What causes it?

RSI problems can occur as a result of:

• Repetitive finger, hand or arm movement. Eg: typing, squeezing, hammering or pounding as well as pushing, pulling, lifting or reaching.
• Poor posture and awkward movements
• Amount of force used
• Badly designed tools and workstation

RSI is not a specific disease but a loose group of other, more specific conditions. Some of these are:

• Tendonitis
• Stenosing tenosynovitis
• Tenosynovitis
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• DeQuervain’s syndrome
• Thoracic outlet syndrome
• Trigger finger/thumb
• Intersection syndrome
• Reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome

Many of these disorders are interrelated, so a typical sufferer may have many of these at once. The most famous RSI is carpal tunnel syndrome, which is common among assembly line workers but relatively rare among computer users: computer-related arm pain is generally caused by other specific conditions.