Be Sure To Rest

The most important thing you can do when you are suffering from a repetitive stress injury is to rest.  It is extremely important to stop whatever you are doing when you feel pain and to rest that area of your body.  Many repetitive stress injuries get worse because people tend to work through the pain.  If you think you have a repetitive stress injury, be sure to go home each night and put heat on the injured area.  You can do this by getting yourself a good heating pad. Be sure to “heat” the area for at least twenty minutes a day.  You will be shocked at how much better you will feel after the heat is applied. 

Seek Treatment Of Some Type

Those who suffer in pain with repetitive stress injuries rarely get professional treatment.  While some people with a repetitive stress injury don’t need a doctor’s treatment plan, many do.  If you have been suffering for a while and nothing you do at home helps your repetitive stress injury, you might need to see your doctor.  The doctor might prescribe a stronger anti-inflammatory drug that will help you.  In addition he or she might send you to a professional massage therapist or physical therapist.  If you don’t seek help and can’t find a way to help yourself, you may end up being in pain for a long time.

Make Changes In Your Life

Once you are on your way to a pain-free life from your repetitive stress injury, you will need to do one more thing.  You will need to find a way to avoid that repetitive activity that caused you pain in the first place.  You may find this to be the most difficult part of the treatment equation.  The truth is that many people cannot simply quit work.  They have to show up and work on the assembly line or at the computer each day.  But, by talking with your boss or suggesting changes in the office, you might be able to help everyone at your work who is at risk for a repetitive stress injury.

So, when you develop a repetitive stress injury, don’t give up automatically.  Don’t rush to see a surgeon or think you will have to live on Motrin or Tylenol everyday for the rest of your life.  Think about your daily activities and try to figure out what repetitive activity could be causing the problems.  Then develop a treatment plan, either alone or with your doctor.  You will be pain-free faster than you know it.

College students are using their computers more and more these days. They are required to write papers and do research for many classes.  Some even use their computers in the classroom, for recording notes from lectures their professors are giving.  All of this use is take a toll on their bodies however. 

Laptops are one thing that is causing problems for university students.  Sure, a laptop allows a student to sit on their couch, in a classroom, or anywhere else to do their computer work.  In fact, there are restaurants and cafés all over the nation that allow their customers to use free wireless connections.  This allows students to sit in these cafés doing their work.  The problem with this is that the laptops are giving students the comfort to sit with poor posture, which can contribute to repetitive stress injury. 

Universities are doing what they can to help prevent these repetitive stress injuries in their students. They are creating ergonomic-friendly computer labs.  These labs are equipped with the best seating options for those using the computer.  The seats encourage good posture while on the computer.  Some universities are also purchasing ergonomic keyboards for their computer labs.  These healthy changes to the computers at the universities also usually include the computer stations of the professors.  The university usually provides each professor with their own computer and they are beginning to get ergonomic computer accessories for the professors as well.

In addition to remodeling their computer labs into healthier environments, the universities are also educated their students and professors about repetitive stress injuries.  They are making sure that everyone knows the symptoms and what you can do to avoid the condition.  Some universities will pass out pamphlets and flyers.  Others will cover the symptoms and prevention tips at freshman orientation or new staff orientation.  Still others will hold annual seminars on the issue for everyone on campus. 

The risk of repetitive stress injuries on campus are growing.  In fact, they are becoming a common complaint of college age students all over the world.  So, be sure if you are a college student, that you pay special attention to your computer using habits.  Remember to take breaks between computer using sessions.  Also be sure to use proper posture and correct hand positions on the keyboard.  All of these things will help you avoid the pain that can come with the various repetitive stress injuries.

It might be necessary for you to either partially or completely stop the use of your hand for a period of time so that healing can begin. You may need to purchase a special keyboard and/or mouse or get speech recognition software in order to prevent further irritation to your injury. This could also help you prevent it happening in the future. Your medical professional might possibly prescribe that you wear an orthopedic hand brace. You don’t want to wear one of these if your doctor doesn’t prescribe it because it could lead to further injury.

You may also be subscribed some medications, such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications or anti-convulsant medications. The anti-inflammatory medications, like ibuprofen, will help reduce any swelling that you may have, while the anti-convulsant medications, like gabapentin, will help to lessen any neuropathic pain you might be experiencing. Another therapy that your medical doctor might perform is known as soft tissue therapy. This type of therapy works by decompressing the area surrounding the RSI. This will increase your circulation and aid in healing. They may also try biofeedback. This is generally used to reduce tension in the muscles in your shoulders and neck.

Your doctor may prescribe massage therapy if you have acute pain and nerve trigger points. For the best results you will want to use a licensed massage therapist; however, sometimes self-massage can be very helpful. Stretches can help you if your pain is less acute and for general maintenance of your RSI. Your physician may prescribe some occupational therapy or physical therapy in order to help you rebuild your strength and your flexibility. To improve your posture and to help reduce your fatigue in the long run, then strengthening exercises can be very helpful. This type of treatment should only be prescribed by your doctor since overusing the strained muscles and tendons can make your symptoms a lot worse.

As a last resort, your medical doctor might recommend that you have surgery. You should keep in mind that it doesn’t always work and you will be left without the use of your hand and arm for a long time. The above treatment methods have been proven to help heal even the worst RSI disorders when they are done correctly.

The most common type of jobs that cause a repetitive stress injury are assembly line and computer workers. To help prevent yourself from getting RSI, you should practice good posture, ergonomics, and limit the amount of time you spend in stressing working conditions. If you already have this type of injury, then by doing those things, you can possibly halt the progress of the injury. You should also do stretches, strengthening exercises, get a massage, biofeedback training to help reduce your neck and shoulder muscle tension. All of that can help heal any existing repetitive stress injuries that you may have.

A repetitive stress injury isn’t a specific disorder; instead it is a loose group of more specific disorders. The majority of these conditions are interrelated, meaning that anyone that suffers from one of them most likely suffers from more than one at the same time. One of the most popular types of repetitive stress injuries is carpal tunnel syndrome. This is very common with assembly line workers and fairly rare with computer users. If you are a computer user and have arm pain, then it is usually caused by a different specific condition. Some of the other conditions in this loose group are DeQuervain’s syndrome, intersection syndrome, reflex sympathetic syndrome, stenosing tenosynovitis, tendonitis, tenosynovitis, thoracic outlet syndrome, trigger finger/thumb, and ulnar nerve entrapment.

There are many symptoms that are associated with RSI. The can include, but not limited to, pain or soreness in the neck, shoulders, upper back, wrists or hands that keeps happening. You may also experience a tingling, numbness, coldness, or loss of sensation in an area. Loss of grip strength, lack of endurance, weakness, and fatigue can also indicate a RSI. The muscles in your arms and shoulders feel hard and wiry when palpated. While you lie in bed you could experience pain or numbness. 

Sometimes those that are in early stage RSI wrongfully think that they are lying on their arms in a bad position and cutting off their circulation. Your symptoms could be caused by what is apparently an unrelated area. Your hand numbness could possibly be caused by a pinched nerve around your shoulder. In the beginning stages of a repetitive stress injury, an area could be in fairly bad shape, but you may not feel any pain there unless the area is massaged. This is why when you are being evaluated for an RSI, the doctor will consider all areas of the upper body. If you think you have an RSI, then you should see your doctor.

RSI or Repetitive Strain Injury, is when you overuse or over do something. It is a work related upper limp disorder. This means that you are over using either muscles, tendons, or nerves. This can be in your arms and/or upper back. If you sit in a office chair all day, does your back get stiff and you need to get up and move around to get the aches and pains out? Then you could have RSI.

Is there something you can do to fix this problem? Yes, there is. You can keep from getting these aches and pains, but not putting as much tension on these areas. How? Get up out of the chair every so often. Do some stretches, walk around the room, anything to help you stretch out your problem areas. You can do the same thing if you are on your feet all day. The key is to make sure you are doing something to prevent this problem from occurring. You can even help the problem by maintaining good posture as well. It is really about about making yourself more comfortable. Don’t keep sitting there when you are hurting or standing there. Not when you can do something about it and make your pain ease away.

The thing is to have RSI you must have had an prier injury. It could be in your hands, neck, back, or other places. One of the most common would be carpal tunnel syndrome. You have heard of it and may even know someone that has it. You can help prevent this from happening to you if you just take the necessary actions. The best thing you can do to make sure that you don’t wait until it’s too late, is stay in tune with your body if you are feeling pain or fatigue. You may have pain when you massage a area. There are many warning signs that go off, but you may not pay attention. Know these signs and make sure that you take care of them before they get out of hand. It is your body that you are putting at risk for long term pain. It is something that no one wants and it is up to you to make sure it doesn’t happen to you. 

When you carry out the same movement repetitively you can damage muscles, ligaments, nerves and many other soft tissues found in that area of the body. Many people in a variety of occupations suffer with repetitive strain injury like food packers, computer users even musicians.

Repetitive strain injury normally affects the neck, shoulders, upper or lower back, wrists and hands as we use these parts of our body in most movements.

The affects of R.S.I generally wear of after a few days unless it is in a more aggressive form, but it is likely to reoccur if the person involved does not change the way they are carrying out the movement involved.

Symptoms

There are a lot of different symptoms you are likely to experience should you be suffering with repetitive strain injury, the symptoms you may experience include

• Soreness and tightness
• Loss of strength and coordination
• Stiffness and lack of full movement
• Aching pains
• Sometimes sufferers may feel sharp, shooting pains in the affected area

Repetitive strain injury prevention

The main way of preventing repetitive strain injury is to take regular breaks and pay attention to the movements you are doing and what your body is telling you. 

There are other factors that can be worked on to reduce the chances of getting repetitive strain injury.

 If you want to put yourself in a less likely position then it is highly recommended that you take regular exercise, make sure you have enough sleep, stop smoking and drink the recommended amount of water each day. By following these recommendations you will increase the blood circulation around the body, which will improve the oxygen levels and strength of your muscles.

Treatments

If repetitive strain injury keeps occurring then there are methods of treatment and techniques to help prevent future injuries.

The first option is to speak to your employers. In some countries, like the United Kingdom, there are guidelines stating that all employees should have risk assessments carried out to identify any hazards that may cause potential harm in their job role. This means that employers need to offer alternative arrangements to prevent any hazards from occurring.

Simple anti-inflammatory medication and painkillers can help relieve the pain while your body adjusts and repairs the issue.

If the injury persists then massage therapy can help alleviate the issue. Massage therapy is not a normal massage as it works deep into the soft tissue to relieve built up tension.

Occupational therapy may be prescribed by a medical professional if the symptoms persist, an occupational therapist will assess the injured area and provide strength and flexibility exercises. These exercises can give relief to the sufferer and reduce the pain and stress to the area of the body suffering with repetitive strain injury.

Repetitive strain injury is actually not a condition as such, it is a term given to a group of specific conditions that are all related in some form and most patients suffer with more than one of these conditions at a time.

The different conditions that make up repetitive strain injury are

• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
• Cubital Tunnel Syndrome
• DeQuervains Syndrome
• Intersection Syndrome
• Stenosing Tenosynovitis
• Tendonitis
• Thoracic Outlet Syndrome

Repetitive strain injury (known as R.S.I) is an occupational overuse syndrome that affects muscles, nerves, tendons and blood vessels mainly in the back, arms, wrists and hands. The condition is found in people who carry out the same movement repetitively in their profession or sport like those who work on an assembly line or play tennis.

Because repetitive strain injury is an occupational overuse syndrome it also has another name called work related upper limb disorder, or WRULD.

There are a few warning signs for those who are in a position where they are at risk of R.S.I, these warning signs are

• Soreness and pain in the neck, back, shoulders, arms, wrists or hands.
• Numbness or loss of sensation.
• A lack of strength and easily fatigued.
• A lack of movement 

There are ways to help prevent repetitive strain injury from occurring, they may seem like simple prevention techniques but they are important in making sure you don’t suffer with this condition.

The best prevention techniques are

• Take regular breaks, even if you work in an office at a computer.
• If you feel pain, stop what you are doing and rest until it subsides.
• Watch your posture, bad posture can have detrimental affects and cause R.S.I.
• Keep fit, keeping in shape increases your bodies strength and fitness, which means your tendons, muscles and blood vessels can handle more.
• Learn muscle relaxation and stress busting techniques, if your muscles are tight then you are more likely to gain repetitive strain injury.

There is a lot of different treatments available for R.S.I sufferers, all are fairly easy treatments and have different levels of success.

Deep muscle massage – This is not your normal massage, this works deep into the tissue to really work all the knots and tension within your muscles.

Soft tissue therapy – This treatment works by decompressing the troubled area, this works well for R.S.I patients because the reason they have repetitive strain injury is normally due to a compressed tendon.

Pain relief – for some people simple pain relief and anti-inflammatory medication can alleviate the symptoms they have, long enough for the condition to be resolved.

Occupational therapy – An occupational therapist can look at the injured part of the body and provide exercises that can alleviate the condition while promoting strength and flexibility.

One thing you have to remember if you are suffering with repetitive strain injury is to rest the affected area, even when the pain has subsided it does not mean that the area has fully recovered.

Let’s start there first. RSI or Repetitive Stress Injury is something happens to many. It is a work related injury. RSI will normally affect those that are sitting at a desk every day for hours on end, or standing in a production line hour after hour. These things take a toll on your body and your body does let you know these things. However, if you don’t know what to look for in the first place how are you going to know what to do about them. These may be some of the everyday aches and pains that you are suffering from, but you don’t have to live with them. You can do something about them. So, let’s find out what the warning signs are for RSI.

As with anything, your body will give you signs when something isn’t right. The problem with this is that you don’t know what its trying to tell you. Therefore, you need to make sure that you are in tune with your body and its aches, pains, or whatever else may be going on. Everyone is different and everyone may or may not have this warning signs, but they are the most common with it comes to RSI. If you have any it is wise to see your doctor.

With RSI you can have recurring pain and/or soreness in your neck, upper back, shoulders, wrists, or hands. You can have tingling, numbness, coldness, or loss of sensations in these areas as well. A loss of grip, lack of endurance, weakness, and fatigue are all signs. All warning signs of RSI. You may even have hard muscles in your shoulders and/or arms. If you have a pain or numbness when you lie in bed, it may not necessary mean that your arm or hand is just asleep. Don’t mistake these warning signs that are flashing in your face to pass without getting them checked out. It is worth going to the doctor for, if you think there may be something else going on. That is what it means to listen to your body and do what is right for your body and your health. No one wants to live with pain.

Life is too short not to pay attention to the things that are going on around you or the things that are going on with your body. Only you can tell what is happening, and if it is normal or not. You shouldn’t be walking around with pain that you can fix, if you just knew what it was and how to treat it. See your doctor to find out more about RSI and if you have it.

If you have a major repetitive stress injury you will need to see a doctor.  Many doctors will prescribe anti-inflammatory drugs to help relieve the pain and the “stress” of the injury.  They may also want you to see a physical therapist.  Some patients are reluctant to go into physical therapy because their insurance doesn’t cover it completely in many cases.  However, physical therapy can be very important if your stress injury is major.  It often takes the place of surgery on the stressed area, which is always a good thing.  After all, no one wants to go through surgery if they don’t have to.

If your repetitive stress injury is minor, you can always choose to try a treatment at home.  Even if your injury is major and you are recommended for physical therapy, you may have to do exercises at home to help.  Exercising moderately is a great tactic to take against the stress injury.  You can develop your own plan of treatment.  The first thing you should do is avoid whatever activity is causing your repetitive stress injury.  You must take some time to allow the stressed area of your body to rest.

It can be very difficult to do this if your stress injury is coming from your work.  If you work on an assembly line or at a computer all day, it can be tricky to try to avoid that motion.  Think about talking to your boss about being transferred to another part of the assembly plant.  If you work at a computer, think about getting wrist braces that will lessen the stress load on your hands and wrists. 

After you figure out a way to lessen the stress on the area, you need to get on to the plan of healing.  Heat is a great way to lessen the pain from a stress injury.  Get a home heating pad and place it on your stressed area twice a day for fifteen minutes at a time.  Do this before starting any exercises as well.  You can get the heating pads to warm in the microwave to avoid the wiring and other dangers of traditional heating pads.

Then research what exercises are best for your type of injury.  The trick to doing these is to not overdo them.  You must work slowly.  If you are feeling pain, you may be going to far.  So, be sure to only do what you can.  You will find that your body will get stronger, the pain will fade, and you will eventually be able to do whatever exercise you want, without being in pain.

If your not sure what repetitive strain injury is then the definition is, an injury that is caused by repeating the same movement over and over, it also only affects the upper body, predominantly the back, shoulder, arms, wrists and hands.

There are many treatments that report to alleviate the symptoms of repetitive strain injury, some are simple measures you can take personally, some of these are basic medication, some of these are prescribed treatments and others are alternative medicines.

Below is a list of all the available treatments and how they work.

Treatments

Simple measures

One simple measure, which is more common sense than anything is painkillers and anti-inflammatory pills, these are available over the counter at any good pharmacy. When taking painkillers and anti inflammatory pills it is important that you rest the affected area, just because the pain is not there it doesn’t mean the condition has instantly been resolved.

Another simple measure is speaking to your employer, you may find they have guidelines to work towards that may mean you can get some support in alleviating your condition. This means your work place may be assessed and improvements implemented.

You can get a simple support bandage from your local pharmacy to help add strength to the affected area, if it is your wrist or arm.

Speech recognition software is a great alternative for those who suffer due to computer work, speech recognition software works by the software writing what you say for you.

Medical treatments

Your doctor may prescribe physical therapy, a physical therapists role is to develop and maximize the movement of the body, and this can also include the provision of aids to alleviate symptoms.

Occupational therapy is another prescribed therapy your doctor may request, it may sound like occupational therapy and physical therapy are very similar but there are differences.

Occupational therapy helps develop and maintain the skills needed to carry out all the general functions needed to live a comfortable life.

Occupational therapy includes assessing what a persons needs are and supporting them with offering recommendations on adapting to their living or working space and offering simple exercises to regain movement.

Alternative medicines

Deep body massages have been reported to work wonders for those suffering with repetitive strain injury as it works deep into the body’s soft tissues like the muscles and tendons where the pain comes from.

Some people have reported that slow martial arts like Tai Chi can have a dramatic affect on their condition because they work on specific movements and improve strength and flexibility.

Treatments are ever evolving in the medical world, whether it is in medicine or alternative medicines the fast paced environment is offering new treatments all the time. If you suffer with the repetitive strain injury condition you can be safe in the knowledge that the medical community is working hard to alleviate the symptoms many people suffer with.