Your Legal Matter Is Important To Us

What are overuse injuries?

On Behalf of | Feb 9, 2023 | Personal Injury

Most jobs have at least some risk of overuse injuries, or repetitive stress injuries (RSIs). However, many workers do not know this.

Even worse, the bulk of workers have no idea what sort of stress overuse injuries can cause and the ultimate financial impacts they may have.

What jobs are at risk of RSI?

Mayo Clinic discusses overuse injuries and how they occur. These injuries often occur as a result of using the same body parts in the same activities and actions over an extended period of time. RSIs may develop over months or years, but in some cases, it can take weeks or even days.

Jobs in all different fields rely on repetitive physical tasks. This is why so many people are at risk of RSIs despite the fact that they work in vastly different occupations.

For example, just a few of the jobs that have high levels of RSIs include: mechanics, physical therapists, receptionists, cashiers, chefs, sports players, librarians, surgeons and baristas.

Needless to say, this is a huge and varied array of impacted jobs. After all, a good chunk of them rely on a person’s ability to do the same task over and over again, day in and day out.

The main issue with RSI and work

The biggest problem with RSIs is the fact that rest is the only way to recover, essentially. However, many people cannot afford to take the amount of time away from their job that an RSI would take to fully recover. This often leads to people going back to work before healing, which may worsen the injury and send them into a negative cycle.