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Thread: Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI).

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    Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI).

    Recently I have been diagnosed with RSI in my right wrist from using a mouse at work.

    This injury is now stopping me from playing tennis.

    Over this weekend at the Midland Swing Open I had to really reduce the amount of dancing that I did as I was getting shooting pains in my wrist. I had to refuse about 10 women, fortunately they all new me and could see from the wrist support that I was having problems.

    I tried to MJ on Sunday which I found to be considerably easier, l hope things improve over next weekend at Breeze otherwise this could be a weekend from hell for moi.

    Has anyone else been diagnosed with this problem within our dancing community and what have you done to allow yourself to continue to dance.

    Any helpfull suggestions would be welcome and Yes I do use my left hand.

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    Basically lazy robd's Avatar
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    Re: Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI).

    I experience elbow and wrist pains from time to time when dancing. Not sure if it is RSI (I do use a mouse a lot at work and at home) but it can become a real problem for whips and other closed hold dancing if it is the right arm giving me problems. Unfortunately I have found no cure when I do experience it other than rationing the amount of dancing I do until it feels better.

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    Senior Member zimbabwean's Avatar
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    Re: Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI).

    Try using your mouse with your left hand, takes a while to get used to but works, i had a similar problem a few years ago and a freind suggested swapping hands and no probs since then.

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    Registered User Nessiemonster's Avatar
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    Re: Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI).

    When I had RSI in my right hand at uni (too much using up/down arrows in the days before Windows and mice) I was prescribed ibuprofen to take down the inflamation. That really helped.

    Unfortunately though, it's caused by an inflamation and irritation of the tendons through over-use - so the only real way to make it better is to stop using your right hand for a while to let them heal. (I learnt to brush my teeth, brush my hair etc left-handed, though could already write left-handed albeit badly. The plus side - couldn't peel spuds or wash the dishes!! )

    I'd recommend you talk to your doctor about ways to balance your hobbies with healing. I wouldn't advocate just popping loads of ibuprofen without medical advice though.

    I hope you're recovered soon.

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    Re: Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI).

    Rest is the only cure, helped by anti-inflammatories. I had RSI in my middle finger of the right hand when I was working in the USA - caused by the most ergonomically unsound mouse I've ever used (part of a Sun workstation). I had to swap mouse hands like Zimbabwean suggests (took me weeks to get used to it) and the doctor actually gave me a splint for the middle finger which left it pointing straight out like a posh person's little finger when drinking tea . Even with rest it took a couple of months for my finger to be symptom free.

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    Registered User knightengale's Avatar
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    Re: Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI).

    I found that the "powerball" things are really good for wrist injuries and strenght. Although depending on the pain rest might be best first

    Powerball

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    Re: Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI).

    Quote Originally Posted by Gerry View Post
    Recently I have been diagnosed with RSI in my right wrist from using a mouse at work.
    I had Tennis elbow a few years back and whilst we never identified the cause, ultrasound treatment seemed to speed the recovery.

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    Registered User Trousers's Avatar
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    Re: Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI).

    There are loads of possible stretching exercises that can help you Gerry.

    The GF has a similar issue and has been shown some stretches.

    The most effective one was bending the hand down at the wrist (the opposite of a stop signal you would make with your hand) then the other hand pushes the problem hand further - till it hurts was I think the prescribed pressure.

    If you look sur la web there are lots too

    Michelle also wears (when her wrists are very bad) elbow wraps that contain a plate or disk that puts pressure on one of the upper forearm muscles this relieves the pain as well.

    These have made a big improvement.

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    Re: Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI).

    I had exactly this and was off for work for 2 months. It is generally caused by a stiff back. The best exercise I found - which completed cured it, was to kneel down and then reach forward with the arms - so that the end up taking the weight of your upperbody. Then try and invert the spine while keeping the head inline with your upperbody (and not towards your hands).

    Another exercise is to lie down on your back and to stretch your arms out above your head - trying to stretch the spine.

    Doing these two should get you fixed.

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    Registered User TurboTomato's Avatar
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    Re: Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI).

    I take it you're making sure that you have a mouse mat with a wrist rest and a wrist rest for your keyboard as well? If not then do this straight away, and get your employer to pay for it. Also make sure that your keyboard is as flat as possible, and not angled upwards. This should reduce the strain on your wrist.

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    Re: Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI).

    I used to get wrist problems too, sometimes it would almost seize up completely.

    Switching to using my left hand for the mouse seemed to help a lot, the occurences became more infrequent and I can't remember when the last one was now. I only use the mouse left handed at work and don't swap the button functions over so that it isn't a problem to use either hand when I need.

    I've also seen some computer mice that position your hand such that your thumb is across the top and the back of your hand is at right angles to the desk, which supposedly put a lot less twisting strain into your arm and wrist. But just swapping hands has been enough for me. Just takes a couple of weeks and then it feels quite natural.

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    Re: Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI).

    Quote Originally Posted by TurboTomato View Post
    I take it you're making sure that you have a mouse mat with a wrist rest and a wrist rest for your keyboard as well? If not then do this straight away, and get your employer to pay for it. Also make sure that your keyboard is as flat as possible, and not angled upwards. This should reduce the strain on your wrist.
    I'd be a little bit careful with this - yes, some people say that wrist rests are helpful, but I used to run H&S/workstation training courses and lastest advice was that any kind of wrist rest could cause more damage.

    Mostly because of compression onto the wrist itself, which can restrict blood flow, worsen any inflammation & prevent the smooth movement of the tendon within the sheath. If it's carpal tunnel syndrome, tendons are enlarged anyway and the bones and ligaments in the wrist pinch the nerves that reach the fingers/thumb. Wrist rests also restrict full movement of the arm, so forcing you to repeat those constant tiny motions which possibly caused the problem in the first place.

    In light of this, our company policy had to change from advocating wrist rests to advising against them. People could request them, but were told that they should only be used when not actually using the mouse or keyboard, i.e. only for resting between bouts of typing or mouse work.

    What your company really need to do is arrange a proper, independent ergonomic assessment for you. The problems could have been caused by all kinds of different things, and nobody can really give you any valid advice without seeing you and the way you work at your computer. I've heard all kinds of stories about companies randomly dishing out 'ergonomic' keyboards without determining which type (if any) is actually needed, or without giving any training on them; also instances where a thumb mouse has been given, when a worker suffers from carpal tunnel and this is exactly the wrong piece of equipment for them.

    So the assessment and solution must be personal to YOU. Also, very importantly, make sure that every report you make and receive about this at work is in writing and kept for at least 5 years.

    In the meantime, I do agree with the advice of not having a tilt to your keyboard - some people even suggest that a negative tilt (i.e. just having a half centimeter prop under the front half of your keyboard) is very helpful for keeping your wrists straight and ensures you sit with better posture. Also, little things like keeping the mouse very close in front of you (getting a compact keyboard, if necessary, with a separate numberpad), & keeping it clean so that you are not using extra force to get a sticky mouse working, etc.

    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Darcy View Post
    ... I've also seen some computer mice that position your hand such that your thumb is across the top and the back of your hand is at right angles to the desk, which supposedly put a lot less twisting strain into your arm and wrist....
    Yes, these are supposedly very good, since it's much more of a natural position - I mean, if you let your arms drop into your lap, they will do so with the thumbs uppermost.

    Rachel

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