What is it?
Repetitive strain injury (RSI) is the name given to a group of injuries affecting muscles, tendons, and nerves as a result of completing the same action or activity over and over. You may know some of the names of specific repetitive strain injuries such as: carpal tunnel syndrome, tennis and golfer’s elbow, or De Quervain’s.
How is it diagnosed?
In working out exactly what the cause of your pain is we normally start with taking a detailed history about how long you’ve been experiencing your symptoms, when or how your symptoms are aggravated, and anything that you have found that eases your symptoms.
There are specific tests that stress muscles, tendons, and ligaments in the body which can help determine which of those structures are contributing to the pain. We use these tests to help establish what is happening with your injury.
How is it treated?
RSI injuries are often a result of repetitive movements or poor static posture or positioning. We will help you identify if there are any actions that you’re performing or positions you adopt that are contributing to your symptoms and then provide solutions to help address these factors.
There are often environmental factors that contribute to RSI, such as the set-up of your workstation or the habits you find yourself in throughout the day. Addressing these factors can often eliminate the need to perform the repetitive movement and reduce the strain experienced by your body.
As physiotherapists we will be able to help the rehabilitation process using techniques such as soft tissue releases, dry needling, and exercises to help strengthen the affected area to help reduce the strain experienced.
We will also be able to recommend some ergonomic changes to your workstation that may be appropriate in helping reduce the strain experienced.
What is the prognosis?
As with any injury early intervention is often key. The shorter and less severe the symptoms are the quicker your recovery is likely to be.
If this sounds like something you’re struggling with, come and see us in the clinic today!