Tendon Injuries and RSI – What's the difference?

A tendon is a small part of the body that connects muscle to bones. In order to perform movement, muscles need to contract and expand. Muscles do so when they receive signals from the brain. However the movement is brought about because we have bones too. In order that these two work together, there are tendons that connect them. It is understandable, that when a tendon is injured, it becomes difficult to carry out any movement. This is compounded by the fact that tendons take longer to heal since they do not receive as much blood supply as muscles. When a tendon is healing, it excretes a certain fluid, which works like glue trying to stick the tendon to the muscles and the bone. While doing this, it also sticks everything to everything else in that area. This creates swelling and inflammation in that area. Thus, whenever you perform even a small action using those muscles, the tendon gets irritated and causes pain. This is generally known as tendonitis and also known by names like RSI, golfer's elbow, Tennis elbow, Tenosynovitis.

In a tendon injury, complete rest is required, and most doctors will treat it as they treat a fracture. Sometime, when there is a lot of swelling, doctors will recommend treatments like Manual Lymph Drainage or Connective Tissue Manipulation. These treatments, increase blood supply to the tendon, decreasing the tension between them and also softening the fibres of the tendons. This reduces the 'stiffness' in the tendon, and they are once again able to glide over each other, making movement slightly less painful. Once the pain subsides considerably, it is very important to start a series of exercises that will strengthen the tendons and bring them back to their original capacity. Resuming any kind of activities that will strain the muscles or tendons is not at all advisable at this point. Strengthening the tendons is a long process and must be carried under supervision and advice of a certified physiotherapist. If this process is not undertaken, or left incomplete, the tendon will never fully heal and the injury will recur, with greater severity.

RSI
Repetitive Stress Injury is a relatively new term for certain work related injuries, and it occurs when certain parts of the body undergo stress repeatedly, usually while performing day jobs. Examples of this are pain and soreness in wrist and fingers of those who type at computers for long hours and pain in the back of those who perform heavy lifting jobs. Usually the cause of the pain is incorrect posture and movement and inadequate rest, however, it takes a doctor to find out exactly which tendon is injured.

The main difference between RSI and tendonitis is that RSI develops over a long period of time, while a tendon injury could result from any specific action performed even once.

The treatment for RSI is the same as mentioned previously, with proper restorative exercise as follow up treatment.

Getting RSI compensation is a little difficult than other injuries. Find out what makes repetitive strain injury different and what you can do about it at claims4workaccidents.co.uk