WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — If you have that one aching part of your body that seems to never heal, don’t just assume it has to be that way.
Repetitive strain injuries are usually developed because of a motion you do over and over.
Maybe you stock groceries. serve food at a restaurant or watch children at daycare.
Everyday motions in our jobs can cause pain over time.
“You’re doing some kind of repetitive motion that’s causing inflammation and possibly is causing breakdown of muscle or tendon or bone,” United Regional Sports Medicine Physician Jason Holinbeck, MD said.
That repetitive strain injury can cause discomfort in many forms.
“Swelling, maybe they’re having instability for example if they’re walking and their knee buckles a little bit, maybe they’re having problems with range of motion so they’re trying to reach to the backseat to the kids and it’s hurting their arm,” Holinbeck said. “Sometimes if it’s a nerve you might have numbness so at night you could wake up and have to shake your hand out cause it’s kind of asleep.”
Holinbeck said you don’t have to live like this.
“Sometimes it’s not so simple to stop doing something, if you love playing golf and you know that’s why your elbow hurts, it’s not so easy to stop playing golf but that’s step one, just identifying that,” Holinbeck said. “There are so many people out there that are hurting that don’t really know of anything that happened and therefore don’t think anything can be done, but there are so many adjustments and things that can be done to make you feel better and make you happier.”
He said you don’t want to let it go so long it causes long-term problems. Instead, he can offer aid with injections, physical therapy, or at-home tips for healing.
“The athletes are gonna have of more of the acute injuries where they’re doing great, something happens and they’re hurting a lot,” Holinbeck said. “But the everyday person is gonna have more of these like nagging injuries that kind of slowly develop that are worsening and just driving them nuts.”
That begs the question of when is enough, enough?
“When it’s impacting your quality of life, maybe it’s just annoying and you’re sick of it and that’s a perfectly great time to go see somebody for it if you just want it to be gone,” Holinbeck said. “You’re not committing to surgery, you’re not always committing to trying physical therapy, it can be very simple adjustments that can make a big difference in your life.”
Instead of just going through the motions, find out what motion is causing you pain and take it to the doctor.
Some of the common repetitive strain injuries are carpal tunnel syndrome, bursitis, and tendonitis.
If you’re experiencing pain, click here for more information on how to get an appointment.
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