Yoga for Repetitive Strain Injury

As a writer, I spend most of my day sitting at my computer. As a yoga teacher, I am keenly aware of what writing does to my body: as soon as I get on my yoga mat, I can feel the effects of my repetitive actions and the particular way I hold my body.

What is Repetitive Strain?

Repetitive strain injury, or RSI, is caused by repetitive motion, which places large amounts of stress in one area of the body. RSI is often linked with improper physical alignment, or ergonomics. Common causes of RSI are computer work (typing and mouse use); repetitive movements in sports, playing musical instruments or driving.

The effects of RSI can range from irritating to debilitating, and symptoms include: numbness, tingly sensation, soreness, weakness or short bursts of pain in the affected area. Typically RSI affects the wrists, arms and elbows, and can manifest as tendinitis or in some cases Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

How Can Yoga Help?

In addition to the particular recommendations by a health care professional, you can help manage the symptoms of RSI with specific yoga poses. Yoga is a fantastic way to stretch out the tendons and ligaments in your wrists and hands, and the muscles in the forearms to which they are connected.

Two Helpful Stretches

Here are two stretches to add to your yoga practice that target the wrists and forearms, and can help mitigate and prevent symptoms of RSI.

Note: Hold each stretch for about a minute while taking slow deep breaths into your lower belly and relaxing your shoulders. Do these stretches every evening to maximize their benefits:

1) Come into table pose on your yoga mat with your knees under your hips and your wrists under your shoulders.

2) Lift your hands off the yoga mat and rotate your fingers outward until they are pointing towards your knees and the inside of your elbows are facing out. Then bring your hands palm down and press into the yoga mat lengthening your arms. Stay here if this is a nice juicy stretch. To deepen it, begin to slowly let your hips drop towards your heels as you keep your hands firmly rooted: breath deeply and use your exhale to invite openness into the inside of your wrists and forearms.

3) After sustaining this pose for as long as feels good, slowly come back up if your hips are low, gently lifting up the hands once more. Now with hands back to normal, bend your wrists to point your fingers towards you, now gently bring your hands to the yoga mat. This time the tops of the hands are on the yoga mat with your fingers towards you. Keep most of your weight in the legs to avoid too much pressure on your wrists. Like the first stretch, breathe here, or deepen by dropping the hips. This opens the outside of the wrists and forearms.

4) Slowly release and come sitting on the heel or down on the yoga mat. Shake out both arms, take a few big belly breaths, releasing with any noise/sound that feels like a great release.