How Pain Begins
Repetitive Strain InjuryActive Release Techniques® provides a means to effectively and rapidly resolve stressful repetative strain injuries without surgical intervention, and allows patients to quickly return to their normal activities.
Repetitive Strain injuries account for over 67 percent of all occupational injuries.
A repetitive strain injury is a soft-tissue injury in which muscles, nerves, ligaments, fascia or tendons become irritated and inflamed, usually as a result of cumulative trauma and overuse.
Unlike strains and sprains, which usually result from a single incident (called acute trauma), a repetative strain injury develops slowly over time. Other names for these injuries include:
- Cumulative Trauma Disorder (CTD).
- Repetitive Motion Injury (RMI)
- Occupational Overuse Syndrome (OOS)
- Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorder (WMSD)
Copyright: Dr. P. Michael Leahy, DC, CCSP
How RSIs Show Themselves
Repetitive strain injuries manifest as a broad range of symptoms and conditions. Acute injury and inflammation can result from one ore more of the following factors even without any external forces being applied:
Friction, Pressure, or Tension - Causes and increase in internal pressures and affects already weakened and tight tissues.
Weak and Tight Tissues - Repetative effort tends to make muscles tighten. A tight muscle tends to weaken; a weak muscle tends to tighten. And on it goes. See diagram below
Decreased Circulation and Increased Edema - Applies increased forces and pressure upon tissues that are already suffering from decreased circulation. Edema results when pressure is applied over one of the vulnerable, low-pressure lymphatic channels.
External Forces - Constant pressure or tension injury can also act to decrease circulation and cause further edema.
Adhesion and Fibrosis - Adhesions and fibers are laid down as a result of acute injury, repetative motion, and constant pressure or tension on soft-tissues.
Celluar hypoxia - Describes a lack of oxygen to soft-tissues that occur whenever there is restricted circulation. Hypoxia causes fibrosis and results in the formation of adhesions between tissues.