One of the most common regular injuries people suffer when working or practising sports is also one of the most misunderstood conditions, in no small part because it is not a singular condition.
Whilst it is often described as one condition, Repetitive Strain Injury is a collective term for a range of painful injuries caused by overuse, poor posture or a failure to warm up and rest adequately when you train for a long time.
Conditions such as tennis elbow, carpal tunnels and various forms of nerve compression are often grouped together, but there are certain groups of treatments and avoidance strategies you can try to reduce the risk of RSI and relieve symptoms in the short term.
However, if you are in consistent pain to the point that it is affecting your everyday life, visit your GP a physiotherapist when you can to get you an accurate diagnosis.
Avoid Aggravating
If you feel pain when undertaking a certain activity for a long time, try to limit how much you do that activity without breaks. For example, with pains in the fingers and hands, try to limit the amount of typing you do without a break.
This is not to say you should avoid typing entirely, but trust your body when it is in pain and give yourself a little time to recover.
Use Heat And Cold Therapy
Depending on the nature of the pain, hot and cold packs can be used to help reduce pain and encourage healing, although both are often misunderstood or misused.
Hot packs such as heated gel packs or hot water bottles increase the blood flow to injuries which helps to promote healing, whilst ice packs reduce swelling and pain.
Use either for around 15 minutes, but make sure to wrap both in a towel to avoid the risk of scalding or ice burns.
Try Mitigating Equipment
Once you feel better it is important to set up your training or work environment so it does not happen again, which may involve factoring in additional breaks, the use of support aids such as wrist pads when typing, the use of support gloves for golf and tennis.
For more advice and expert treatment from a sports therapist in Maidenhead, get in touch today.