, their families and physicians."
• Check on a doctor's qualifications through Medi-Net Reports.
• Health care practitioner ratings and locators are found at HealthGrades .
• Information on verifying a Californian physician's license is explained here .
• Frequently recommended for learning best body usage, Alexander Technique instructors have a an Worldwide Professional Organization for finding teachers - not always in alphabetical order, though.
• The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) has developed the CertifiedDoctor Web site that provide a verification and search service for physicians. Includes Web links to a LOT of Member Boards too.
• Links to many state medical credential boards are at Association of State Medical Board Executive Directors Docfinder
• Continuing Medical Education, Inc, offers links to local (US) medical boards. Locate doctors, check for prior complaints or register your own.
• American Medical Association Web site includes their AMA Physician Select to help find practitioners, including info on specific individuals.
• The National Association of Myofascial Trigger Point Therapists (includes practitioner directory.)
• Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Board of Registration in Medicine has developed a Physician profile database of 27,000 physicians licensed to practice medicine in Massachusetts.
• Pain Net, Inc. includes pain treatment resources for professionals and has a state-by-state listing of affiliated pain medicine practitioners. Or call toll free at: 888.800.0PNI (888.800.0764)
• The Southern California Orthopedic Institute Web site offers a wide variety of informational resources on anatomy, sports injuries, and orthopedic procedures for the education of the general public.
• Hellerwork is said to be an effective form of bodywork to treat RSIs; their site includes a practitioner list.
• Some buzz has been made recommending The McKenzie Method , and their website provides listings of their practitioners.
• The Orthodoc Pain & Posture Clinic is building a list of Bodyworkers/Massage Therapists and has a lot of other good patient information too.
• Additional massage therapist listings can be found at MassageTherapy.Com. Or, contact the American Massage Therapy Association at 847-864-0123, or the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork at 800-296-0664. Contact info for more professional massage associations (such as International Massage Association) can be found here.
• Many important insights about pain and suffering at www.nosuffering.com , sponsored by the Pain Relief Center of Northern Arizona.
• Excellent advice at Breaking the Pain/Stress Cycle . Chiropractic/America has info and a lookup for local practitioners in your area. Similarly, look up chiros at Chiropractor-Finder.
• UK residents can search for Physiotherapists in the UK. Try selecting for specialists in "ergonomics".
• A list of Rolfing practitioners in the USA and worldwide can be found at the Guild for Structural Integration.
• The National Academy Of Pain Management Professionals ; lists M.D.'s and chiropractors and other professionals.
• American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons provide a number of informational and provider-location resources on their site.
• The Hand THerapy Certification Commission maintains a List of certified hand therapists.
• Some persons report positive results with The Bowen Technique: find a practitioner through their website.
• The Victoria Pain Clinic has quite a bit of information regarding treatment of chronic pain.
• A similar practice is the Center for Integrated Therapy in Chicago.
• Dr. Richard J Sanders explains Thoracic Outlet Syndrome and offers both literature and a phone number to call.
• If you are diagnosed with ulnar nerve problems, read about these resources before undergoing surgery. The Indiana Hand Center has a very nicely done Web site relevant to upper extremity injuries.
• NEUROMUSCULAR DISEASE CENTER of Washington University School of Medicine.
• Acupuncture is generally recognized to be useful for pain relief: to look into it, spend some time at Acupuncture.Com . New: a website with practitioner directory, from the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture.
  
• Another clinic on-line is the Carpal Tunnel Clinic in Toronto, Ontario
  
• Vocalists and voice-computing users may be interested in VOX CURA voice care specialists.
  
• A list of Iyengar yoga certified teachers trained to deal with injured students.
  
• A Second Opinion Medical researches medical info for a fee.
  
• Australians should check the RSI & Overuse Injury Association of the Australian Capital Territory .
  
• Recently there's been interest in the use of soft lasers to treat RSI.
  
• Good information on chronic pain treatment is on the Web page of the American Society for Action on Pain .
• http://www.tellmeabouttos.com/index.htm has many resources for people with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome including on-line forum, chat, doctor list, and more.
• Suggestions on How to Prepare for an Independent Medical Exam (IME)
• The Integrative Medicine Reference Suite has info on herbal medicine and hopes to add additional alternative references.
• Dealing with RSI means wading through a lot of confusing medical terminology. See these On-Line Medical Dictionaries. In addition, you may find good background information in the on-line Merck Manual of Medical Information - Home Edition , and at MedTerms.com
• When getting evaluated for insurance or worker's comp., you may encounter medical documents with "ICD-9" codes categorizing your condition. If you want to know what these codes mean, see ICD-9 Search or International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health
  Some general health reference websites: AllRefer Health - Comprehensive and credible health information on more than 4000 topics.

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• People with chronic, difficult-to-treat pain such as RSI frequently resort to alternative medical treatment. There are many helpful alternative therapies, but there are also unfortunately a great many others that are either worthless, harmful, or even fraudulent. An excellent resource to help sort out which is which is QuackWatch. Check it out.

Similarly, there are a lot of nutritional supplements touted for treating RSI, and some may be useful, but because of lax U.S. regulations it's up to you to make sure you're actually getting what you pay for. Do your checking at Consumer Labs.

Go to the RSI Page, the E.E. Shop Page, or the Musicians Injuries Page.

Univ. of Nebraska-Lincoln / RSI FindADoc Web Page / Paul Marxhausen