Repetitive Strain Injury, or RSI for short, is a debilitating, painful and sometimes a hard to understand type of injury. Our Chiropractors in West Vancouver treat RSI conditions every day. The common RSI treated is usually associated with using a mouse and keyboard, but can be caused by other types of prolonged and repetitive actions.
RSI is a blanket term for sharp pain felt in your tendons, nerves, ligaments, and muscles due to repetitive use. Most commonly you’ll feel RSI in your elbows, wrists, neck, and shoulders. Treatments vary across the board and will depend on the severity of your condition.
Doctors take a more symptom-based approach to your RSI problems. The examination and treatment will probably focus on the point of pain only. If it’s a wrist problem, this will mean checking for painful areas or injuries to your wrists mainly.
A Chiropractor, however, will likely take a more holistic approach. An initial exam and proper diagnosis will mainly focus on the cause of your RSI in the first place. Finding the cause offers a good chance in treating and resolving the RSI. Treatment options will then focus on the cause as well a the site of the pain and injury. The treatment also includes offering advice on the best ways to make lifestyle changes to improve your RSI symptoms.
Here at Ambleside Chiropractors in West Vancouver, we’ve helped many patients understand and handle their RSI conditions. Whether it be helping with chiropractic treatments or getting the correct diagnosis on what type of RSI it is, we have the proper tools to do the job. We have seen quick and successful resolution to RSI injuries by using Shockwave Therapy. It is both non-invasive and enhances the body’s natural healing power to get you better fast. Contact our Chiropractor in West Vancouver to find out more about how Shockwave Therapy in West Vancouver can help you get back to a pain-free life again.
Common Symptoms
There are several common symptoms, and these can range from mild to quite severe, changing over time. Pain, stiffness, throbbing, numbness, weakness, and cramps are all symptoms of RSI. You’ll usually first notice them when you’re doing everyday activities. Using a keyboard, doing the washing up, anything that involves repetitive movement of your joints. Tennis elbow is one of the most common types of RSI. In it’s most advanced stage, even holding a cup of coffee on the affected side will be too painful to bear.
It’s best to seek help as soon as you feel those initial sparks of pain or discomfort. That’s because, if left untreated, RSI can scale exponentially, growing worse and more consistent over time. What originally started as an occasional pain while carrying out an activity will become a constant and debilitating pain eventually. Call our West Vancouver Chiropractor as soon as you get the first signs of pain and discomfort.
Causes of RSI – How Changes To Your Lifestyle Can Help
Generally, the first response is to make changes to your lifestyle and activities. Repetitive actions more than likely cause RSI. This painful condition is usually work-related or sports-related, or both. If you have a physical job – where you carry out many repetitive actions regularly – RSI can be a real and severe problem. However, even for those who spend long hours at the desk, poor posture and bad ergonomics can also lead to RSI problems.
Our Chiropractors in West Vancouver see a lot of RSI’s that are caused by regular use of the mouse and keyboard. Unlike other repetitive and manual jobs such as working in factory, this modern cause of RSI is becoming too commonplace. Therefore it’s imperative that maintaining a good posture while working on a computer at a desk is so important. Constantly and repetitively moving your wrist and typing on a keyboard can lead to RSI problems, especially if this is something you do for several hours a day.
Medical professionals will often offer pain relief or anti-inflammatories, as well as other assistance like cold packs or elastic support. Our West Vancouver Chiropractor, however, will not only provide you with preventative suggestions but will treat the symptoms directly with Shockwave Therapy, manipulation, Active Release and home exercises.
How Our Chiropractor in West Vancouver Can Help You With RSI
Our Chiropractor in West Vancouver will take a total approach to help resolve your RSI problems. A specific Chiropractic manipulation to treat an aberrant biomechanical movement in the related joint is one of the methods of treatment used to help with joint, tendon and muscle pain. This type of Chiropractic manipulation usually accompanies soft tissue therapies such as Shockwave Therapy, Stretching, Heat, and Active Release. All these types of treatments can be used to directly target areas where you might feel soreness and pain.
It’s also our Chiropractors in West Vancouver’s job to look at your entire network of bones, tendons, ligaments, muscles, and joints. Your RSI might be caused by any number of other issues or perhaps affect another part of your body. Each case of RSI is unique and will require a specific examination and treatment plan.
Here at Ambleside Chiropractic in West Vancouver, we also offer lots of advice on how to live a healthier lifestyle for your joints, tendons, ligaments and muscles. Tips on how to better sit at work, which sorts of keyboard and mice can help with RSI, are common suggestions. Specific stretches and exercises can have an invaluable effect on your symptoms. Just ask our Chiropractor in West Vancouver anytime you have questions.
If you are experiencing the early symptoms of RSI, our Chiropractor in West Vancouver can help before it gets much worse. At Ambleside Chiropractic in West Vancouver, we’ve helped many patients with a varying degree of RSI severity.
