Repetative Strain Injury Research Called For

Research into the causes and treatment of repetitive strain injury is urgently needed for the millions of sufferers worldwide, say experts.

Decades after RSI was first reported, evidence is still lacking to guide diagnosis and care, The Lancet reports.

Unless clear definitions and evidence of effective treatments are found, RSI will remain controversial, says Dutch author Professor Maurits van Tulder. RSI is an umbrella term for disorders that stem from repetitive movements.

Several countries report statistics showing that RSI affects 5% to 10% of the population. For some occupations, such as dressmakers and secretaries, this goes up to 40%. According to the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, almost 450,000 UK workers have upper limb RSI. And between 2003 and 2004, about 4.7m work days were lost to RSI, as workers took an average 18 days sick leave. Many cases of RSI involve painful hands, wrists, arms, shoulders and neck, and are associated with modern desk work involving computer equipment such as keyboards and mice.

Sadly, RSI amongst children is an increasing risk given the amount of computer gaming done by choildren in theri bedrooms as mroe and mroe parents buy in IT equipment for their children, both for learnign pruposes and as a leisure activity.

However, the plethira of mobile phone usage amongst children, with some as young as 6 years old beign given them, is a worry. Texting has alrwady seen a number of cases of RSI amongst children with soem sending up to 30 texts per day!

Research by CWU USRs done severla eyars ago showed the link between computer games, mobile phone texting and increasing levels of RSI amonsgt children.

Professor van Tulder, who looked at the available evidence on RSI to date, explained: "No gold standard tests for RSI exist. Strong recommendations for any therapeutic intervention cannot be made at present.

"The disorder will remain controversial until high-quality trials provide clear definitions of repetitive strain injury and evidence of effective treatments."

A British expert, Professor Peter Buckle from the University of Southampton, said that there was an urgent need for more research.

He said: "Given the prevalence in the working population, it's disappointing we have such a paucity of high quality evidence about diagnosis and treatment."

Many organisations were blind to the fact that they had massive problems with RSI," he added.

He advised: "Often when people are finally diagnosed with RSI their condition is often much worse, so it is important that people not only try to prevent it happening in the first place, but also consult a doctor as early as possible.

Source: BBC News

 

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