ABSTRACT
A single woman, aged twenty-nine years, was referred to the author by an orthopedic surgeon, after the failure of orthopedics and massage to improve incapacity to write, apparently due to a painful stiffness and cramp of the shoulder and wrist of two years’ duration. Several months in the country had also failed to remedy the cramp, although she had gained ten pounds in weight and had become much stronger. She was employed as bookkeeper in a railroad office, and upon returning to work after the operation she had great difficulty in finishing the day. Against the increasing difficulty of writing her daily quota, she struggled hard; but anxiety only added to the physical burden, and she finally succumbed after trying various methods of holding her pen in the effort to write.
