Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) Treatment

Repetitive strain injury, encompassing conditions from carpal tunnel syndrome and De Quervain's tenosynovitis to mouse elbow and typing-related wrist pain, is almost universally undertreated in South African occupational health because the standard advice of rest, splinting, and anti-inflammatory medication does not address the fundamental mechanical problem. RSI develops because the cumulative loading of repetitive tasks exceeds the tissue's capacity to adapt and recover. Rest reduces the loading temporarily but does not rebuild capacity. When loading resumes, the symptoms return.

Effective RSI management at this practice addresses three simultaneous targets: reducing the acute tissue irritability through manual therapy, dry needling, and targeted exercise; rebuilding the tissue's mechanical tolerance through progressive loading that increases capacity above the level required by the work task; and modifying the loading pattern through ergonomic correction and work technique adjustment to reduce the ongoing mechanical stress that drives the condition. This three-pronged approach consistently produces durable resolution where rest and medication alone have failed.