Repetitive Strain Injury Recovery Tips and Solutions
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Introduction
Soon after starting my first full-time job, I began to experience discomfort in my wrists, arms, and shoulders, while working with the computer. As time passed, discomforts developed into pain. As a programmer, I spend most of the day on the computer, and at age 25 and the beginning of my career, it was daunting to imagine how I could have continued down this path. Several years later and much effort devoted, I am confident to say that my condition is fully under control. I am writing these articles in hopes of helping those that are at risk of or suffering from Repetitive Strain Injury.
What is RSI?
I'm sure there are many authoritative websites out there on this topic, so I am going to give my simplified explanation of RSI. Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI), Repetitive Stress Injury, Repetitive Motion Injury, whatever you want to call it, is simply discomfort and pain caused by overuse, in our case, the computer. Overuse from repeating the same motions day in and day out or staying in the same postures all day long.
RSI is developed gradually over time and the problem areas can be in many places--fingers, wrists, forearms, shoulders, neck, back, etc--that is why it is hard for doctors to diagnose and prescribe solid treatments. Pills, shots, and surgery are the usual medical prescriptions, but those are only temporary solutions as they focus on the symptoms rather than the root causes. So what is the root cause? It's different for each person, but in general, it's the amount of time you spend on the computer, it's the way you work i.e. bad posture and less than ergonomical environments, and it's your lifestyle i.e. the lack of regular exercise.
Recovery Expectation
Unless you can drastically reduce your computer usage, restoring your body to the way it once was may not be realizable. I had a supervisor who told me his RSI went away, but what he didn't realize is that it went away because he became a supervisor. He spends most of his day in meetings rather than in front of the computer now.
I'm going to assume that most of you don't have a managerial position lined up and quitting your day job probably isn't an option at this time.
RSI is not an injury that heals and goes away.
If you continue to work long hours on the computer, then RSI must be continually managed in order to keep it at bay.
The goal is to have you working at the computer for as long as your job requires and experience nearly no pain or discomfort.
In order to achieve this goal, you must be proactive and take ownership of your own health.
It is up to you whether to make use of my advices.
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