Treatment plans

The RSI treatment that helps everyone affected best does not exist. RSI is too complex, there are different causes and consequences. The severity and duration of the pain can vary enormously.
I have divided the healing process into five phases and created corresponding treatment plans, so each sufferer can pick the most suitable exercises. No matter which stage you have reached, you should consult a doctor and discuss the measures proposed on this website with him.

	Phase	Duration of pain	Pain intensity	Swelling of the forearms
	First phase	Permanently	Very strong	Yes
	Second phase	Regularly to permanently	Strong	None or slight
	Third phase	Regularly	Medium to strong	-
	Fourth phase	Sporadically to regularly	Low to medium	-
	Fifth phase	-	-	-

Most visitors are likely to fit into the fourth phase. "After a few hours of intensive computer work my right wrist often hurts and I need to shake out my arm or apply a massage. When I arrive home after work I usually don't have any complaints. But I'm a bit concerned that the pain eventually won't go away that quickly."

					Prevention
Treatment   /  Phase >	1	2	3	4	5
Ergonomic workplace	x	x	x	x	x
Work habits	x	x	x	x	x
Read other personal stories	x	x	x	x
Pain diary	x	x	x	x
Treat swelling	x
Minimize workload	x	x
Reduce workload			x	x
Erase pain memory			x	x
Stimulate blood flow		x	x	x	x
Relaxation techniques		x	x	x	x
Deep friction massage			x
Stretching		x	x	x	x
Trigger point massage		x	x	x	x
Nerve mobilization			x	x	x
Strengthening				x	x

The following treatment plans only list exercises and activities that are not general in nature (e.g. ergonomic workstation, proper work habits).

First phase

If your pain is very strong and you are in the first phase, you should as a first step minimize the strain on the affected body part (often the right forearm). Before proceeding to the exercises of the second phase, an existing swelling should be almost completely subsided.

Second phase

Third phase

Fourth phase

Fifth phase (please see the summary for further advice)

Note for TMS-Sufferers

If the cause of your RSI is psychological, then you can largely do without all the advice on this page. But a few stretches won't hurt and might protect you from possible future physical strain.