repetitive strain injury

noun

: any of various painful musculoskeletal disorders (such as carpal tunnel syndrome or tendinitis) caused by cumulative damage to muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves, or joints (as of the hand or shoulder) from highly repetitive movements

called also repetitive stress injury

Examples of repetitive strain injury in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

That orientation reduces forearm pronation and shifts the load off the wrist joint, one of the key contributors to repetitive strain injuries. —PC Magazine, 11 June 2025

For anyone who has ever suffered from some form of repetitive strain injury knows the long-term pain and disability these conditions can cause. —Mark Sparrow, Forbes.com, 2 June 2025

Factors like sports injuries, repetitive strain injuries, blunt trauma, insufficient warmups, and muscle weakness may cause muscle strain. Sports Injury Groin strains often occur while playing sports. —Mark Gurarie, Health, 22 Apr. 2025

How To Prevent a Repetitive Strain Injury Since repetitive strain injuries occur due to movements, there are many ways to prevent the injury. —Mark Gurarie, Health, 13 Feb. 2025

Henriques would join the legions of Americans considered to have a repetitive strain injury (RSI), which from the late 1980s through the 1990s seized the popular imagination as the plague of the modern American workplace. —Benjamin Ryan, The Atlantic, 31 Oct. 2023

As The Verge’s Jay Peters explained, for example, alternating between sitting and standing helped alleviate back pain and a repetitive strain injury (RSI) in his wrists. —Sheena Vasani, The Verge, 16 Feb. 2023

Like Batman but with more repetitive strain injury. —Ed Yong, Discover Magazine, 29 Mar. 2010

This not only makes the tone less harsh but also makes the impact on the pianist’s arms less harsh, protecting them from repetitive strain injury, just as reducing the jerk on a roller coaster protects the riders from injury. —Eugenia Cheng, WSJ, 10 Nov. 2022

Word History

First Known Use

1983, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

repetitive strain injury

noun

re·​pet·​i·​tive strain injury ri-ˈpet-ət-iv- 

: any of various musculoskeletal disorders (as carpal tunnel syndrome or tendinitis) that are caused by cumulative damage to muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves, or joints (as of the hand, wrist, arm, or shoulder) from highly repetitive movements and that are characterized chiefly by pain, weakness, and loss of feeling

called also cumulative trauma disorder, repetitive motion injury, repetitive stress injury, repetitive stress syndrome, RSI