Dear Christine,
it exists alright, and damn painfull at that. While thee doesn't appear to
be any literature here in Aussieland, my own experience is that at least
some microtomes in prticular are prone to this and some can be modified to
substantially reduce the strain in repitive action; esp if you have a 1500
series Leitz, the macro adjustment nob is best turned into a proper handle
complete with ballrace and handle- large enough to significantly reduce
moment of force required and still clear the bench; the resulting action
instead of being solely concentrated in the wrist (and equivalent to lifting
about 2 ton/day with a twist of the wrist) is more evenly distributed
throughout the entire forearm and elbow. L:eitz Aust. were advised of this
problem and sent photographs of the modifications over fifteen years ago,
but they did not appear interested. Not only did modification reduce my RSI
problem, it was cheap as chips, and un like similar models of microtome, did
not require constant release of the block clamp and the entire mechanism was
no longer subject to thread wear which was a serious problem for these
microtomes.
Regards Mike (Downunder)
-----Original Message-----
From: christine lee <C.lee@uq.net.au>
To: Histonet@pathology.swmed.edu <Histonet@pathology.swmed.edu>
Date: Saturday, 16 January 1999 2:19
Subject: Microtomes and Carpel Tunnel Syndrome


>A few years ago I was aware of debate in histology laboratories regarding
>the repeditive stress injuries caused by continued use of microtomes, but
>didn't keep any of the relevant literature. Can anyone refere me to
relevant
>literature or websites, or is there anyone who has suffered any repeditive
>strain injuries.
>I would love to hear from you so I can convince our pathologists that it
>does exist. Thanks.
>
>Christine Lee
>
>
>