Preserved Topic: Carpal tunnel syndrome.... ouch!

Ok guys, I need to ask you a few questions... I have been noticing a few twinges of pain in my right wrist, and I know it is from working on computer too much. I am thinking it is the start of carpal tunnel. I know that many of you guys work on computer and just wanted to ask how do you guys deal with this? Even for preventing further damage what do ya do? How do you guys take care of your wrists and hands? How often should i take breaks when I do work? And since I have pain, though mild, how do I stop it? I know that these sound like stupid questions, but I am getting concerned. This is only pain and no numbness yet.


Sanity is optional... (and so is clothes!)

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(Edited by Wolfen on 05-04-2004 05:40)

wearing a wrist brace while you work helps to stop the onset of CPS

there are those gel wrist-rests that you can get for your mouse and keyboard.

whenever my hand starts feeling uncomfortable, I do some workouts with it using a 5 lb weight -- the different motions seem to help it.

Touch all 5 tips of your fingers together and double wrap one of those thicker quarter inch-ish rubber bands around the 5 of them, then spread them against the tension of the rubber band.

Do that about 20-50 times a day, helps me quite a lot. Prescribed by a doctor even, 'sposed to open up the tunnel and relieve the pressure.

I follow these tips. I had to go to some physiotherapeutic sections to learn some exercises for my wrists, because I was starting to feel pretty bad.

I can't tell you exactly what you should do, because it's not a simple disease. In each person, it will show a little differently, requiring different treatment.

I can tell you what I stopped doing:
- play in the computer; despite loving it, I never again played with the computer
- use mouse; I stopped using the mouse, mouse movements were for me the most damaging; today I use a trackball at my right side and a Wacom at the left side - I'm left handed; even so, I'm starting to feel not so good with the trackball. The wacom is the best choice for me, at the moment. Using a pen is not painful, most of the times; AVOID the mouse, learn shortcuts
- stop at every 20 minutes, if necessary, even if only for 5 minutes
- I bought a natural keyboard, and it makes me feel better

This disease has no cure. It's about nerves, and nerves take a long time to heal, more than you have to them, so, it won't cure. In my case, the less I use the computer, the better I feel; so, that's what I should do, but I don't do it.

It may not be carpal tunnel, but simply repetitive stress disorder. There are differences, and though I'm no doctor, I think the main one is that they normally want to treat carpal tunnel with surgery, which is no fun.

At my job I type all day, because I answer customer emails, and I've had pain for a while. I can tell you that a lot of the stress starts in the shoulders for me. It's my wrist and forearm that hurt, but when she works on my shoulders, I can tell the difference.

In addition to the tips given by viol, I can recommend that you sit back and keep your shoulders broad and spread out. We computer people tend to lean in and turn our shoulders in. This can be the whole source of your problem. It could be a number of things, though, and so I recommend you visit a massage therapist if you can. They're not doctors, but a good one can locate the source of your pain for you and help you with it. Hurts like hell during the massage work, but it provides you with lots of relief later. I'm lucky enough to live with a massage therapist, and she's the one that clued me in that my trouble was in my shoulders. Between regular massage work and demanding a natural keyboard at work, I've been doing lots better. I also use a mouse pad with a raised wrist rest, although it is not a gelly pad - I don't like how the gel pads sweat.

Hope this helps!

The poster has demanded we remove all his contributions, less he takes legal action.
We have done so.
Now Tyberius Prime expects him to start complaining that we removed his 'free speech' since this message will replace all of his posts, past and future.
Don't follow his example - seek real life help first.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I am going try a few of them out, but I think one of them will be the best. I am going to take about 3 days to a week off computer. Get myself into a healthier routine. Then it will be wrist brace the whole time when I work. The rest I am going to try out though... I will spend the time off looking for a job, getting some excersize, things like that. I seriously need the cash, and I WANT a graphics tablet! Again, thanks for the suggestions guys..

(Edited by Wolfen on 05-04-2004 12:05)

I actually wound up with tendonitis, rather than carpal tunnel. Apparently, the difference is that carpal tunnel involved the tendons on the bottom of your wrist (which go through the "carpal tunnel" ... ) and tendonitis affects the tendons on the top of your hand.

For the pain, just your basic OTC ibuprofen is the best. It has a mild muscle relaxing effect, in addition to the anti-inflammatory.

I have had to wear a wrist brace on really bad days. Sometimes I wear it overnight, and my hands feel lots better the next day.

Check the ergonomics of your work space. Make sure that you are not sitting at an odd angle, or holding your hands at an odd angle. A lot of computer posture has to do with how your equipment is set up, it forces you into odd positions.

Massage therapy helps, but it's not always affordable. Best to make changes in your work space and posture to avoid the problem to begin with. And nutritionally, it sometimes is helpful to increase the amount of calcium and magnesium in your diet - these are the most beneficial minerals for healthy joints.

It is not curable except through expensive, and not always successful, surgery.

My sympathy - joint pain really really sucks.

(Edited by bodhi23 on 05-04-2004 18:26)

I find that my wrists will hurt worse for a day or so after taking aspirin or ibuprofen. I'm not sure what causes this.

I used to work as an actor (on the stage) and many other actors used honey to make their throat feel better. The honey coats the throat and make it possible to go on stage while your throat hurts. However, while the honey makes it possible to work with a soar or damaged throat, it also allows you to tear your throat apart while you work.

I think that taking pain killers may have the same affect your wrists. On the other hand (oops, unintentional pun), an anti-inflammatory will help to reduce any inflammation in your carpel tunnels and will help to reduce the wear you are creating in them.

I also see a chiropractor about once a week and he adjusts my writs, elbows and shoulders along with my back. I find that this helps more than anything else.

-- not necessarily stoned... just beautiful.

I'm 15 and im already developing carpal tunnel syndrom, but not from computer use. I used to do a lot of rollerblading and during my inexperianced days i would fall a LOT. mostly on my right wrist from trying to learn a certain grind. so anyway years later i showed my chiropractor my wrist and its ability to shift out of joint. he said my radius and ulna got shoved apart and allowed my carpals to kinda float around in the extra space.

so yeah he told me to tape my wrist bones together using athletic tape to prevent carpal tunnel syndrom. he also told me 2/3 of all chiropractors wear tape on their wrists to prevent carpal tunnel. soo...even tho my condition is caused by something different id still assume taping your wrists could do some help since most chiropractors do, and they dont fall rollerblading.

Amputate...

:::11oh1:::

Don't worry, it is all natural. The next step; your body is going to adjust to your mouse, keyboard and monitor. Your body will simple become an input device as a part of the whole system.

Joking aside, stretching may help.

Sasha »

i would go see a doctor. espically if it continues. I have carpal tunnel and you really don't want to get to this state. It can be very painful. Kind of sucks because I have an ulcer too and I can't take ibuprofen.

Since I play guitar a lot, as well as working on the computer a lot, I do finger and wriste "stretches" all the time. Whenever I'm just sitting reading or watching TV or something and mostly in the middle of playing guitar or while I am trying to figure out something on the computer...

Just take your index finger of your right hand and pull back the index finger of your left toward the back of your hand. Don't just jerk it back, just kind of slow until you feel the tension. Hold it for a second or two and then release really slowly. Do this for all the fingers, even the thumbs.

After that, do it for all the fingers at the same time. Put all your fingers straight together and pull back slightly towards the back of your hand.

But really, go see a doctor. This shit sucks.

Later,

C:\


~Binary is best~

About stretching, I would suggest asking for an expert advice. This stretch that CPrompt is suggesting was not good for me. According to the doctor that treated me, this kind of stretch would make things worse for me. The one she taught me was similar but I had to do it with my fingers always pointing downwards and my arms straight, parallel to the floor; I do it using a wall as a support. It looks similar but it is actually different.

And yes, this shit sucks. And sucks big time. And time passes and it won't go away. You have to learn how to deal and live with it. I don't take and I have never taken any medication for two reasons:

- I don't want any medicine to hide my pain because if the pain is hidden, I could be using my hands when I shouldn't; I want to know when my body is trying to tell me "hey, stop it!".

- If I was to take medicine because of this shitty problem, I'd have been taking it for more than a year now, and I would keep taking it for the rest of my life, probably, because this problem doesn't go away. It gets better, then it gets worse, then it gets better, then it gets worse, but it doesn't go away. It's here to stay. Learn to live with it and find some doctor with expertise about it - not that easy - to help you find the best way to deal with it.

Ibuprofen was recommended to me as something to help alleviate the symptoms, but also as part of therapy and pain management. There are a lot of ways to manage pain, and they are usually different for everybody - depending on what your system can handle.

I don't agree with taking pain medication and then continuing the behavior that causes the problem. The idea is to make yourself better, not worse.

Stretching and strengthening exercises are also part of therapy - depending on what part of your wrist or hand is affected, those are probably different for just about everybody..

For myself, I've had great success with taking 2 ibuprofen before bed and wearing a wrist brace while I'm sleeping. But again, my diagnosis was tendonitits, rather than carpal tunnel, and that's what the doctor gave me as treatment. I'd see someone before it get to much worse, if I were you - just to get a jump on the therapy.

Maybe you want to try one of these.

I actually wear a magnetic bracelet, but it is much different than this one. It is made of magnetic hemitite circular black beads.
I don't think it really does anything though. This old lady gave it me and she said it would help me... She was pretty interesting,
and it was free, so I took her advice. (Plus I really like it.) ----[edit Haha, I found one, sort of like this]


< Ozone Quotes >

(Edited by Gilbert Nolander on 05-05-2004 23:12)

I agree, stretching would help. Also, doing other activities while sitting at the computer tends to help too, I have a guitar in my lap basically 24/7, it helps break the monotony of sitting at the desk, and lets you exercise your fingers.

Sad to hear of your woes Wolfen,. There's a lot of excellent advice there^^ I can't really add anymore, unless...
I have a theory
Coupling old lore and modern technology.
I've heard that copper and gold helps prevent wear and tear on bones and tendons.
Gore-Tex or any other quality breathable materials. This can have support padding in "sensitive" areas.
They could even have connectors for one of those electro "spasm" exercisers built in. I could be a millionaire this time next year

Wolfen,

I definitely agree with the consensus that you should seek a professional's advice. Your situation will not be the same as the next guy's, and you need information that is relevant to your situation. For example, I wore wristbraces for a while, but the tightness of the brace just put me in more pain. What is good for one person isn't always good for everybody.

I still recommend a massage therapist. While massage is costly, it is not as expensive as a doctor's visit if you don't have health insurance. For example, where I live an hour massage averages $60 to $70. A doctor's visit is at least $100 just to get in the door. Some health insurance policies will even cover therapeutic massage. Doctors are also very likely to just throw some meds at you rather than seek solutions. A good massage therapist on the other hand (again, get some good referrals first) will normally recommend a number of treatments, such as stretches, heat and/or ice application, and etc. A skilled massage therapist can read both your body and your reactions to get a better idea of where the problem lies as well. Between the areas where I am sensitive and hot spots on my body from inflamed muscles, my roommate (a licensed massage therapist) was able to pinpoint that my wrist pain stems from my shoulders and my pectorals. She then pointed out that I hunch over the keyboard, and this inward turning of the shoulders was causing my problem. By forcing myself to sit straight up with my shoulders back, I've eliminated some excruciating pain. Because I work 8 hours daily typing emails to customers constantly, this has really helped.

Most doctor's won't even touch you that much when you complain of pain, where as a massage therapist works deeply in your muscles for a long period of time to determine and relieve the source of your problems. Massage therapists are also willing to admit when they aren't skilled enough to fix the problem - they will let you know if you need medical attention.

Also, I have to say that medication isn't always a bad thing. I completely agree that you shouldn't take pain pills just to help you work through the pain. However, ibuprofen is an anti-inflammatory, not a narcotic. If you let the muscle remain inflamed, you'll remain tight and things will get worse. In many cases, it's actually much better for you to take an ibuprofen.

I hope you find the solution that helps you the most! It sucks to be able to do less than you want to because of stuff like this!

Thank you again guys for the suggestions. Right now I have just been keeping off the computer for a bit. I have also got a wrist brace, and I will talk with a doc when I can, right now financial matters do not allow for that, same for a massuser. I do have Alieve and motrim to begin with, so anti-inflammitories are not a problem hehehe. Been checking my desk over too to make sure it is eurgonomically ok. I want a wacom! Again thanks guys!


Sanity is optional... (and so is clothes!)

Wolfen's Sig Site | WolfenMedia | Cell #226 | Fun Link | E-mails of Wisdom | Wolfen Deviantart

Wolfen - sounds like you have the things you need to start with. The brace is supposed to support your joint in the correct position, and shouldn't be so tight that is causes additional pain, just tight enough so that it doesn't move much. Make sure you have the right size for your hand as well - one too small or too big won't work properly because it doesn't fit right.

I've occasionally used a heating pad on my wrists, just because the heat eases any tension and is soothing for pain. Since you can't get to see someone right now, that might also help... But keeping your hands from the repetative motion like you're doing is probably best until you can get the inflammation under control.

Hope you feel better soon! It's hard to keep the hands off the keyboard, I know! ('specially when there's work to be done and deadlines to be met!)
Take care!