What Are the Different Types of Repetitive Strain Injuries?

In simple medical terms, repetitive force injury is defined as a type of cumulative trauma caused by repeated repeated exertion or clumsy hand movements. Coupled with poor working postures and postures, inappropriate furniture, poorly designed keyboards, heavy or fast workloads, serious muscle, tendon, and nerve injuries to the shoulders, neck, forearms, and hands are built, Causes you pain, weakness, numbness or impaired motor performance. "Repetitive stress injury" does not happen in an instant, it is years after years, unknowingly entangled with computer users. If it is not treated, it may cause irreparable damage to your hands. Once severely injured, your hands are no longer flexible, and intermittent and repeated re-injuries will often bother you.

Repetitive stress injury

Repetitive train injury (RSI), or repetitive strain injury, muscle injury, and repetitive motion injury, refers to the damage caused by repeated use of a group of muscles for a long time. Guitar, typing, working on the assembly line, certain ball games (baseball, tennis, golf) can all cause RSI. It is a common occupational disease. Pain, swelling, stiffness, and fatigue are all symptoms of RSI. It doesn't happen in an instant, it's years and years, unknowingly entangled with computer users. If left untreated, it may cause irreparable damage to the hands, and once severely injured, the hands will no longer be flexible. But by this time, nerves, muscles, and connective tissues have often been severely damaged.

Major symptoms of repetitive stress injury

Many people wait until they can't hold things, or they feel inexplicable as soon as they do something, before they know they have repetitive stress injury; but at this time, often nerves, muscles and connective tissues have already been seriously damaged. Although it started with the keyboard, it may also have a major impact on your daily life, such as: no way to open the door or hold the phone, or even "cannot work".

Repeated power injury (3 photos)

With the widespread application of office automation and computers, some operations are moving towards high-speed, single, and repetitive features. Forced posture takes up an increasing proportion of operations. Forced posture refers to when a certain part of the body is in an unnatural state. Posture, such as operating the computer, because the keyboard has a certain height, the wrist must be dorsiflexed at a certain angle, at this time the wrist is in a forced posture. Being in a forced posture for a long time will inevitably lead to diseases of the musculoskeletal system. Among them, the main parts involved in the computer operation are the waist, neck, shoulders, elbows, and wrists. The following briefly introduces the injuries in these areas.

Repetitive injury injury waist injury

Because the design of the table and seat in many computer operations does not conform to ergonomic principles, the operator's waist is often in a forward leaning position, and professional computer operators often maintain a fixed posture for work for a long time, which will lead to Operators' waist injuries are mainly manifested as waist soreness. In severe cases, lumbar muscle strain and intervertebral disc degeneration can occur. This is a chronic disease and one of the main causes of worker disability.

Repetitive injury injury neck injury

Similarly, when the VDT operator performs the operation, the neck is generally in a forward leaning posture. If this posture is maintained for a long time, it will cause strain on the neck soft tissue and damage to the intervertebral disc. This is collectively known as cervical spondylosis. The main symptom is neck. Partial soreness, severe cases can compress the neck nerves, causing symptoms such as radial pain and dizziness.

Repetitive Injury Shoulder Injury

Because the upper arm is usually in the forward state when typing on the keyboard, the main muscle that maintains the forward extension of the upper arm is the trapezius muscle. The continued tension of the trapezius muscle can also cause shoulder pain. This symptom often coexists with neck symptoms, so it is called shoulder and neck syndrome.

Lumbar spine

. Repetitive stress injury . Elbow injury

When the keyboard is tapped, because the keyboard is higher than the console, the wrist is often in an upturned state, that is, dorsiflexion, and the wrist extensor muscles continue to be tense during the wrist dorsiflexion, which can cause the operator's elbow symptoms, which are painful, and the wrist Pain intensifies during dorsiflexion, often called humeral epicondylitis, also known as tennis elbow.

Repetitive Injury Wrist Injury

In computer operations, the most frequent site is the wrist. The survey found that 60% of VDT operators complained of wrist pain and hand spasms, which were five times higher than non-VDT operators. During the operation, the wrist must not only keep the dorsiflexion constantly, but also constantly stretch to flex the keyboard, so the combination of forced posture and frequent activities makes the wrist symptoms more common and serious.

First look at the anatomy of the wrist. The palm side of the wrist is a hard transverse wrist ligament, and the dorsal side is the carpal bone. The ligament and the carpal bone surround a tubular structure called the carpal tunnel. The carpal tunnel has the median nerve passing through it. When the wrist is in dorsiflexion, the force produced by the wrist extensors acts on the ligament, thereby compressing the median nerve in the carpal tunnel. In addition, the wrist flexes and stretches continuously, which can cause the tendon to rub against the ligaments and bones that make up the carpal tunnel. This friction can stimulate the synovium of the tendon, cause bursitis, and increase the thickness of the synovium. In addition, this stimulation can also Inflammation of the tendon, causing tendinitis, and at the same time pressing the median nerve causes carpal tunnel syndrome. The main symptom of carpal tunnel syndrome is paresthesia in the median nerve distribution (mainly the thumb, forefinger, and palmar side of the middle finger). As the symptoms worsen, the patient may experience pain and paresthesia at night. If the symptoms continue to develop, they can be centered Nerve damage further causes skin sensation loss and loss of muscle strength of the interstitial muscle, and interstitial muscle atrophy may occur in the later stage.

Women are more likely to develop repetitive stress syndrome than men. This is because women's wrist canals are usually smaller than men's, making the median wrist nerves more vulnerable to compression. In addition, pregnant women and patients with chronic diseases are more susceptible to this disease. It is estimated that 18-31% of pregnant women will develop the disease for a short period of time. This is caused by swelling of their hands caused by water in their bodies, but usually within two weeks after delivery. Will heal.

Repeatedly make the injury injury finger hair shake

Some people are often guests in chat rooms or BBS, and they can type and chat quickly. After a long time, you will find that your fingers are shaking constantly and your thumb is painful. It turns out that computers make you a member of the Repetitive Injury Syndrome.

Repeated stress injury fat fingers

I believe that everyone will not forget their step from using a pen and exercise book to typing with a keyboard. When you think of your fingers on the dazzling keyboard as busy as an ant on a hot pot, you may lose your laughter.

The letter "P" at the top right of the keyboard always seems to be particularly lonely. In fact, for the beginner, the first letter, number, punctuation, and other function keys on the keyboard are like a piece of sand for beginners. It is not easy to figure out the position of any key. There was a sequential distribution at the right time.

The layout of a standard typewriter keyboard began in the late 18th century. The reason for this layout was not to make the typewriter's dexterous fingers type faster. On the contrary, because typing was almost a patent job for women, and women's mobile phones Slim and flexible, the designers designed the typewriter keyboard like this to slow down their typing speed, so that the typewriter's link would not type too fast, the link of one letter had not been lifted, and the other letter The connecting rod knocked up again, resulting in a "catching up" event.

Ironically, computer technology is advancing at lightning speed. Typing is no longer the patent of a female secretary, but requires the skills that everyone has. Standard typewriter keyboards have never been so popular. However, there are uncertain factors in the popularity of standard typing keyboards, especially those who have encountered "fat finger" incidents, and they hate this type of keyboard that is easy to make mistakes.

"Fat fingers" is a special term that refers to typos that occur when you type the wrong key. The world does not know how many such "fat finger" incidents occur every day, and it is frightening that sometimes such typos can have disastrous consequences. In early December 2007, a trader on the Tokyo Stock Exchange lost 190 million pounds just because he typed a wrong letter! It turned out that a computer that was supposed to cancel the transaction failed to type the "cancel order", but the dealer did not find this error, and the effect continued, resulting in an amazing loss. The incident also led to the resignation of the director of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Common causes of repetitive stress injury

1. Sitting in a narrow desk for a long time without walking, blood circulation is reduced, and the possibility of it being coagulated will increase. Failure to move your feet for long periods of time can cause blood clots in the deep veins of your feet, which can block blood vessels. Once sizable blood clots (blood clots) form and flow into the lungs through blood vessels, oxygen input is blocked. Large blood clots can be fatal within 4 minutes.

2. Due to poor blood circulation, the heart and brain cannot get adequate nutrition. People who sit in the office often have symptoms such as headache, dizziness, fatigue, and memory loss.

3 The most popular occupational disease in the computer age is the severe physical and emotional pain caused by the computer, the so-called repetitive stress syndrome, or RSI for short. Soreness, nerves to tendons in hands and arms.

When you feel tingling, numbness or loss of touch in your hands and arms, become heavy, awkward, and stiff, it is difficult to make a fist and extend your palms, your hands are cold, you cannot use them freely, and you lack control or coordination. It is very likely that you have RSI .

Repetitive stress injury epidemiology

The bane of repetitive injury

Britons will not make full use of the T9 smart input method on mobile phones, as more than 3.8 million Britons have complained of finger pain caused by texting in the past year.

And in 2005, more than 38% of people had Repetitive Injury Injury (RSI) caused by text messaging, and 10% of the statistics sent more than 100 text messages per day.

The above statistics are a comprehensive survey commissioned by Virgin Mobile, but if they want to see this result, they should be very sorry to encounter the first wave of related lawsuits caused by mobile text messaging (SMS). Lawsuit. It's as if the beautiful XT9 mobile platform interface was unfavorable when it was first launched. Objective To observe the curative effect of acupuncture combined with behavioral medical therapy on repeated force-induced injuries. Methods: To select 102 patients with repeated force-induced injury, and randomly divide them into acupuncture combined with behavioral medical therapy observation group of 62 cases, and acupuncture combined control group of 40 cases. Statistical analysis and comprehensive curative effect evaluation of pain degree, functional status, course of treatment, and recurrence rate after healing, the results showed that the difference between the rate of recurrence and healing rate of acupuncture combined with behavioral medical therapy and acupuncture alone was very significant (P <0.01) . Conclusion Combined with behavioral medical therapy based on acupuncture, correcting bad behavior habits of patients, it has a good effect on the treatment of repetitive injury.

Hidden danger of repetitive injury

In the era of office workers, occupational diseases are increasing rapidly, mainly due to some symptoms caused by long-term use of computers. With a new term to define, it is called repetitive force injury syndrome.

As the name suggests, repetitive force injuries are caused by repeated actions and actions, such as typing and using the mouse repeatedly every day. When some movement restrictions prevent normal blood circulation, muscles and tendons are also damaged. Working with a computer for a long time, improper movements, poor working environment, incorrect posture, insufficient muscle health, old patients and muscle tension can all cause this symptom. In addition, since women have smaller muscles and are more prone to fatigue, this symptom will be more likely to appear on them; and their menstrual cycle will increase the chance of nerve compression.

What kind of work environment, in the personal and private areas of the office, should always be unique and desirable. You should pay attention to the engineering design of the surrounding equipment-they are not tailor-made for people! To be protected in the work environment requires trial and error and requires personal verification. Here are some ways to help with a simple test.

Find the right table and chair! Most of the work has prepared tables and chairs for people. So how do you get the best? Your chair should be of a proper height to allow you to sit comfortably and to place your feet flat on the ground. In addition, you should cultivate the correct sitting position, and don't crouch or collapse.

Use the right tools! People's display screens and eyes should be kept at a comfortable distance, about 20-30 inches away from the face. Whether looking at the display or keyboard, you shouldn't need to move your head. In addition, if you press lightly on the keyboard, the finger muscles will not easily fatigue. Try a few different mice and sliders! Because these tools require a long time to manipulate small movements, it is easy to damage your fingers and wrists. Be careful!

Shake regularly! Taking regular breaks will allow people to switch postures and stretch their back, hand, arm and arm muscles, thereby reducing the risk of repetitive stress injuries. Simple stretching exercises, turning your shoulders, or even opening it up and refilling it with water are all good ways to take a break. Don't feel guilty about taking a break! The boss doesn't want you to take sick leave frequently, and waste medical expenses! However, please don't abuse the privilege of taking a break and become an excuse for laziness! When you start to feel tired or have a slight pain in your wrist, take a break! I believe it will help!

Timed exercise! Exercise keeps your muscles in good shape, making them less susceptible to fatigue and injury. Maintaining muscle elasticity is one of the keys to preventing repeated force injuries. Again: exercise can definitely help reduce stress, and of course it can help you eliminate cellulite, which has multiple benefits!

Watch your body! If you feel pain, it means that your body is sending a warning sign. There is always something wrong! Repeated force injuries are difficult to detect and slow to deteriorate, but even minor pain should be taken care of! No matter who is working at the computer for more than a few hours, they are at high risk!

Repetitive Injury Prevention Measures

1. Do warm-up exercises for your fingers before using the computer. First, let your fingers fist for 10 seconds and then release them. Then let your ten fingers stretch for 10 seconds. Repeat 10 times each time to increase the softness of the tendon.

2. You should be sitting directly in front of the computer screen and keyboard. At the same time, you should pay attention to your body is naturally straight, lean forward slightly, double pedal, and the knee height is slightly lower than the hip joint.

3. Do not place the keyboard too low. The height is subject to the use of the arm in a natural drooping condition, and the angle between the forearm and the wrist should be parallel, so as not to cause the angle between the forearm and the wrist to be too large, which may cause the wrist and elbow parts. Tendonitis.

4. Don't hit the keyboard and mouse buttons too hard, just use moderate force, so as not to cause trigger finger.

5. The ideal desk height is about 66-81 cm from the ground, the keyboard height is about 68-78 cm, the screen height is about 84-106 cm, and the distance from the eye to the screen is about 38-76 cm.

6. Placing a mouse pad can reduce the pressure on the elbow and help prevent "carpal tunnel syndrome". In addition, avoiding typing in the air can also reduce the possibility of "tennis elbow".

7. It is very important to take a proper rest at work. It is best to stop for a break every 30 minutes and do arm, finger extensions, or some bending, twisting, and turning your head.