RSI syndrome: help with tennis or mouse armEven small movements can become a painful experience with tennis or mouse arm. What preventive measures. Therapies are recommended? Exercises against pain in the forearm and upper arm.
Many people sit at the computer for eight hours or more every day and remain in fixed positions. Therefore, faulty and overloaded hand and arm can occur quickly. Overloads become noticeable relatively quickly at the elbow joint. Above all, if one executes the same movements again and again without longer breaks. According to estimates, more than five million Germans suffer from so-called mouse arm. Repetitive Strain Injury Syndrome (RSI), as it is referred to by medical professionals, is caused by placing the arm in a slightly bent position on the computer mouse and making many small, similar movements.
First signs
Loss of strength and insensitivity in the arm or hand are the first symptoms. Concrete pain does not occur until later. Already at the first symptoms it is recommended to prevent the overload of the arm and the associated pain with simple measures and exercises. A permanent wrong posture of the arm when working at the PC. Constant repetitive movements can lead to chronic overuse of the muscles. Then there is no way around medical or physiotherapeutic treatment.
Preventive measures
Prevent mouse arm by making sure you have an ergonomic workstation. A comfortable and as natural as possible sitting and working posture should be ensured. Choose a sitting position and height so that the legs are at a right angle when the soles of the feet touch the floor. A mouse pad with a wrist rest can prevent the joint from buckling. Initially unfamiliar, but usually helpful, can be ergonomic keyboards that are curved in the middle, so that the arms can remain more in their natural position.
Avoid movement monotony over several hours. Regular rest for the affected hand or arm in combination with stretching exercises can help against initial symptoms and prevent mouse arm. Switch between mouse and keyboard again and again when working on the computer.
Small exercises you can easily integrate into your daily routine. Clench your hands into a fist. Now hold the tension for a short moment. Then slowly release them until your fingers are completely extended. You can also press your hands against a wall. Angle your wrists at the same time. Hold the tension for a short moment. After that shake out your arms.
Not only people who work at the computer are affected by the pain. Tennis players and craftsmen also perform monotonous movements that affect the tendons in the forearm. Constant overloading of the muscles can cause minimal tears in the tendons that connect the muscles to the bone. This puts prere on the nerves that control the hand and arm muscles. In the worse case, the pain becomes chronic. The most important contact is the orthopedist, who can already counteract at an early stage with measures such as cold or heat treatment, ointment dressings and anti-inflammatory medications.
Therapies
Physical therapies such as heat or cold treatment, massage, exercise baths, infrared radiation, or shock wave therapy can relieve pain and improve long-term well-being. Shock wave therapy is said to reduce inflammation after short, high-prere sound waves hit the tendon insertion at the elbow.
The respective therapy and procedure must always be individually adapted to the person affected. Even injuries that have already healed can cause pain again through renewed exposure. Therefore, it is important to consistently change working conditions and regularly perform preventive measures. Treatment of mouse arm can be lengthy. It is recommended to perform less monotonous work routines and to stretch the hand and arm every now and then during the activity. In addition, there are so-called orthoses (bandages), which on the one hand support the joint and on the other hand promote blood circulation in the joint.