What is rsi list 3 symptoms

Overexertion is typically caused by repetitive movements, sudden motions, prolonged effort, incorrect technique, or mental exhaustion. Learn more about measuring your peak flow rate and 7 meters on the market. Vitamin D has numerous health benefits, but it's tricky to know which supplement to choose. Here are 13 of the best vitamin D supplements, according…. Snuff is a dried form of tobacco that can raise your risk of health problems.

Learn how to quit, starting today. Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. Medically reviewed by Alana Biggers, M. RSIs are common and may be caused by many different types of activities, including: using a computer mouse typing swiping items at a supermarket checkout grasping tools working on an assembly line training for sports Some common RSIs are: carpal tunnel syndrome bursitis rotator cuff tendonitis tennis elbow Keep reading to learn more about this type of injury.

What are the symptoms of RSI? What are causes and risk factors for RSI? How is RSI diagnosed? How is RSI treated? Tips for preventing RSI. Read this next. Avoid Shoulder Pain at Work. Medically reviewed by William Morrison, M. RSI refers to a wide variety of problems. An RSI can affect almost any movable part of the human body.

RSIs are associated with repetitive tasks, forceful exertions, vibrations, mechanical compression, and sustained or awkward positions. Other names include repetitive motion injuries, repetitive motion disorder RMD , cumulative trauma disorder CTD , occupational overuse syndrome, overuse syndrome, and regional musculoskeletal disorder.

Here are some activities and equipment that can increase the risk :. A doctor will normally be able to diagnose an RSI through a physical examination and by asking questions about the sort of repetitious tasks the patient does regularly, what causes the discomfort, and when it tends to happen.

Type 1 RSI is a musculoskeletal disorder. Symptoms usually include swelling and inflammation of specific muscles or tendons. Type 2 RSI has a range of causes. It is often related to nerve damage resulting from work activities.

Types of treatment that are commonly used include :. It can be difficult to prevent an RSI from developing or worsening if the cause is related to work or other necessary activities. Taking breaks : Taking regular breaks from a repetitive task can help. An alarm can act as a reminder to take short breaks. Stand up : Standing up and stretching frequently can reduce the risk. Extend the back, arms, and fingers. Eye break : Rest the eye muscles by looking up and staring for a moment at objects in the distance.

General health : Eat healthfully and get regular exercise to keep your body resilient, and avoid smoking, as this reduces blood flow. The following guidelines may help prevent the most common complaints:. Here are a few of the many conditions that are linked to RSI , although these conditions may also stem from other causes:. Bursitis : The fluid-filled sac near a knee, elbow, or shoulder joint becomes inflamed and swollen. Most of them you can easily do in your office during breaks, which you should take every hour or so.

Wall stretch : This is my favorite stretch. It is great for stretching out the shoulder, arm, wrist, and hand all at once. Extend the arm along a wall, with arm parallel to the ground and palm facing wall.

Attempt to open chest so that shoulders are perpendicular to arm. Extend fingers and palm away from wall as much as possible. Your hand may tingle - this is OK. Hold for seconds. Try with the arm at different angles.

Repeat on other side. Doorway : This stretches the pecs and shoulder. Hold elbow at a right angle, and place forearm along door frame, as shown. Lunge forward, keeping chest and pelvis facing squarely forward. Hold seconds. Try holding arms at different angles.

Back and neck strengthening : The other thing I do that really helps is an exercise that involves one of those big exercise balls, a long dowel rod, and a couple of 3 or 2 pound dumbbells. You get on your knees, lay your chest on the ball, put the rod on your back so that it makes contact with your rear, back, and head to keep the spine neutral.

The ball should be big enough so that the rod is sloping slightly up. Then just slowly raise the dumbbells off the ground and lower back down. You can have the arms at different angles, but start with them extending behind you, as that is easier.

Also try turning your head from side to side occasionally as you go, to activate the neck muscles. You do not need heavy weights for this exercise to be effective, and heavy weights may in fact strain your already fatigued muscles.

Correct breathing : It's amazing how stress and computer use can corrupt our natural way of breathing. Don't worry that it is written for choirs, there's a lot of useful info for everyone. Eye palming : A relaxation technique for the eyes is to place your fingers crossed over your forehead and cover the eyes with your palms. Do not apply pressure to the eyeball. Just concentrate on the blackness for a while. Another simple but great technique is to just look out the window at a distant scene.

If you want to eliminate the root causes of RSI, you must focus more on stretching, strengthening, and re-educating the core muscles of your body responsible for maintaining proper alignment and posture. It is not possible for me to explain how to do this here. Yoga and Pilates can also be learned from books and videos, but it is usually better to learn from a teacher and to practice with a group. Personally, I have derived benefit from yoga, Pilates, and especially the Alexander techique.

More articles on posture, balance, etc. Every hour or so, get up and walk around, get a drink of water, stretch whatever muscles are tight, and look out the window at a far off object to rest your eyes.

Use good posture. If you can't hold good posture, it probably means it's time for you to take a break from typing. If you are perpetually struggling to maintain good posture, you probably need to adjust your workstation or chair, or develop some of the support muscles necessary for good posture. Use an ergonomically optimized workstation to reduce strain on your body. Exercise regularly. Include strengthening, stretching, and aerobic exercises.

I find yoga and Pilates especially helpful. Only use the computer as much as you have to. Don't email people when you could walk down the hall or pick up the phone and talk to them. It's not only better for your hands - it's friendlier. Think before you type to avoid unnecessary editting. Don't stretch for the hard-to-reach keys, e. Instead, move your entire hand so that you may press the desired key with ease.

This is crucial when you are programming or typing something in LaTeX, where non-letter keys are used extensively. Let your hands float above the keyboard when you type, and move your entire arm when moving your mouse or typing hard-to-reach keys, keeping the wrist joint straight at all times. This lets the big muscles in your arm, shoulder, and back do most of the work, instead of the smaller, weaker, and more vulnerable muscles in your hand and wrist. If you find it difficult to do this, then your shoulder and back muscles are probably too weak.

When writing, avoid gripping the writing utensil tightly. Someone should be able to easily pull the writing utensil out of your hand when you are writing. If your pen or pencil requires you to press too hard, get a new one my favorite is Dr. Grip Gel Ink Realize that you are not invincible.

RSI can happen to you. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Be prepared to make some changes in your lifestyle and your computer habits. In particular, make an extra effort to follow the guidelines laid out in the previous section on prevention. Following these guidelines can decrease your recovery time, and help you avoid relapses in the future.

OK, it's not always quite that easy. Very few people have the luxury of being able to avoid typing altogether. However, if you think carefully, you'll find there are many ways to eliminate unnecessary typing from your life.

For example, instead of sending e-mail, use the phone, or better yet, get out of your chair, walk down the hall, and speak face-to-face to the person. Drop out of your fantasy baseball league. Rely on newspapers and books for information, and stop surfing the Web so much.

Instead of playing solitaire on the computer, buy yourself a real deck of cards, and play it the old-fashioned way. Just check your email twice a day. Et cetera. In general, eliminate unnecessary computer use from your life. And a whole lot of it is unnecessary. It may seem like a sacrifice, but your health is worth it. One technique I use is the following: when I am at my office, throughout the day I use an index card to record all of the e-mails I wish to send.

I keep the index card in my back pocket. Then as soon as I get home from work, I will use my dictation software to compose all of the e-mails in one sitting. This has many advantages: it saves me from the tendency to type quick e-mails with my hands while at work; I am less distracted by e-mail at work; if you don't respond to an e-mail right away, sometimes the need to ever respond goes away; once people learn that you don't respond to e-mails right away, they send you less e-mail.

For typing that you just can't avoid, consider using voice activated software , or arrange to have someone type for you. Grad students, you might ask your deparment coordinator if there are any clerical assistants that you could borrow.

If you believe that you may have developed RSI, the first thing you should do is to implement all of the prevention strategies outlined above. If you find that your situation continues to worsen, you should consider seeking professional medical advice.

A general rule of thumb is that if your hands still hurt a couple of days after you last typed, you need to see a doctor. If you have RSI, finding a good doctor or physical therapist is definitely worth the time and money.

Unfortunately, finding a doctor who is competent to diagnose and treat RSI can be a challenge. Some doctors doubt the existence of RSI, and many others dismiss it as an insignificant problem. Some doctors don't know the first thing about treatment, while others encourage their patients to undergo unnecessary and possibly dangerous surgery in hope of a quick fix. With that in mind, know that you must be careful and selective when choosing a physician.

Most general practicioners will be unable to give you specific advice. However, your primary care physician can still be a valuable ally. If he or she can recommend a good physical therapist, and is willing to write you a prescription for PT, that is often the best way to go. The PT can diagnose you and formulate a treatment plan.