All Things You Should Know About Repetitive Strain Injury in Computer
Work Wellness

All Things You Should Know About Repetitive Strain Injury in Computer

|Sep 5, 2022
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RSI (Repetitive strain injury) is a common term for the pain that we feel in nerves, tendons, and muscles triggered by overuse and repetitive movement. Upper body parts like the elbows, forearms, wrists, shoulders, necks, heads, and hands are most commonly affected. In order to maintain good posture and relax and strengthen the muscles, a Physiotherapist can advise on repetitive strain injury in computers.

It is an occupational hazard when limbs and digits repeatedly move up and down or side to side for long periods. Some of the repetitive strain injury causes include computer input, assembly line manufacturing, typing, causing serious joint pain, and inflammation. Changing positions and taking breaks at regular intervals could prevent this with an aesthetic desk setup.

What Are the Symptoms of RSI?

What Are the Symptoms of RSI?

A joint, such as the one in hand, that has been injured by repetitive stress injury will never be the same as before it was injured, but it can be healed to the point where it is even more functional and injury-resistant than before. 

As a programming engineer, you face equipment to use, functional tasks, schedules that you must meet, extraneous stresses that you must deal with, and ergonomic setups that you struggle with when you experience repetitive strain injury symptoms (RSI) of the wrists, upper extremities, and hands. The best physicians who treat patients with Repetitive Strain Injury will take into account all factors that perpetuate the condition:

  • A history of injuries and conditions associated with them
  • Complications and anomalies associated with the anatomy
  • Overloading and repeated strains may cause physiological complications
  • Physiological strains and complications caused by ergonomic problems
  • Depressive, inflammatory, sleep disorder, cognitive dysfunction, and excessive stress are perpetuated by endocrine/neurotransmitter factors

What Causes RSI?

what causes RSI

A repetitive strain injury (RSI) occurs when muscles and tendons are overused, specifically the wrists, hands, forearms, elbows, backs, necks, and shoulders. It is most likely that repetitive strain is related to how we perform repetitive tasks on an ongoing basis. RSI can be caused by performing the same repetitive tasks day in and day out in pinching, awkward postures, twisting and gripping without support tools such as a Deltahub minimalistic desk pad.

There are many examples we have seen, including resting your wrists on the desk edge while overusing (not using shortcuts), having your mouse on the desk while your keyboard is on a lower tray, unsupported lifting, demoing, arranging binders and paperwork awkwardly, and putting monitors and shoulders overextended. With the right ergonomic office furniture, a lot of these problems can be prevented.

Carpal tunnel vs. Repetitive Strain Injury

It is important to note that although both conditions have some common symptoms, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) is caused by pressure on the median nerve in the wrist. At the same time, Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) can affect tendons, nerves, and muscles.

Wrists, neck, and hands are most commonly affected by RSI. It is possible that you may suffer from ache, tenderness, pain, numbness, tingling, or stiffness in the affected area. The main difference between RSI and CTS is that CTS often causes weakness in your thumb and makes your grip weaker, whereas RSI may cause pain in your arm or hand, numbness, or tingling.

Repetitive Strain Injury Exercises

Repetitive Strain Injury Exercises

  • Data entry needs to be done in a variety of ways. One of the best repetitive strain injury exercises is using Speech-to-Text as well as Handwriting-to-Text is especially helpful. Taking breaks and resting your wrists is easier this way.
  • Get a feel for the MS Natural Ergonomic Keyboard. Has a similar layout to QWERTY and does not require extensive retraining. A wrist angle that prevents both hands from bending at the wrist is pretty useful for reducing wrist pain.
  • The 'Table Edge' should be covered with a Soft Towel to prevent your wrists from touching it.
  • Change your schedule, and take more breaks. You can only reduce the causes if you apply all the suggestions and follow up with some wrist repetitive strain injury exercises.

Try Using Some Ergonomic Office Tools

Ergonomic Wrist Rest

Maintaining a neutral, relaxed position for one's wrists is important. A wrist rest can help you accomplish that or make your experience more comfortable. The wrists will be better off resting on this surface rather than flopping further down onto a hard surface or resting against a square edge.

Ergonomic Keyboard

Ergonomic Keyboard

You need to consider what kind of discomfort you are experiencing and what type of symptoms you are looking for. Have you noticed how much you bang on the keyboard? The perfect keyboard might be a mechanical one. Is right-handed mousing uncomfortable for your right shoulder? If you are interested in a compact keyboard, you might want to try it.

Autonomous Employee Purchase Program

epp

If you want a new lease on your typing life, then head over to the Autonomous employee purchase program store now. We have multiple ergonomic tools and office accessories you can choose from that cover all aspects of typing and the way you work. In this sale, you can get awesome discounts on the premium Items like DeltaHub Carpio ergonomic wrist rest, split ergonomic keyboards, laptop stands, and more. But that is not all; we even have special pricing on all items in our store, including the ErgoChair and the SmartDesk collection.

We’ve made it easier for you to purchase them where you can charge all your purchases to your company. For this to happen, you would have to log in using your corporate ID. Check our website for more details on setting this payment method up.

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