RSI: repetitive strain injury

As more and more work, education and recreation involves computers, everyone needs to be aware of the hazard of RSI to the hands and arms, often resulting from the use of keyboards. This can be a serious and very painful condition that is far easier to prevent than to cure once contracted, and can occur even in young physically fit people.

 What is RSI?

RSI is caused by mechanical irritation which upsets the body’s highly turned natural balance. It is an inflammation of the tendon sheaths in the finger and hands, wrists, and elbows which may eventually progress to the upper arms and shoulders. Repeated physical movements cause damage to tendons, nerves, muscles, and other soft body tissues.

Often stiffness in the spinal joints of the neck and upper back aggravate or even cause RSI in the arms and hands. Spinal problems cause irritation of the nerves as they exit the spine and this leads to problems in the muscles they supply.

What are the symptoms?

  • Tightness, discomfort, stiffness, or pain in the hands, wrists, fingers, forearms or elbows.
  • Tingling, coldness, or numbness in the hands.
  • Clumsiness or loss of hand strength and coordination.
  • Pain that wakes you up in the night.
  • Feeling a need to massage your hands, wrists and arms.

Areas where design may cause problems

  • Head angle
  • Document Holder
  • Arm angle
  • Lumbar support
  • Chair height
  • Arm rest
  • Leg room
  • Foot rests
  • Working height
  • Keyboard location
  • Display height
  • Display angle
  • Viewing distance


 


How do I prevent it? Self-help tips for computer users:

  • Don’t pound on the keys: use light touch.
  • Take lots of breaks to stretch and relax. This means both short breaks every few minutes and longer breaks every hour or so.
  • Fidget a lot! Hold the mouse lightly! Learn and use keyboard commands if possible, as no pointing device is risk-free. Keep your arms and hands warm. Cold muscles & tendons are at much greater risk for overuse injuries.
  • Eliminate unnecessary computer usage. No amounts of ergonomic changes, fancy keyboards, or exercises are going to help if you are simply typing more than your body can handle.
  • Consider voice recognition. Software that allows computer control or full vice dictation is becoming more powerful and less expensive.
  • Evaluate other activities. Sports, carrying children, hobbies requiring intense small work (like knitting), and excess effort/tension in other daily things may have enormous impact too.
  • Pay attention to your body. Pain is your body telling you that it’s in big trouble, but learning what is comfortable or awkward for your body before your in pain may prevent injury.
  • Kids are at risk too: increasing hours in front of the computer at home and school, using equipment that is not set up correctly for their size.

 What If I have symptoms of RSI?

 We all have occasional aches and pains that go away in a day or two, especially when we overdo anything. But if you have the symptoms listed above regularly when you are using a computer, you should see a chiropractor, as soon as possible. Dealing with this early is critical to limiting the damage. Remember that “RSI” is a mechanism of injury, not a diagnosis. Where or how seriously you are injured, and how best to treat it, varies immensely form person to person.

 Treatment

 RSI problems may be local or diffuse conditions. Local, such as: specific muscles, tendons, nerves being inflamed or injured. Diffuse, often mistaken for local problems, can involve muscle discomfort, pain, burning and/or tingling; although they’re not necessarily “the problem”.

Prevention is still the best prescription. No wrist splint, arm rest, split keyboard, spinal adjustment, etc. is going to permit an immediate return to work at full speed if you’re injured. It is important to make the long term changes in technique and work habits that initially caused the complaint. Healing could take months, sometimes years. Many RSI victims do regain the ability to work and substantial freedom from pain, but find that they remain vulnerable to re-injury and flare-ups.

Chiropractors adjust the affected joints to restore full motion, reducing stress on the nearby muscles, tendons and nerves.

Massage and specific exercises will often be prescribed. The spinal locking can be discovered before symptoms manifest and so chiropractors can prevent RSI in the first place.