I’ve had a lot of people ask me “what is a repetitive strain injury?” lately, so I decided to put some information here. There’s a TON of information about repetitive strain injury on my website and it will help you to really understand what is happening. Also look at the pages titled “Muscles and Pain” and “What’s Happening Exactly.”
Repetitive strain injury means that a muscle is being contracted, and doing the same movement over and over, even if it’s being done under different circumstances.
For instance, if you are lifting boxes at work you are contracting the muscles that bend you forward and bring your legs closer to your trunk, and even more when you bend your knees to pick up those boxes. Then, as you stand up you are contracting the opposing muscles that run along your entire back and down the back of your thighs to your knees. When you put this together you are straining all of the muscles that impact your lower back.
Take into consideration that when you sit down, even to relax, you are doing the exact same movement, bringing your legs closer to your trunk, and then when you stand up you are again contracting the opposing muscles. Even when you sleep, if you draw your legs up, you are again contracting the same group of muscles and holding them tight for hours. This is the most common cause of low back pain.
When the movement is repeated over and over, it eventually will cause low back pain, groin pain, sciatica, hip pain, knee pain (front, side and back of your knee), tight hamstrings, ITB Syndrome, and will even refer pain up your back, and down to your feet! Amazing!
Chronic pain is very frequently a repetitive strain injury, but too often the muscles are ignored when searching for relief. When a situation isn’t life-threatening, it will be of great benefit to look at the muscles first, and then look further.
The biggest problem is people don’t understand spasms, and how stretching a knot can cause more problems instead of relieving the tension. This is definitely too much information for a blog, but when you go to my website, also take a look at the forum and you can read thousands of messages from people all over the world who have had problems and have been able to learn how to self-treat them successfully.
You CAN live pain free! I can certainly treat the muscles if you come to my office in Chapel Hill, NC, and I also show you how to do the self-treatments, but YOU are your own best therapist! I am certain of it and I’ve dedicated my life to teaching you how to do it.
Wishing you well,
Julie