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<blockquote type="cite" cite>FRESHLY SQUEEZED REVIEWS: Doctor, Doctor,
Please...<br>
by Frank Petrie<br>
<br>
Product: Desk Doctor<br>
Company: Einspine
<www.einspine.com/deskdoctor/features.html><br>
Requirements:<br>
* Mac OS X 10.2.7 or later<br>
QuickTime 7 for OS X<br>
256MB total memory; 18MB available memory<br>
500MB free disk space<br>
Price: $129.00US, single user<br>
Binary: N/A<br>
Test Rig: PowerMac G4/DP 1.42Ghz/1.5 GB RAM/OS 10.4.9<br>
Review Date: 26 April 2007<br>
<br>
I've been handicapped for near half of my life now (not including
my<br>
mental instability :-) ), so I have tried everything to improve my<br>
computing experience. Ergonomic keyboards and mice, speech<br>
recognition, etc. But there is nothing that I can recall seeing
like<br>
this piece of software.<br>
<br>
"Desk Doctor is new software that identifies Repetitive Strain
Injury<br>
(RSI) and targets it accurately with a personal treatment plan.
First<br>
the program guides you through on-screen medical tests. Then Desk<br>
Doctor uses its built-in reasoning to compile the optimum video-<br>
guided exercise program to reverse problems and keep you
healthy."<br>
<br>
McCoy into the hatch. There's a new doctor in town. Desk Doctor by<br>
Einspine. But to be safe let's put it to the test before I unlock
the<br>
hatch's latch.<br>
<br>
THE JUICE<br>
<br>
Desk Doctor helps you with preventing RSI, Repetitive Strain
Injury.<br>
Who does this affect?<br>
<br>
"Computer workers, video game players, people who text a lot
on<br>
mobile phones or use PDAs are succumbing in alarming proportions to
a<br>
group of diseases caused by just sitting and clicking. These<br>
conditions are usually conveniently put under the umbrella term<br>
'Repetitive Strain Injury.' RSI covers a wide variety of problems<br>
both those with colorful names like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome,<br>
Blackberry Thumb and Trigger Finger as well as
"pain-between-shoulder-<br>
blades" or one of the hundreds of kinds of upper body
tendonitis.<br>
<br>
"What these diseases have in common is that they all can be
caused by<br>
doing the same repetitive movements over a long time period. Doing<br>
them while in a fixed posture, especially bad posture, just<br>
multiplies the problem."<br>
<br>
The way Desk Doctor operates and develops your exercise plan is by<br>
having you take a thirty minute test (it's suggested that you do
this<br>
monthly) to give you a set of exercises to counter act the
strains.<br>
The test is in two parts.<br>
<br>
The first part is The Body Map. This is where you pick specific
areas<br>
of pain or stiffness that you experience while working at your
computer.<br>
<br>
The second part is a collection of fifteen exercises that helps
the<br>
software evaluate where your trouble spots are. (Don't worry if<br>
you're not sure of how to perform each exercise because they're
all<br>
accompanied with a demonstrative video.) These are extremely
thorough.<br>
<br>
After you have completed both tests, Desk Doctor's Profile Viewer<br>
will generate a series of exercises (also accompanied by videos)
for<br>
rehabilitation, prevention and specific trouble spots.<br>
<br>
The layout of the program is excellent. Everything is easy to
locate.<br>
You keep a window on your desk that lets you know when it's time
to<br>
do your exercises. It figures this out by keeping track of your
mouse<br>
clicks and movements, plus breaks! Or, in Preferences, you can set
a<br>
harp to play when your health numbers fall below the level of your<br>
choice. This way, you don't have to look at your monitor, it'll
give<br>
you audio feedback.<br>
<br>
THE PITS<br>
<br>
Support has me on a fence. When I go under the Help Menu and click
on<br>
Help - nothing. But they have an extremely thorough support page
on<br>
their FAQs page that made up for it. Unfortunately the link to the<br>
page is not under the Help Menu, so you'll have to bookmark it.<br>
<br>
THE RIND<br>
<br>
Nada.<br>
<br>
THE PULP<br>
<br>
Einspine's Desk Doctor is right out of science fiction. You can
tell<br>
that a lot of thought and late hour went into crafting this
virtual<br>
doctor. This program is more thorough with its questioning than
some<br>
of its human counterparts.<br>
<br>
The price? It's worth it. This isn't just any piece of software.<br>
<br>
You've started to maintain your computer. Now, it's time to
maintain</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>its operator.<br>
<br>
RATING: 9 out of 10<br>
<br>
=============================================<br>
<br>
©2007 Frank Petrie - Macsimum News contributing editor,
Freelance<br>
writer, Curmudgeon<br>
Email: <a href="mailto:phranky%40mac.com">phranky@mac.com</a><br>
iChat: phranky<br>
Archive: home.comcast.net/~phranky<br>
<br>
=============================================<br>
<br>
ATTRIBUTION INFORMATION: This article may be reprinted by any<br>
Macintosh User Group in their newsletter/publication distributed
on<br>
paper or online, so long as credit is given to the author and<br>
publisher (Frank Petrie). Commercial or other publication is<br>
prohibited unless specific permission is granted by the author.<br>
Please notify author of placement and provide a copy/URL for<br>
reference. All trademarks are property of their respective owners.<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Thank you.</blockquote>
<div><br></div>
<x-sigsep><pre>--
</pre></x-sigsep>
<div><font face="Verdana" size="-1" color="#000000"><b>Victoria L.
Herring, Des Moines, Iowa</b> - Attorney at Law, for civil
rights, discrimination and employment law matters; Des
Moines, Iowa: http://www.herringlaw.com. Ph. 515/255-4475;
iChat AV: victoriaherring@mac.com.</font></div>
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