Carpal tunnel syndrome, a nerve disorder that affects the hands

Question

Carpal tunnel syndrome, a nerve disorder that affects the hands and wrists, is often caused by repetitive motions such as typing on a keyboard. A recent study of office workers found that, among those who do similar amounts of typing, workers reporting the least control over their own work had almost three times the risk of developing carpal tunnel syndrome as did those who reported the most control.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to explain the study's findings?

(A) Office workers who have the most control over their own work tend to do significantly less typing than do those who have the least control over their own work.

(B) Feeling a lack of control over one's own work tends to put one under emotional stress that makes one more susceptible to nerve disorders.

(C) The keyboards on which office workers type tend to put typists' arms and hands in positions that promote the development of carpal tunnel syndrome.

(D) Among office workers who rarely use keyboards, the rate of carpal tunnel syndrome is much higher for those who feel that they lack control over their own work.

(E) Office workers who have the most control over their own work tend to perform repetitive motions other than typing more often than do office workers with the least control over their own work.

Saasingh · Answer

Argument says that ---->

less control == more chances of nerve disorder.

more control == less chances of nerve disorder.

We need to explain this.

(A) Office workers who have the most control over their own work tend to do  significantly less typing  than do those who have the least control over their own work. 
Even if they do less typing, does it mean that they are not doing repetitive typing? NO. What if they press the same repetitive keys again and again?
Incorrect.

(B) Feeling a lack of control over one's own work tends to put one under emotional stress that makes one more susceptible to nerve disorders. 
Correct. It essentially says that the feeling of lack of control causes stress which makes us more prone to nerve disorders in general. This completely justifies why people who have less control develop nerve disorder more.

( C) The keyboards on which office workers type tend to put typists' arms and hands in positions that promote the development of carpal tunnel syndrome. 
Type of keyboard is irrelevant. No distinction given between lack of control and more control.

(D) Among office workers who rarely use keyboards, the rate of carpal tunnel syndrome is much higher for those who feel that they lack control over their own work. 
This just says that in people who are not doing repetitive keyboard work, disorder is much higher in people with lack of control. But, our scope is limited to people who do repetitive work. This is irrelevant to our conclusion.

(E) Office workers who have the most control over their own work tend to perform repetitive motions other than typing more often than do office workers with the least control over their own work. 
Most control people do other repetitive works besides typing. If that is the case then they should be at higher risk to get this nerve disorder. Then why less chances of nerve disorder? Makes the argument more surprising.

jaysea · Answer

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is caused by physically stressing the median nerve, where anything that squeezes or irritates that nerve can cause the symptoms to appear. This injury is most commonly seen in typist professions; One of the common prevention methods is to take short frequent breaks from the repetitive motion of the wrists that lead to CTS. Therefore, the answer (E) makes the most sense because those office workers who have the most control over their own work are able to have those frequent short breaks from typing. Can anyone explain whether this outside knowledge would apply to this question?

Vasavan · Answer

This answer choice says those who have control type significantly less than those who have less control. But the argument clearly mentions the people surveyed(both with more and less control) type similar amounts. So, we are only concerned with people in control who type similar amounts to people with lesser control. Hence, this option does not give any reasoning as to why people who write similar amounts with less control have more chances of getting the disorder

This is the correct answer choice as it gives a clear indication as to why people with less control are more prone to the disorder

No distinction between people with more and less control. Option can be eliminated

Again this does not cover the group studied in the survey. Can be eliminated.

The argument says repetitive motion contributes to neural disorder and just states typing as an example. Other repetitive motions can also contribute to the disorder. Hence, this choice can be eliminated.

agrasan · Answer

(A) Office workers who have the most control over their own work tend to do significantly less typing than do those who have the least control over their own work.
 Incorrect , we cannot challenge the facts given in the argument, we are clearly given    "A recent study of office workers found that, among those who do similar amounts of typing"    so we have to take it at face value, thus, this option doesn't help us much.

(B) Feeling a lack of control over one's own work tends to put one under emotional stress that makes one more susceptible to nerve disorders.
 Correct , this clearly explains why workers who reported the lack of control over their own work are more likely to develop carpal tunnel syndrome.

(C) The keyboards on which office workers type tend to put typists' arms and hands in positions that promote the development of carpal tunnel syndrome.
 Incorrect , this option doesn't differentiate between workers who reported the lack of control over their own work and workers who reported the most control.

(D) Among office workers who rarely use keyboards, the rate of carpal tunnel syndrome is much higher for those who feel that they lack control over their own work.
 Incorrect , we don't know whether those workers of concern for us  use keyboards or not  so this option doesn't help us resolve the discrepancy.

(E) Office workers who have the most control over their own work tend to perform repetitive motions other than typing more often than do office workers with the least control over their own work.
 Incorrect , this option goes in the opposite direction and deepens the mystery.

Carpal tunnel syndrome, a nerve disorder that affects the hands

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Carpal tunnel syndrome, a nerve disorder that affects the hands

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