28th February 2012 MEDIA RELEASE for immediate release
Contact info@rsiaction.org.uk
Chronic pain caused by work can be successfully cured.
73% of people who use computers at work experience problems as a result, (often called Repetitive Strain Injuries or RSI) which can become chronic and cause long term sickness. Dr Deepak Sharan, who has been treating RSI conditions for over 21 years, said today, on the eve of International RSI Awareness Day, ‘RSI can be cured, not just ‘managed’.’
Whilst on a whistlestop visit to the UK, Dr Sharan presented his clinic’s decade long work treating RSI type conditions to a room of clinicians this week. He demonstrated how millions of sick days can be saved by proper diagnosis and treatment of upper limb and neck pain, often triggered by desk work at a computer.
Dr Sharan from the Recoup clinic in Bangalore made his presentation in London, in advance of International RSI Awareness Day on the 29th of February. He presented reports, results and experience from the thousands of patients his clinic has treated for RSI in the past 10 years. India’s burgeoning IT industry has had the side effect of producing many people with RSI symptoms, and as a consequence many patients needing treatment. Dr Sharan’s centre of excellence has now treated around 100,000 patients, and his startling conclusion is that every individual has a specific diagnosable and treatable condition.
Despite the fact that 2.9 million days were lost due to work related upper limb or neck disorders 2010/11, in the UK, there are no NICE guidelines or approved treatments for those disorders which are undiagnosed and labelled ‘diffuse RSI’. However, Dr Sharan maintains that a cause is always evident if you look properly and hard enough.
Dr Sharan said ‘you must always diagnose before treatment, and also uncover any other conditions which may influence recovery such as vitamin deficiencies, hormonal problems, osteoporosis and many other. Only then you task a multi disciplinary team with devising a treatment and recovery plan.’
The Recoup centre has clinicians and practitioners from many backgrounds, all working together in one place to provide a whole system approach. First treatment removes pain and rehabilitates the person’s injury or condition, and then strengthening activity ensures that the sufferer can live without problems in the future. With physiotherapists, nutritionists, Alexander therapists, nerve specialists and a large range of diagnostic facilities on tap these otherwise debilitating conditions can be treated quickly and effectively. Dr Sharan has also demonstrated that treatment clinics held in work places can prevent such injuries from developing and save a considerable sum of money in ergonomic devices and sick days.
Stephen Fisher of RSI Action said ‘Dr Sharan offers real hope to the many many people around the world who are suffering painful chronic conditions resulting from simply earning a living. These conditions are spreading rapidly as life becomes more technology oriented and communications and leisure devices mean repeated movements are causing pain over the short and now longer term. RSI Action hopes that we can enable clinicians in the UK to open a dialogue with other practitioners around the world to share information and experience to help prevent and cure these conditions. This will save government and companies many millions in sick pay and treatments, and help prevent many people from living in pain, and enable them to get back to work.’
Notes
RSI Action is the UK’s repetitive strain injury charity www.rsiaction.org.uk
Repetitive Strain Injury is the name for diagnosed and undiagnosed conditions which have similar symptoms, and which are triggered by repetitive movements or awkward posture, usually at work. These musculoskeletal disorders are usually chronic, painful and result in an inability to conduct a normal working life. These conditions can also be called upper body limb disorders, or work related musculoskeletal conditions. 2.9 million days were lost due to work related upper limb or neck disorders 2010/11. 73% of DSE users report at least one musculoskeletal disorder symptom. Most people now spend some time in front of a computer, and there has been a considerable escalation in people using computers for most of the working day. There are no guidelines or approved treatments or an NHS centre of excellence. Millions of people suffer symptoms which could become chronically painful if we do not address this growing problem.
Dr Deepak Sharan (www.deepaksharan.com) has over 21 years of international clinic experience in RSI management and has produced over 300 scientific publications or conference presentations on RSI, including 20 recent research papers in peer reviewed, indexed journals published from the UK and USA. He leads a team of over 125 medical professionals that has successfully treated over 100,000 clients with RSI from 30 countries in the past decade, at the RECOUP clinic in Bangalore.
RECOUP (www.recoup.in) is the world leader in treatment of RSI and MSD having successfully treated over 100,000 clients, including from the USA, UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Israel, China, Thailand, Korea, Japan, UAE, Singapore, Zimbabwe, etc., using its proprietary physical therapy and mind-body approaches. No other treatment method or centre has been able to match RECOUP’s success rate to date. RECOUP is one of the world’s largest Ergonomics and Occupational Health Consultancies, and its clients include Oracle, Cisco, Texas Instruments, McKinsey, Nokia, Monsanto, Honeywell, AMD, Wipro, TCS, Microsoft, NDS, Nvidia, British Gas, Adobe, Bain, Cairn, Qualcomm, among 70 top companies
To interview Stephen Fisher of RSI Action or Dr Deepak Sharan email info@rsiaction.org.uk