Pain around the neck and upper limbs? Beware! It could be Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) that comes from spending long hours before a computer.

At the Narayana Multispeciality Hospital (NH) in Whitefield, Bangalore, an average of 200 patients, all in the age group of 20-30 and mostly from the IT crowd, come with complaints of RSI, which is increasingly becoming common among youngsters in high-stress jobs and can take months to recover from.

“High stress jobs like in the IT industry that requires one to sit in front of the computer for 14-16 hours every day, leading them to slouch and sit in a bad posture, with hardly any physical activity, leads to Repetitive Strain Injury. It has become fairly common for youngsters to come with complaints of such nature,” Malchira S. Somanna, consultant Orthopaedician at Narayana Hospital, told IANS.

Indications of RSI could be a tingling sensation in the hands with numbness, called Carpel Tunnel Syndrome, pain around the neck and upper shoulders, and feeling a “heavy burden” on the shoulders. Nearly 90 per cent of the orthopaedic patients in the out-patient department (OPD) of Narayana hospital in Whitefield are RSI patients from various multinational companies and IT industry.

Treatment of RSI is usually multi-pronged, involving exercises and physiotherapy, and not just medicines, and it could take three weeks to six months to recover. Doctors say that if one ignores the pain and tries to live off painkillers, the condition has every chance to worsen and recovery may take longer.

Doctors suggest various ways to avoid overusing affected muscles. For instance, using a pen to hit the keyboard, changing the inclination of the computer to 15-20 degrees for a better posture, or using a chair that is more comfortable and is at an ideal height.