Need to Treat RSI But Can't Afford a Physiotherapist.

I have pain in my hands and forearms and can't spend much time doing anything with my hands. I've been doing various stretches and exercises for over 2 years now and nothing is effective. I can avoid pain at rest, but as soon as I start doing anything with my hands I experience pain and weakness.

My doctor has been exceedingly useless (like he is for just about everything), and I can't see a physiotherapist because physiotherapists don't treat poor people.

How can I treat my RSI without seeing a physiotherapist?

 

I've had a lot of soft tissue problems and have tried LOTS of therapies. Here are some of my ideas based on what I've learned and done apart from physical therapy that have been helpful for me...

• Rest them as much as you possibly can! This is always so overlooked by doctors, etc, but so important for healing of RSI.
• Trigger Point Therapy. Don't use your own hands to press into the trigger points because you don't want to further aggravate your injuries. Have someone else do it for you or use tennis balls, lacrosse balls, or other objects. Broad info: http://www.myofascialtherapy.org/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myofascial_trigger_point (I know wikipedia isn't perfect but...)
• Heat and cold therapy, and also Hot/Cold contrast therapy. https://www.painscience.com/articles/contrasting.php Helps heals soft tissues by increasing metabolic activity. Don't use your hands at all though for approx 30-45 minutes after you've used cold therapy (since they are then stiff.)
• Massage in order to loosen muscles
• Electrical Stimulation (E-stim/TENS therapy) Physical therapists use these on patients but you can buy a less powerful, but still effective version on amazon. An example: https://www.amazon.com/Tens-Unit-Ma...?ie=UTF8&qid=1500153412&sr=8-1&keywords=estim (if you buy one of these go easy with it)
• Develop some compensatory methods for your hands so you can attempt to not strain them much with regular daily activities. People invent very creative modifications for daily tasks! Think outside the box!

I learned so much from this website: https://www.painscience.com/ There is an incredible amount of information there. The guy who created it has a lot of sensible valuable advice about soft tissue problems. He sells info on his site but also gives a lot of helpful free information away.

I know what it's like to suffer with years of painful and very limiting soft tissue injuries. It sucks! I would try to read up a lot on it to become educated and make good choices. There's a lot of helpful info out there. Do your best to get it under control (sorry, I know it's so easy for someone to just say that.) The reason I say that though is because, unfortunately, from my experience, and conversations with others, RSI leave a vulnerability in the body even after improvement. So we have to be careful to not do things that will trigger flare-ups.

I hope this helps you

 

I have Ostio arthritis and Rheumatoid arthritis in lots of joints.
My right lower thumb joint has now grown twice the size and carn't move it with out pain .
Struggle to do everyday things.
I have to wear a thumb and hand brace now and time with it off to move it about .
Doctor sending me for physio but can see it's the big bone growth causing the problem.
Struggle now to text for the pain and large bone growth.
Love glynis

 

@Sen Did any of those things happen to help you? Had you heard of some of those treatments?