TerpHealth: Prevention and Management of Interpreting Related Injury

TerpHealth: Prevention and Management of Interpreting Related Injury Dr. Diane Gross, DOM, L.Ac., CI/CT (retir
"Sign Safely - Interpret Intelligently"
twitter:

TerpHealth(TM) offers prevention and management strategies for interpreting related injury, including ergonomic, nutritional and oriental medical interventions. TerpHealth also provides interventions for emotional stress concerns, workplace analysis and improvement, business, profitability and morale, Life Coaching, and general health and well being.

01/01/2026

New Year is often a time when people make huge, sweeping resolutions for change - many of which last but for a short time. Huge changes made in a short time can be hard to sustain. As you consider the New Year, remember that little things - incremental, small changes - can have a huge impact!

- A little needed sleep can set the world right again. (Have you ever seen a toddler change from a raging, emotional mess into a little angel with just a little nap?)

- A little sunshine can help increase serotonin levels and vitamin D levels in the body, both of which can help improve mood.

- A little walk can help elevate mood and bring perspective.

- A little hug can increase feelings of connection and belonging.

- A little word of appreciation helps the giver and the receiver feel more valued.

- Little, incremental and consistent improvements toward a healthier diet can be transformative.

- Little breaks to stop and breathe can substantially help to relieve stress.

- Little acts of compassion toward ourselves and others helps build a more gentle and friendly internal and external world.

What ‘little thing’ can you incorporate into your life today that could be a building block to something big?

I hope you have a joy-filled and healthy New Year!

12/28/2025

For many years, hand/wrist deviations from neutral have been considered by OSHA (Occupations Safety and Health Administration) to be a pivotal factor in determining which fields are at risk of overuse injury. Proper alignment of the hand/wrist area while interpreting is important. Research shows a significant increase in risk of injury when an interpreter has a lot of deviations from this neutral position of the wrist and hand. Bending the wrist in any direction is a factor, however some signs require it - such as the sign "have". The goal is to not engage in unnecessary hand/wrist deviations from neutral positioning. For example, "people" or "hour" doesn't require bending the wrist, but it is commonly done with a wrist bend. Start noticing where you can eliminate unnecessary hand/wrist deviations in your signing.

Though I don’t personally celebrate Christmas, I love this wish for everyone - no matter what you do or do not celebrate...
12/25/2025

Though I don’t personally celebrate Christmas, I love this wish for everyone - no matter what you do or do not celebrate. Happy Holidays everyone! You are all part of the ‘magic’ on my journey…

12/23/2025

"Self-care means pausing and paying attention. It’s asking yourself a lot of questions: How am I? What’s working? What’s not working? Why am I stressed, sad, mad, overwhelmed, feeling ashamed, etc.? What can I change? If I can’t change it, how can I cope? If I can change it, what do I do first?" ~Ethan Somerman

12/21/2025

Referring to parts of your body where you are experiencing pain as ‘bad’ is not helpful. If your child was sick or in pain would you say, "Oh - that's my bad kid!" Of course not!! It's not helpful to do that to the parts of your body that are in pain either. It's not your "bad" arm, or hand, or knee or back... It's a part of your body that needs some extra love and attention so that it can heal and feel better.

Take care not to get into an adversarial and condemning relationship with your body. Every part of your being needs and deserves your compassion.

12/17/2025

Perfection is a harsh taskmaster. It can leave you feeling stressed, inadequate and frustrated. These feelings contribute significantly to an increased risk of injury. Interpreters often feel the pressure to produce work that is perfect - but no interpretation will ever be flawless. Any single interpretation will never fully reflect every nuance, subtlety and cultural implication imbedded in the source message.

When perfectionism is the standard, stressful emotions that can arise from feeling consistently inadequate. This increases the risk of injury because it can negatively affect bio-mechanics and ergonomics. It can also increase stress hormones in the body, which interferes with the body's ability to heal and recover for interpreting.

There is a difference between demanding perfection from oneself and professional integrity. Perfectionism is unhealthy and dysfunctional. It creates discouragement, increases feelings of stress as well as the likelihood of injury. Professional integrity keeps us constantly growing, learning and improving. It also allows us to be happy and healthy along the way.

12/13/2025

"Stalking negativity" is a term that describes a propensity to look for, and overly focus on, the negative (It reminds me of the term ‘doom scrolling’). This tends to be an issue in the interpreting field. There is a hyper-focus on what went wrong during the interpretation - what could have been done better - what was lacking. Identifying and correcting the deficits in our interpreting can be helpful when done in a balanced way, however it can create a sense of inadequacy and frustration when done to excess. This can increase the risk of injury due to a rise in physical and emotional stress.

But what if we all "stalk positivity" today?! Look for and emphasize the positive in your work and the work of others. This can help bring more balance to our perspective about our interpreting. It may also return some joy and fun to our work!

12/13/2025

As a field we HAVE to start talking about the fact that we make mistakes. There is so much shame and judgment! Yes, the stakes are high - but every one of us HAS made and WILL make mistakes. It's unfortunate, but true. We need to start having a meaningful and compassionate discussion about this fact. The shame and judgment is not helpful. It just helps to perpetuate a climate in which we limit our ability to learn and grow from our mistakes because we are so busy trying to hide and deny them. When we try to sweep mistakes under the rug rather than deal with them openly and honestly (I'm not talking about breaking confidentiality here...), then we continue to foster an unhealthy fear and the dysfunction of perfectionism within our profession. Mistakes happen in every professional field. The healthiest ones are those that are willing to do the hard work of taking an honest look at it; the ones that provide support and solutions rather than judgment.

- We need to keep the mistakes in perspective. The VAST majority of 'mistakes' that I see interpreters beat themselves and each other up over are relatively small. Often the sign choice isn't even a 'mistake' per se, but just not the 'perfect' sign choice.

- None of the above means that we can or should take a cavalier attitude toward making mistakes - like it doesn't matter. It IS important that each of us approaches the work we do with integrity. It is also important that we remember we are human beings.

- We must use mistakes as opportunities for learning and growth.

- We must stop abusing ourselves by demanding we be more than human.

12/07/2025

A chair without arms should be used when interpreting in a seated position. Interpreting in chairs that have arms may seem helpful but can have long term negative consequences. Some of these are:

- Ulnar nerve impingement can result over time when resting your arms on the chair arms. The ulnar nerve runs very close to the surface of your skin in the exact area where you place your arm or elbow on the chair arm.

- Increased muscle tension and pain can result in the neck and shoulder muscles because the chair arms subtly push your shoulders upward when you place your arms or elbows on the chair arms.

- Interpreting bio-mechanics are negatively affected because chair arms cause you to elevate your sign space (which creates a greater workload for your muscles), and your sign space must become unnaturally narrow (which contributes to and/or causes an excessive rounding of the shoulders and a tightening of the thoracic area (front of shoulder).

- Chair arms discourage you from taking full rests, with your hands in your lap.

Sometimes interpreters have to "wean off" using chair arms because the muscles in the thoracic area have become shortened, so lowering the hands to the lap for resting increases pain after a short time. Generally this indicates an interpreter could benefit from passive and active stretches to open the chest and thoracic region - along with strengthening the upper back and core to support and hold a healthy posture.

12/05/2025

Interpreters who work in emotionally triggering environments must be especially mindful of their breath - with a special focus on the out-breath. Many people unknowingly hold their breath and/or chest breathe when feeling stressed - which can increase the chance that the body will hold onto the stressful feelings rather than release them. Bringing the breath to the abdomen/diaphragm helps to lower the stress response.

Additionally, it is helpful to emphasize the out-breath rather than the in-breath. The out-breath is when you release physical and emotional tension. Breathing in stimulates the sympathetic nervous system and increases heart rate. Breathing out stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, which slows heart rate and calms. Breathing in and out is kind of a ‘dance’ and balance between the alert and the calm state of being (breathing in = alert, and breathing out = calm). When you are feeling stressed, more attention on the out-breath is important to help calm your system. Starting with a complete exhalation, rather than taking a deep breath in, can help begin to release the tension being held by the body.

11/29/2025

Work capacity is that level of work that can be done without immediate risk of injury. If, however, an individual is constantly working at, or near, maximum work capacity then the risk of injury is high. The simplest way to change this is to increase strength, endurance and flexibility. The stronger and more flexible an interpreter is, the less the risk of injury. This is true of any athlete. Types of exercises that can be helpful for the interpreter athlete are:

- Strength and endurance.

- Flexibility

- Aerobic.

- Warm-ups and cool-downs for before and after interpreting.

11/27/2025

Hope you each have a peaceful, beautiful, joyous day. I’m grateful for this community and for each one of you individually!

Address

Castalian Springs, TN
37031

Telephone

+13363378448

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when TerpHealth: Prevention and Management of Interpreting Related Injury posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Practice

Send a message to TerpHealth: Prevention and Management of Interpreting Related Injury:

Shortcuts

Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn
Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share via Email
Share on WhatsApp Share on Instagram Share on Telegram