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Repetitive Strain Injury


Information About Repetitive Strain Injury:


The number of patients with computer related conditions are rapidly increasing. Injuries of the fingers, thumb, wrist, elbow, shoulder, neck, headaches, back pain, eye strain, and other injuries all related to the computer work station have become a huge problem. Our Physiotherapists can assess and treat your injuries and analyze your work station and work habits to prevent further injury.

Seating:
Sitting at a job for 8 hours a day can be painful and harmful if your chair is poorly designed or adjusted. While a good quality chair is important, the setup and use of the entire work station and proper position of the computer screen must also be fine tuned. Your Physiotherapist is the person to give you instruction on how to choose a chair and set things up. If you are having back, leg, arm or neck pain you may also need treatment to correct damage already done. We can provide you with a plan that will give you a quick recovery from injuries and prevent a future re occurrence. Physiotherapy is an approach that always aims at the patient becoming fully independent, with no ongoing maintenance visits.
Keyboard:
With a huge number of people now expected to work on computers, typing (keyboarding) skills have become very important. Injuries from poor habits have also become a big problem. Everybody has heard of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. If your symptoms include numbness, tingling, decreased sensation on at least two of digits 1,2,3, or pain in the wrist or near the wrist, you probably suffer Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. While your Physiotherapist is the best person to help you recover from this injury (by decreasing the swelling in the carpal tunnel through which the Median nerve passes), there is no question that the best approach to treating Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, is to prevent it from happening in the first place. We can help you prevent more serious injury by catching keyboarding problems early (i.e. the height of the keyboard relative to the chair and floor) and giving you strategies to keep you working comfortably. Other preventable problems that can arise, and we are frequently treating, are tennis elbow, rotator cuff (shoulder) injuries, neck spasms, stiffness and headaches.
Mousing:
Did you know that use of the mouse has introduced an even greater potential for injury than the keyboard? Mousing is done with one hand, and often only one finger, which concentrates the strain. Having to grip the mouse and control it with high accuracy can also amplify the strain on fingers hand, wrist, forearm, elbow, shoulder, neck, and back. The need for proper workstation setup is even more important than it is for keyboarding. Also there are other strategies which the Physiotherapist can outline, to help eliminate the chances of serious injury.
Reconditioning:
The sedentary nature of computer jobs causes many people to lose normal muscle condition. Our Physiotherapists can create a well balanced exercise program that will work the muscles which are ignored by your usual duties. This can prevent injuries which are indirectly caused by muscle imbalances. Physiotherapy is about solving injury causing problems as well as treating and healing injury.
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