Making a claim for repetitive strain injury (RSI)
Repetitive strain injury, repetitive stress injury, or RSI is a term that most people have heard of. RSI is really a blanket name that is used to describe many different types of soft tissue injury including carpal tunnel syndrome and tendinitis. It is usually caused by a mixture of bad ergonomics, poor posture, stress, and repetitive motion.
Firstly, what do you need to be aware of?
The symptoms of an injury could be one or more of the following:
- Pain, stiffness, swelling, numbness or tingling in the hands, wrists, elbows, shoulders, back or neck.
- Discomfort which is brought on by carrying out a particular task, and then improves when no longer doing it; i.e. if the pain lessens or disappears over weekends, or during holidays.
- Discomfort starts in one area, for example neck and back, and then spreads to other parts of the body. Early warning signs may manifest as sore shoulders or neck pain, particularly when travelling home in the car after a day at work. Equally the effects may show up the morning after as aches and stiffness in the limbs and the hands.
If you believe that you may have a problem then you need to do the following straightaway:
Consult your doctor. Most doctors now accept that RSI is a genuine physical problem and do take it seriously. If you are not satisfied with his or her response then see another doctor until you are satisfied.
Stop whatever activities are causing the pain. This is obviously something that is much easier to say than do, as often these activities form a major part of someone's working life. However, by trying to work through it, the problem will just get worse. RSI is very treatable in the early stages, but even a short delay in seeking rest and treatment can put back recovery by weeks, months or even years.
If you would like free advice on whether to claim compensation for your RSI then call 0800 10 757 95 or complete the claim form.
Click here for more information on the various treatments available to RSI sufferers.
