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RSI - Repetitive Strain Injury
RSI - Repetitive Strain Injury
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What is RSI?
RSI (or Repetitive Strain Injury) is a descriptive term for an overuse injury. Occupational Overuse Syndrome (OOS) is another name used to describe RSI.
Repeated use of the same movements causes inflammation and damage to the soft tissues (muscles, nerves, tendons and tendon sheaths etc.) In particular, RSI has been attributed to upper limb and forearm pain.
Repetitive
Strain Injuries (RSI) includes many localised injuries such as
trigger
finger, golfer’s and tennis elbow and carpal tunnel and also
more
diffuse pain syndromes (those spread over the body) which may be
diagnosed as cervicobrachial pain syndrome or chronic pain
syndrome.
Common RSI Symptoms
Symptoms of RSI or an overuse injury can be any of the following:
- Burning,
aching or shooting pain.
- Tremors, clumsiness and numbness.
- Fatigue or lack of strength.
- Weakness
in the hands or forearms. It is often difficult to
perform
even simple tasks.
- Difficulty with normal activities like opening doors,
chopping vegetables, turning on a tap.
- Chronically cold hands, particularly the fingertips.
Early Signs of RSI
The
first signs of RSI may be soreness, tingling or
discomfort in the neck, arms, wrists, fingers or shoulders.
These
symptoms may come on when you do something or appear after a repetitive task.
Symptoms
may disappear when you stop the aggravating activity.
It may
take only a few hours for the symptoms to settle, or it may
take as
long as a couple of days.
Unfortunately, over time a minor
RSI can turn into a nasty chronic injury. Extra stress in your work ,
or taking fewer breaks can make your symptoms much more severe and
long
term.
What Causes RSI?
RSI can be caused by many factors. They include:
- Repeated arm use for too long
- Working with equipment that doesn’t fit your body
- Not having enough recovery breaks
- Holding your muscles in the same position for a long time
- Lack of training in the safest way to carry out a task
- Lack of variety in the type of work you do
- Working in cold conditions
What's Injured by RSI?
RSI potentially damages your
muscles, tendons, nerves and joints through
repeated
micro-trauma.
Muscles & Tendons
Whenever muscles or tendons are used, tiny tears can occur in
the muscle
or tendon tissue. The local area becomes inflamed for a short time as the
body
attempts to repair the damage.
Thickening and scar tissue
form over the torn muscle or tendon tissue. At this stage, the area will
feel
painful. Normally, the body would repair the damage and the pain
would
go away. However, without enough rest, more activity causes
further
damage and more inflammation, thickening, scar tissue and pain.
This
cycle gets progressively worse if sufficient rest is not taken.
Under
the microscope, changes can be seen in the structure of a muscle or tendon
damaged by overuse. Collagen bundles that are normally tight and
parallel instead look disorganised and discontinuous. A number
of other
changes have been noted as well, including a decrease in fibre
diameter
and fibre loosening.
Nerves
Nerves are also damaged by RSI.
Tingling feelings are caused by the compression of nerves.
Nerves run
through muscles, and if muscle health is poor, so is nerve
health.
Damaged nerves can heal but the process is extremely slow.
Most cases of persisting RSI have their basis in the nerves that run
from the neck, down through the shoulders, and into the wrists and
hands. These nerves pass by many other structures, most notably the
discs and facet joints in the neck. If the discs or muscles become
damaged or tight - often due to a poor posture - then the nerves cannot
move freely in the arm.
If these tight nerves are then used repetitively, such as when typing or
process working, they naturally become sore and inflamed. If this
process is repeated before the nerve has recovered, the problem worsens.
Before long it can be difficult to perform any task, even lifting a
coffee cup, without feeling pain. Many different nerves course through
your arms.
This diagram illustrates some areas covered by the main
branches, any of which can produce symptoms of RSI.
RSI can be complicated. Because you have so many nerve fibres that exit
from your neck and travel through your arm, the symptoms of this problem
can vary wildly. Pain can be felt almost anywhere.
Nerve-related pain is often misdiagnosed as a variety of conditions,
including rotator cuff tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, tennis elbow,
golfer's elbow, de Quervain's Tenosynovitis (thumb) and fibromyalgia.
Nevertheless, by assessing both the nerves and the structures that they
cross, your physio can usually determine the exact cause of RSI. This
much-maligned problem is no longer a mystery. A cure is close at hand.
Joints
In the long-term, your joint posture and movement may become abnormal and result in joint pain, stiffness and premature degenerative changes.
Please contact your physiotherapist for your specific individual assessment.
Contact PhysioWorks or Book Online
RSI Treatment
Where as acute RSI is relatively simple to assess and treat successfully, is difficult to cure chronic RSI. Some people with RSI may eventually get a
chronic pain syndrome that affects every aspect of their life.
However,
RSI is curable in its early stages, so it’s vital that you get
medical
help early and that you take this condition seriously!
Early intervention is
the key.
Common RSI Treatments
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FAQs about RSI
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PhysioWorks or Book Online
Helpful Products for RSI
Related Injuries
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