Repetitive strain injuries (RSI) are

injuries Injury is physiological damage to the living tissue of any organism, whether in humans, in other animals, or in plants. Injuries can be caused in many ways, including mechanically with penetration by sharp objects such as teeth or with b ...

to the body's

muscles Muscle is a soft tissue, one of the four basic types of animal tissue. There are three types of muscle tissue in vertebrates: skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and smooth muscle. Muscle tissue gives skeletal muscles the ability to muscle contra ...

joints A joint or articulation (or articular surface) is the connection made between bones, ossicles, or other hard structures in the body which link an animal's skeletal system into a functional whole.Saladin, Ken. Anatomy & Physiology. 7th ed. McGraw- ...

tendons A tendon or sinew is a tough band of dense fibrous connective tissue that connects muscle to bone. It sends the mechanical forces of muscle contraction to the skeletal system, while withstanding tension. Tendons, like ligaments, are made of ...

ligaments A ligament is a type of fibrous connective tissue in the body that connects bones to other bones. It also connects flight feathers to bones, in dinosaurs and birds. All 30,000 species of amniotes (land animals with internal bones) have ligam ...

bones A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, an ...

, or

nerves A nerve is an enclosed, cable-like bundle of nerve fibers (called axons). Nerves have historically been considered the basic units of the peripheral nervous system. A nerve provides a common pathway for the electrochemical nerve impulses called ...

caused by repetitive movements. Such injuries are more likely if the movements required force or were accompanied by vibrations, compression,

hyperextension Motion, the process of movement, is described using specific anatomical terms. Motion includes movement of organs, joints, limbs, and specific sections of the body. The terminology used describes this motion according to its direction relativ ...

, or the maintenance of sustained positions. Prolonged use of computer equipment can result in upper limb disorders, notably in the

wrist In human anatomy, the wrist is variously defined as (1) the carpus or carpal bones, the complex of eight bones forming the proximal skeletal segment of the hand; "The wrist contains eight bones, roughly aligned in two rows, known as the carpal ...

or the

back The human back, also called the dorsum (: dorsa), is the large posterior area of the human body, rising from the top of the buttocks to the back of the neck. It is the surface of the body opposite from the chest and the abdomen. The vertebral c ...

. RSIs are a subset of

musculoskeletal disorder Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are injuries or pain in the human musculoskeletal system, including the joints, ligaments, muscles, nerves, tendons, and structures that support limbs, neck and back. MSDs can arise from a sudden exertion (e.g. ...

s. Various

software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

is available to aid individuals in avoiding injury or manage current discomfort/injury associated with computer use.

Software categories

Software for RSIs generally addresses these functional categories: * Break reminder – Some tools are reminders to take breaks based on factors like elapsed time, how much or how intensely a person is working, natural rest patterns, and times of day. * Activity mitigation – Some tools reduce the amount of typing or mouse clicking (e.g.

speech recognition Speech recognition is an interdisciplinary subfield of computer science and computational linguistics that develops methodologies and technologies that enable the recognition and translation of spoken language into text by computers. It is also ...

tools, automatic clicking tools, hotkey/ macro tools). * Tracking – Some tools track information, like time spent working each day, break-taking patterns, repetitions (e.g., keystrokes, mouse clicks). Some tools have much more sophisticated statistics, including predictive risk assessments based on fairly sophisticated and research-based methodologies. Some tools also include discomfort assessments and reporting tools to help in finding associative patterns between objectively collected statistics and subjectively reported discomfort information. * Networking – Some tools are able to handle multiple-computer use (e.g., for profiles settings or for aggregating usage statistics) via networked data, including the ability to handle intermittent connectivity. * Training – Some tools include a training component with information on topics including: workstation setup, body positioning, work-efficiency tips, and psycho-social information.

Break reminders

This can be an important component for many users. Considerations for selecting a tool include the mechanism the tools use to decide when alerts to take a break are needed, how to take a break, and how flexible the tool is. Many tools are simple timers (e.g., reminders to rest every 60 minutes). That may work well if a job requires constant and consistent computer work, but can be distracting if work is not constantly on the computer. Other tools consider natural rests and delay break suggestions accordingly. Some tools also consider patterns in activity and will suggest breaks sooner or later depending on activity. These tools can be less frustrating to people whose computer work is interspersed with other activities throughout the day. The various mechanisms for reminding you to take a break can include visual and audio indicators, workflow limiters (e.g. popup windows, screen dimmers), and much more. The best tools allow you to select which of these mechanisms you want to use. Flexibility is important since each person has different needs. Some tools have extensive customization capability that allows you to configure exactly how and when breaks will be suggested. Features to enforce breaks can also be helpful to people who want to take breaks but whose personalities are such that they have a hard time stopping work. Some tools have advanced features like the ability to block break suggestions during some activities (e.g., when showing a presentation, or in full-screen mode).

Activity mitigation

Applications with these tools seek to mitigate the impact of particular activities by either changing or reducing the associated exposure. This could involve changing or reducing input device use, improving a user interface to reduce stress, speeding up a process to reduce the time a user needs to be at the computer, etc. An example of a tool that changes the impact would be

. Speech recognition replaces keyboard (and sometimes mouse) input with vocal input. This type of solution can be very helpful for reducing some types of strain, but it's important to recognize that another significant strain may be created. An example of a tool that reduces the impact would be a hotkey tool or automatic clicking tool. These tools ideally reduce the number of keystrokes and mouse clicks that a user needs to accomplish a particular task. An example of a tool that reduces the impact would also be breathing scrolling. Breathing scrolling requires no mouse or keyboard for scrolling. It uses micro-phone to scroll websites. A tip, in order to use the mouse less often in the software menus, is to learn the

keyboard shortcut In computing, a keyboard shortcut (also hotkey/hot key or key binding) is a software-based assignment of an action to one or more keys on a computer keyboard. Most Operating system, operating systems and Application software, applications come ...

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Repetitive Strain Injury *Repetitive strain injury software Musculoskeletal disorders Repetitive strain injury software Overuse injuries Automation software

Software categories

Break reminders

Activity mitigation

See also

Notes

References