Every workplace has its share of dangers, but some dangers share commonalities no matter where you work. The risk of tasks that cause repetitive strain injuries (RSIs) are one of them.
But just what is an RSI? And what sort of damage can it cause? Can RSIs be serious enough to impact your ability to work?
Who suffers from RSIs?
Healthline takes a look at the emergence of repetitive strain injuries in workers. RSIs primarily occur when the worker in question overworks the same area of their body by performing the same tasks every day.
Cashiers prove a common example. They swipe items over the scanner all day, opening and closing the register and doing little else. This continued and repeated motion can easily cause an RSI. Other jobs hold the same risk for different reasons. A secretary will spend most of their day typing and operating office equipment. A mechanic will use the same tools to fix the same problems.
What can an RSI do to you?
RSIs can range in intensity from mild to severe. At the most severe point, an RSI can render you incapable of using the affected limb. Unfortunately, the only cure for an RSI is rest, too. If you try to ignore it and just push through, you will continue aggravating the injury. It can easily go from a mild to a severe one.
Severe RSIs can inhibit your ability to work. As you must take time off to rest and recover, you can end up losing out on paychecks. This is why many victims of RSIs seek compensation. After all, it is often a high workload or low amount of breaks that lead to RSIs in the first place.
