A Lighter View
On-the-job injuries
By K.E.H. Stagg

Jan. 7, 2010

Once upon a time, injuries were named for the professions in which they commonly were found: “housemaid’s knees” and “nursemaid’s elbow” to give a couple of examples. Coal miners and milliners (hat-makers) were prone to illnesses resulting from the hazards of their specific professions, which gave rise to the terms “miner’s lung” and “mad as a hatter.”

I’m not sure why seamstresses and scribes never had back or neck injuries named for them, since they spent hours hunched over their painstaking efforts under poor lighting conditions, but who ever said that life was fair?

Fast-forward to our own lifetime, where injuries are no longer named for professions but for the leisure activities that prompt them: “hitch hiker’s thumb,” “tennis elbow” and “athelet’s foot” spring to mind as standard vocabulary.

This pondering was prompted by my own recent injury, received while refinishing furniture. I call it “refinisher’s finger” which bears an uncanny resemblance to a condition commonly known as trigger finger. Luckily for me, the injury is not to my dominant hand. Unluckily for me, it is to the middle finger on that hand, which now enjoys a clear plastic splint which keeps the finger extended. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve been forced to explain to co-workers the reason that particular finger is outstretched and unbending. There are plenty of times, however, I was tempted not to say a word and let the injured finger speak for itself.

What I wonder is, will future ailments return to work-related associations, or will ailments continue down the enetertainment connection path? Will we have “computer wrists” and “telemarketers’ ear”, or “virtual reality games squint” and “kick-boxer’s knees”?

All I know is that my own hobby-related injury is affording me equal parts annoyance and amusement. Using a keyboard with a fat piece of inflexible plastic on just one finger means frustrations galore, most of them alleviated through strenuous use of spell check. On the other hand (pun intended), anyone ticking me off can’t be entirely ceraint if I’m really upset, or if I’m still just the victim of a freak injury. The best part about it is, I don’t ever have to tell!