Pressure on a nerve only partly explains the pain of repetitive strain injury. Why can some people work at a word processor all day for years and be fine, while repetitive tasks soon injure others?
The answer: different people use their muscles differently. Muscle tension and bracing are usually involved in repetitive strain injuries. Even if you sit at an ergonomically correct work station, if you are unconsciously hunching forward, breathing shallowly, or tensing your jaw, neck, shoulders, back, or arms as you work, this can cause muscle strain and excessive pulling on tendons that normally glide smoothly through other tissues. Chronic, sometimes severe, pain can result. People who are unlikely to experience a repetitive strain injury are able to relax and rest their muscles, even while working. Learning this skill is not difficult, and can be done with biofeedback in order to prevent and recover from the injury. What Is Biofeedback? Biofeedback is a safe, noninvasive, painless, and effective use of instruments, now usually computerized, to provide continuous information about subtle changes in aspects of your body’s functioning related to your symptoms. Its purpose is to teach
