BehindTheMedspeak: Hey, I'm not a slacker — I've got 'Sick Worker' Syndrome

I'd never heard of Sick Worker Syndrome (SWS) until I read an item in yesterday's Financial Times explaining what it is and what might be the cause.

Alan Cane reported that when performance at work seems to be sliding, the worker may be suffering from a hitherto unrecognized complication of repetitive strain injury (RSI).

Ann Barr and Mary Barbe of Temple University's College of Health Professionals believe that cytokines — a family of proteins which jumpstart inflammation in injured tissues — are a direct cause of the fatigue and depression characterizing SWS.

The scientists created a model of RSI in rats and observed the rats slacking off about three weeks after the onset of stressful activity mimicking RSI.

Wrote Cane, "The researchers reason that in both rats and humans the cytokines provide a form of self–protection, producing a feeling of malaise that tells the body to take time off to recover before more serious damage is done."

Tell that to your boss or teacher the next time he beats on you for being useless.

If you get any flak just say you read it here.