What is a Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI)?

Is it inflammation? Is it overuse? Or something else? Well, some people may define RSI as a type of injury where pain is felt in the muscles, nerves, and tendons, caused by repetitive movement or overuse of a limb. The key thing you should take away is the word “overuse”. RSI is basically any injury caused by overuse.

Two Saturdays ago I had a patient who works as a Forklift Operator. Based on him operating the forklift five days per week, it was not strange that he has pain in his right foot. He uses his foot to push the acceleration and brake pedal, and as he wears boots, it makes the situation worse.

To reiterate, this condition is mainly an overuse injury; a bit like arthritis, actually. In arthritis, a person suffers because their bones start deteriorating or falling apart. In other words, their body’s rate of bone regeneration is slower than the pace the bones deteriorate. RSI is basically the same phenomena with the muscles and tendons.

In RSI, the tendons and muscles can’t regenerate fast enough to heal the injury. That’s how the injury ends up seeming “permanent”. And if you have it long enough, the condition can become permanent. However, most cases can be fixed simply by giving substantial rest to the affected area, and “quitting” the activity that caused the issue in the first place. This isn’t necessarily that easy, if your job is involved.

Taking a break from the activity that activated the RSI, and resting that affected area is a very simple, but most effective way of treatment. But the problem is that people need, or want to continue the activity that caused their RSI. The forklift driver, for example, drives for a living.

Another problem is that some people have bodies with very poor rates of regeneration, due to unsatisfactory sleep, diet, exercise, and overall health. You’ll notice that healthy people not only don’t get sick and strained often, but also recover much quicker. If you don’t take care of the health of your body, its rate of regeneration lowers, and RSI not only manifests easier, but is also a lot harder to heal.

Finally, another problem with RSI is the brain itself. Some people do take adequate rest to heal their RSI. But they still experience chronic pain in the affected area. This is due to their increased sensitivity to pain, induced by the brain. Know that with no brain, we can’t (obviously) feel pain. You’ll notice what I mean when sometimes a small injury causes a substantial amount of pain (like stubbing your toe on something); whereas, a huge injury may not even be noticed when you’ve got your adrenaline running.

How Do you Treat or Cure RSI?

Other than totally taking a complete break from what caused you RSI in the first place (this is the most effective option, by the way), there are a couple of treatment options that may enhance healing. Alternatively,  perform a bang up job at fixing it (surgery). The following is  a list of treatments in general:

• Exercise
• Taking breaks
• Stretching
• Anti-Inflammatory
• Reducing use of strained limb
• Switching limb being used
• Make the task more ergonomic
• Make the equipment more ergonomic
• Make work environment more ergonomic
• Surgery (as a last resort)

 Treatment through Exercise

The problem is that in these modern times, many of us lead a sedentary lifestyle. Being sedentary, or sitting in one place for long periods of time every day, has negative effects on our muscles, tendons, bones, and ligaments. Without the stimulation of movement, our body becomes physically weaker, more delicate, and more injury prone.

So how does exercise relate to RSI? Well, I already mentioned that exercise is a stimuli for the body to heal. Without exercise, the body heals slower, so strains from repeatedly performing a task are substantially greater.

Treatment through Stretching

Stretching can help negate some of the negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle that contribute to RSI. But how does stretching help? Stretching reduces muscle tension, thereby reducing the strain on the affected area. It could also reduce the amount of pressure placed on the nerves, thereby reducing RSI pain. Stretching for those affected shouldn’t be overdone, but performed gradually.

One thing to keep in mind for the stretching, is that both limbs should be stretched. For example, if you are stretching your right limb, you should also stretch out your left limb. This is simply to keep your body balanced  biomechanically. You may be familiar with the phrase, “Use it, or Lose it”. Well, the same is true with the musculoskeletal part of our body. In the same way that a weight lifter who stops exercising loses muscle mass, you may experience atrophy of the muscles on the limb, if you do not exercise or stretch it.

Your feet mirror your general health . . . cherish them!