I started a new job this week.  It is a temporary position (3 months) doing library cataloging for a chemical company.  Because I will be there for more than just a week or two, I had to go through orientation today, which included a section on ergonomics.  One of the repetitive stress injuries that they covered was what is known as Bible bumps.

This is not a term I had heard before.  I first assumed that “Bible bumps” were the cutis anserina that formed when your new copy of the Oxford Annotated Bible arrived.  But it turns out that “Bible bumps” is the common name for ganglion cysts that can form on the hands, particularly the wrist area.  It is associated with repetitive stressing of the tendons and joints.

The reason they are called “Bible bumps” is because of the traditional way people treated them.  In order to get rid of the cyst, people would smash it with something large, flat, and heavy.  Often it was the spine of a book, and usually the biggest book people had was a Bible.  Hence, the term.  This form of treatment is not recommended, by the way.1

I guess we can take this as just further proof of the healing power of the word of God.


  1. And if you take medical advice from someone who writes a biblioblog, you deserve what you get anyway. [back]
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