Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI)
A repetitive strain injury, also known as repetitive stress, injury or RSI, could cause a lot of pain and discomfort. If not attended on time, a minor RSI can turn into a nasty chronic injury. At TEATREE Healthcare, our expert physiotherapists recommend early medical intervention if you experience symptoms of a repetitive stress injury.
What is Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI)?
Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) refers to an overuse injury. Occupational Overuse Syndrome (OOS) is also used to describe RSI. Repeated use of the same movements causes inflammation and damage to the soft tissues. Repetitive Strain Injury potentially hurts your muscles, tendons, nerves and joints through repeated micro trauma. RSI has been attributed to a forearm and upper limb pain. Localized injuries such as carpal tunnel, trigger finger, golfer’s and tennis elbow are included in RSI.
Symptoms of RSI include tremors, clumsiness, numbness, weakness in the hands or forearms, burning, aching or shooting pain, fatigue or lack of strength, chronically cold hands, difficulty with normal activities like chopping vegetables, turning on a tap, opening doors. These symptoms may appear when you do something or appear after a repetitive task. Symptoms may stop after when you halt the activity. It may take a few hours or even days for the symptoms to settle.
The exact cause of RSI is unclear. Some causes of Repetitive Stress Injury include:
– not taking enough breaks to recover
– repeated arm use for too long
– keeping your muscles in the same position for long
– lack of variety in the type of work you do
– working in cold conditions
– using equipment that doesn’t fit your body
– working too fast
– lack of safety training to carry out a task
How can we help?
At TEATREE Healthcare, our physiotherapists use various techniques to treat Repetitive Strain Injury. Physiotherapy will help release tight muscles and free up any nerves that may be irritated and causing pain.
Myofascial release – This technique focuses on reducing pain by easing the tension and tightness in the trigger points. Myofascial release is used over a larger area of muscle and tissue, rather than at a single point. Myofascial release treatments take place during a massage therapy session.
Joint mobilization – Using this technique, your physiotherapist will restore small, involuntary movements that assist joints in optimum performance. In joint mobilization, a back and forth oscillation of the joint is performed to restore motion.
Electrotherapy – Your physiotherapist may use ultrasound therapy to treat RSI. This therapy is mainly used for its non-thermal effect where high-frequency sound waves cause movement and vibrations of cellular fluids. This helps in faster healing of certain soft tissues.
Exercises – Various types of physiotherapy exercises such as stretching, flexibility, motion, isometric and progressive resistance exercises strengthen and stretch appropriate structures.
TEATREE Healthcare Support
At TEATREE Healthcare, we are committed to ensuring that you enjoy optimum health always. To this end, we have all the necessary infrastructure and expertise to help treat your repetitive stress injuries. Our physiotherapists will take every measure possible to provide best-in-class care.
