MAS or Mouse Arm Syndrome
By P. Radhakrishnan
I remember to have read somewhere of "the Chinese national
shoe" which rendered the entire nation cripples. It is probably part of the Chinese history, though I cannot recall the details. The cyber age and related cyber chicanery in which you and I depend increasingly on computer is likely to introduce something like the Chinese national shoe with devastating effects. Of the diseases caused by frequent interaction with computer and internet MAS or Mouse Arm Syndrome is spreading like plague. I was not aware of this till recently. When I found that my entire right side - from neck to arm - had almost paralysed and I was not able to open my arm properly or press my arm on any surface because of weak wrist, I started my research. I then discovered one of the modern versions of the Chinese national shoe, which is MAS. A doctor friend from Bengaluru also cautioned me that her hospital has been getting several cases of this disease, and I should minimise my contact with computer. By the time the disease spreads, the government may wake up, the judiciary may wake up, and like ban on certain other activities may ban contests like the one which IBIBO has been busy with. Though I am not sure how many of us IBIBO contestants will be paralytic within the next one year or so, till the government steps in, which is often after the event, cheers, IBIBO.