September 24, 1989

DEALING MICROTRAUMA: Ever since I wrote about my problems with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and tendinitis, two common hand impairments that are often associated with working on computers, I’ve heard from many fellow sufferers and from a few people with suggestions on how to relieve some of the pain and discomfort of these new Information Age occupational hazards.
One set of excellent suggestions comes from Ron Harwin, an Albany chiropractor who specializes in sports injuries.

Harwin wrote a white paper of sorts on how to alleviate some of the problems in the workplace that contribute to CTS and related disorders. It’s called “Microtrauma: Does Working With Computers Have to Be a Pain?” Microtrauma refers to the “low level aggravation of a body part caused by its improper use,” though you might just as well think of it as trauma related to working with micro computers.

It’s become widely known that some discomfort can be alleviated by good chairs, correct keyboard placement, eliminating screen glare and proper eye care. What is unusual about Harwin’s approach is that he equally emphasizes the importance of alleviating stress to help slacken the pain of repetitive motion injuries like carpal tunnel and tendinitis.
Harwin particularly stresses the importance of breathing.

“Many of us are breath-holders, especially at work,” he says. Learning to relax and “smooth” our breathing can help lower stress, which he believes contributes to microtrauma. In addition, he proposes jaw, neck, shoulder, back and hand exercises.

He says he is more interested in “getting the information out there” than making a profit, so he is charging $3 for copying and postage to anyone who wants a copy of the “Microtrauma” paper. Call his office at (415) 525-2715.

YIN AND YANG: A new book by Sheridan Tatsuno may debunk the myth that the Japanese are good at improving other people’s work, but can’t create a unique concept or product from conception to conclusion.

Tatsuno, a former semiconductor industry analyst for Dataquest Inc. and a Japan expert, has written “Created in Japan” for Harper & Row, expected to be released in November. Japanese creativity, he says, is totally different than Western-style — like yin and yang.

“Conventional wisdom has it that the Japanese are copycats,” Tatsuno says. “I took a contrarian view,” fueled by Japan’s present success in fields such as fashion and architecture.

The genesis of “Created in Japan” was a 1986 Tatsuno book, “The Technopolis Strategy.” He said the industry was most interested in one of the final chapters, In Pursuit of Creativity. In fact, he says, Cray Research chairman and chief executive officer John Rollwagen reviewed the book back then and said the creativity chapter alone “was worth a whole book.”

Tatsuno took the hint and started the book in early 1988. He recently split from Dataquest to start his own firm, NeoConcepts in Fremont, where he helps companies forge “market creation” strategies. He is working with BART on its “21st century vision” project, as well as with Japanese HDTV manufacturers.

HEADS UP: I hear that a member of Congress is steaming about revelations in the recent Business Week story about electronic privacy. The fact that someone could get Dan Quayle’s credit report, I guess, was a little much. One source says this individual may be about to do something “commendably rash” on the electronic privacy front. Hopefully news editors will start tracking this issue so you can continue to hear about it somewhere other than in a column.

JOBSIAN CIRCUITRY: Guess who’s back on the circuit again? Steve Jobs. He’s on the cover of this month’s Publish magazine, is speaking at two industry conferences less than a week apart, and I hear he’ll also be on the cover of Fortune at the end of the month. Shipping a product must agree with him.

But something must have disagreed with Norm Miller, marketing manager for the upcoming color version of the Next Computer, who I’m told quit earlier this month. What do you think that means?

IF YOU SAY SO: One person took umbrage at my recent column on electronic privacy vs. “information brokers,” the sleazoids who use online services to gain access to, and distribute, private information on you and me.

But Reva Basch of Aubergine Information Services in Berkeley says I’ve maligned “true” information brokers like herself who make a living cruising online databases as what she calls an “electronic librarian” for data on any given topic.

Moral of the story: When you see the term “information broker,” don’t automatically assume it’s an electronic snoop.