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Repetitive strain injury

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Repetitive strain injury, also called repetitive stress injury, is a loose group of conditions from overuse. It is an occupational overuse syndrome affecting muscles, tendons and nerves in the arms and upper back; hence it is also known as work related upper limb disorder or WRULD. The medically accepted reason it occurs is when muscles in these areas are kept tense for very long periods of time, due to poor posture and/or repetitive motions. There's also a connection between mind and the body, where pain is worsened or lessened by thought (see John E. Sarno).

It is most common among assembly line and computer workers. Good posture and ergonomic working conditions can help prevent or halt the progress of the disorder; stretches, strengthening exercises, massages and biofeedback training to reduce neck and shoulder muscle tension can help heal existing disorders.

Contents

Specific conditions

Repetitive strain injury is not a specific disease but a loose group of other, more specific conditions. Many of these disorders are interrelated, so a typical sufferer may have many of these at once. In this case it is often best to treat RSI as a single general disorder, targeting all major areas of the arms and upper back in the course of treatment.

The most famous repetitive strain injury is carpal tunnel syndrome, which is common among assembly line workers but relatively rare among computer users: computer-related arm pain is generally caused by another specific condition.

Some of these are:

Warning signs

RSI conditions have many varied symptoms. The following may indicate the onset of an RSI.

Symptoms may be caused by apparently unrelated areas — for example hand numbness may be caused by a nerve being pinched near the shoulder. In the initial stages of RSI, an area may be in quite bad condition but not feel painful unless it is massaged, or feel weak unless a long endurance exercise is performed. Therefore all areas of the upper body are considered when evaluating an RSI condition.

Prevention

The following applies to typing or computer use. RSI is best prevented in its early stages before it becomes difficult to control.

Treatment

If RSI symptoms have already appeared, there are various further methods of treatment that can be applied in addition to the above preventative techniques.

See the references section for specific massages, stretches and exercises.

Colloquialisms

The problem is also referred to by a number of colloquialisms based on the type of device causing the problem, for example:

BlackBerry thumb

BlackBerry thumb is a colloquialism for a specific type of repetitive strain injury (RSI) affecting the thumb. It is caused by the overuse of the finger on handheld devices, including mobile phones. The name comes from a wireless handheld device called BlackBerry. Typical symptom is an aching, stiff thumb, but the pain could also affect the hand and arm. This phenomenon in the field of electronic overuse injuries is not new; it was also common to users of the Intellivision game controllers in the 1980s.

According to American Society of Hand Therapists, there has been a rising incidence of carpal tunnel syndrome and tendonitis and this is linked to the use of handheld electronic devices. [link]

Nintendonitis

Nintendonitis is a neologism and a portmanteau of Nintendo and tendonitis which arose from the overuse of thumb operated video games. Similar names are gamer's grip, Nintendo thumb, PlayStation thumb.

The term was coined by the New England Journal of Medicine in 1990, after a popular video game company Nintendo, which at the time was a leader in the console gaming industry and was established as a household name. Nintendonitis (or Nindentinitis) was first used to describe the case of a teenager who developed hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) from playing videogames with a vibration-pack-fitted gamepad for several hours a day. Later, the controllers for the Sony PlayStation and PlayStation 2 were noted as causing the condition. However, due to the shape, size and extended use of game controllers it is not limited to just those specific ones and can occur in users of any gamepad or joystick. Similar problems have also been associated with the use of mobile phones, and text messaging in particular.

This is just one of several forms of game-related health risks that have been reported. A review of research by Robin Mary Gillespie in the journal Work found ample evidence that excessive gaming can harm your health, although the prevalence of the problem is unknown.

Symptoms referred to by Nintendonitis go beyond RSI of the thumb to include blistering, paraesthesia and swelling of the thumbs, mainly through use of the D-pad, though any finger can be affected. This can lead to stress on tendons, nerves and ligaments in the hands, and further onto lateral epicondylitis ("tennis elbow"), tendonitis, bursitis and carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS).

References

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External links

 

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