You go to lift your coffee mug and you feel a painful twinge in your hand. As you strip a wire, pain shoots through your elbow. You get up from taking a break and your hip sockets protest the movement. You take your work shoes off at the end of the day and you see open blisters on top of a few toes; just like the one on your hand.
These and other painful problems arise from repetitive stress injuries. They are often from doing the same motion too many times, but can also be from too many instances of stress on the same ligament, tendon, patch of skin, or other parts of your body. Usually, the loads involved are small, but they add up and exceed the recovery ability of the affected part. Inflammation is usually present.
Andy goes to school at night for a master’s degree and spends a lot of time typing (fingers apply pressure inward toward the palm). During the day, he terminates wires using a hand-powered crimper and he’s been doing that every day for the past two months (fingers apply pressure inward toward the palm). On the weekend, he helps his son restore an old car and that means quite a bit of wrenching (fingers apply pressure inward toward the palm). He’s developed biceps tendinitis because of the same demands on the same small structures repeatedly. That’s a repetitive stress injury.
Then there’s chronic fatigue. This saps your focus (dangerous for you), and often reduces your productivity (bad for the project). Chronic fatigue is often similar in source to repetitive stress injury, except the affected part of your body tends to be one or more muscle groups. And it’s typically a large group, such as in your legs or back. Usually, the loads are big; not more than you can handle, but handling too many of them means the metabolic damage and waste buildup exceed your recovery ability.
Sam does a long bike ride on the weekend, does a heavy leg workout at the gym on Monday, and helps a buddy move furniture Tuesday evening. Then on Wednesday, he runs out of energy moving bundles of EMT and other materials from the truck to the work area. That’s chronic fatigue.
Prevention
One way to help prevent these kinds of injuries is to get some variety. For example, Andy could have asked his supervisor to let him switch off with Bill, who is pulling wire to the cabinet. Bill has been complaining about his own repetitive stress injury from this, so two people get relief with this change.
Andy can explain to his son that he is going to coach, not wrench, to help restore that car; in this case, it means eliminating a task instead of switching to one. As for all that typing, Andy can learn to use the mouse with his left hand as a way of reducing overuse of the right. And he can look at ergonomic aids.
Another thing Andy can do is look at his tools. Why is he using a thin-handled pair of consumer-grade crimpers? He can step up to a pro-grade pair that will require less pressure to operate; this alone could solve his problem. What about a power tool version, which would be even better?
Sam needs to anticipate what he’s asking his body to do. He knows he’s got to set up a new job on Wednesday, so in preparation for that, he could do a shorter bike ride and reduce the number of sets in his leg workout. He could have told his buddy the furniture needs to wait until the weekend or he can ask somebody else.
In a different situation, Sam’s job requires hiking up and down the stairs. The number of trips and the amount of weight carried can be reduced by thinking ahead. Determining what parts, materials, and tools will be required for a particular project phase can mean several fewer trips without carrying everything but the kitchen sink as a default solution.
Some questions to consider:
- Do you have the most ergonomic tools for the tasks you normally perform?
- Is there a way to prevent repetitive work in the first place? An example is kitting; ask your electrical distributor about it.
- Are the repetitive tasks shared (creates variety for the individual) or individually assigned (leads to repetitive injury for the individual)?
- Do you take regular micro-breaks? A trick used by elite climbers is to flick their hand between moves; you barely notice this because it’s a small movement. All it does is provide a second or less of finger extension but it’s enough to change the tension dynamics in an effective way. If you just made your tenth crimp in a row with your right hand, toss the crimper into your left hand and flick your right-hand fingers a few times.
- Do you take into consideration your off-work activities?
Treatments
Some treatments can relieve symptoms and help aid with healing:
- Flexbar. There are two bicep tendon insertions in the elbow. Inflammation of one gives you golfer’s elbow (also called climber’s elbow) and inflammation of the other gives you tennis elbow. These are forms of tendinitis, and they essentially result from closing the hand instead of opening it. The Flexbar gives you three different exercises for correcting this. It will also help correct related tendon inflammation, such as of the brachialis tendon that also inserts at the elbow.
- Stretches. Many people try to stretch the pain away. The most commonly done stretches actually make things worse. Ask a chiropractor or physical therapist about the correct stretches and how to do them.
- Oral anti-inflammatories. These can help by reducing inflammation to a level that is tolerable. However, don’t make the mistake of using them as a way to allow yourself to keep doing whatever brought on the inflammation. Note that acetaminophen, a very popular anti-inflammatory among athletes, poses significant health risks with sustained use (especially to the liver). And any of these can cause dangerous conflicts with other medications. Turmeric, a member of the ginger family, is what gives mustard its distinctive color. Curcumin is the anti-inflammatory component of turmeric and it’s very effective without the dangers of anti-inflammatory drugs.
- L-Glutamine. This is an amino acid that professional athletes use to enhance recovery. It’s not a magic potion, but it can make a difference. However, the best cure for chronic fatigue is taking some time off from overusing your muscles.
- Soaking. Soaking in hot water, especially with magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt), can help with bursitis, tendon inflammation, and skin inflammation.
- Foam rollers. You can use these to help push blood through the muscles, relieving fatigue in the back and in the legs. Stiff hips, which can be a loss of balance danger, also benefit from this kind of therapy.
- Chiropractic care. Inflammation or poor body mechanics can result in pressure on a nerve. This can severely limit your ability to function. Chiropractic care is likely to relieve it.
- Medical attention. If you have a sharp pain in your hand or foot, it could be due to a stress fracture. No amount of soaking in hot water or using the other treatments above will fix this. It may heal over time, or you may keep re-injuring it. The latter is far more likely than the former. Have a medical professional evaluate the injury and determine a suitable treatment.
As you recover from any of these conditions, think about what brought them on. Making a change there is the best way forward so the injury doesn’t happen again. Generally, people don’t consider prevention important until they’ve endured the results of overlooking it. Skip that middle part and you’ll be ahead of the pain game.
