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Repetitive Motion Injuries |
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Repetitive Motion Injuries
How You Can Help Prevent Injury to Yourself |
This term is used for injuries that occur over a period because of repeated
use. Muscles and joints can become stressed, tendons inflamed, nerves pinched,
and the flow of blood can become restricted. When muscles and tendons are over-used without sufficient time for healing and repair, microscopic tearing occurs. This tearing causes swelling and pain. When it is the hands and wrists that are subjected to this kind of strain, swelling may impinge on the median nerve, which runs through the narrow carpal tunnel at the wrist. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) is the name of one condition that affects the wrist and hands. Irritation to the median nerve at the wrist can lead to a variety of symptoms, such as pain, tingling, numbness, and weakness. By now almost everyone has heard of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome as a computer-related problem. The seemingly sudden appearance of these "repetitive motion injuries" is directly related to the evolution of desktop computing in the modern workplace.
What's happening now is typical of the appearance of any new technology in human history. It took the industrial revolution for us to learn that as a society we wanted safe places to work, free of the dangers of falling into vats of molten steel or having to breathe toxic chemicals. At first, most people didn't give it much thought until the scale of the injuries became clear. SymptomsSymptoms can vary in their severity depending on the amount of exposure the employee has had. Often symptoms appear gradually as muscle fatigue or pain at work that disappears during rest. Sometimes symptoms become more severe as exposure continues (e.g., tingling continues when the employee is at rest, numbness or pain makes it difficult to perform the job, and finally pain is so severe that the employee is unable to perform physical work activities). Symptoms of RMI include:
Please see What to do if You Feel a Repetitive Motion Injury if you feel any of these symptoms. |
The United States bureau of Labor Statistics reports that more than three
hundred thousand cases of Repetitive Motion Injuries (RMIs) are now occurring in
American business each year.