Author Topic: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome  (Read 6649 times)

raygunray

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on: May 29, 2007, 11:53:21 PM
Its not a 70's prog rock band.  It's almost a badge of honor amongst writers.  Yet, I have a strained tendon in my left arm that is tight as a banjo string.  I can work some, but I have to stop when my wrists burn. What has got me PO'd is I finally got a steady writing routine going and this happens.  I have to switch to longhand and use voice recognition software which is great if you want to write great surreal poetry or bad goth poetry.

So, anyone else suffer from CTS and do you have any treatment suggestions? Switch to haiku?

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bekemeyer

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Reply #1 on: May 30, 2007, 03:36:46 PM
i have a touch of it, i think.  i cahnged the position i was in when i was sitting at my desk.  i didn't even do this on purpose. we moved and i ended up with an actual workspace and i noticed that the constant presence of it had gone away.  i figured out that i'm sitting a little higher up now and there's not as much pressure on my right arm as there used to be. 

that's all i have on that. 

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clichekiller

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Reply #2 on: May 30, 2007, 07:54:30 PM
Invest good money in an ergonomic keyboard.  I'm a software engineer who spends 50+ hours a week on a computer and I was getting CTS in the mid 90's.  I bought one of those Microsoft Enhanced Keyboards and it went away.  Also take a serious look at your workstation, are your arms in an unnatural or uncomfortable position while working?  Are you finding yourself tilting your head backwards or forwards to look at your monitor?  Are your feet resting comfortably on the floor or are they dangling.  All of these factors and more can help you.  If this is something you do on a regular basis then invest the time and money to make sure you're the most comfortable you can be.  Good luck and I hope this resolves itself without the need for surgery. 



wakela

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Reply #3 on: May 31, 2007, 08:11:05 AM
What exactly does CTS feel like?  How do I know if I'm getting it?

Also, people have been using typewriters for a long time, but CTS seems like a recent event.  What gives?



clichekiller

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Reply #4 on: May 31, 2007, 02:33:23 PM
What exactly does CTS feel like?  How do I know if I'm getting it?

Also, people have been using typewriters for a long time, but CTS seems like a recent event.  What gives?
I believe it existed back when typewriters were in their hayday as well.  Also remember that we do almost everything on a computer these days, while a typewriter was used only for one thing. 



raygunray

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Reply #5 on: May 31, 2007, 07:42:29 PM
I moved my workstation to my wife's computer desk which has a roll out keyboard shelf and is about four inches lower than my other desk.  The setup is definitely taking pressure off my arms.  There is still some pain but that may be leftover from last week.  Also added a mouse wrist guard and my keyboard has a wrist rest.

I have an appointment with a massage therapist to work the kink out of my arm.  Lets see how it goes.

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Listener

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Reply #6 on: June 01, 2007, 02:51:19 PM
There are probably stretches that can help (though not necessarily cure).  I had a really bad pinched nerve and my doctor's office gave me some stretches.  I did them for two weeks and the pinched nerve stopped hurting pretty much permanently.

Also, there are a lot of alternative keyboards out there that change the way you type -- they're not QWERTY or DVORAK.

Frogpad
TypeMatrix

I don't know how much they help.

My dad ended up having surgery for his, and before he retired he used a computer maybe one hour a week.

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Russell Nash

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Reply #7 on: June 01, 2007, 04:07:32 PM
My grandmother got it and she never used any kind of keyboard in her life.  I learned one thing from her that has basically cut all of my pain. 

When we sleep, most of us curl our arms and hands in.  As we move around we sometimes bend them a little too far or put them in a weird position.  this puts the joints in a kind of long term, stress position.  It's not much, but night after night it adds up.  I make a point of always trying to keep my wrists straight. 

If my wrists are bothering me anyway, I use wrist braces.  The thing with the braces is to use the kinds with the metal pieces in them, but put them on loosely so they don't restrict bloodflow.  One or two nights with the braces and my wrists always feel better again.



wherethewild

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Reply #8 on: June 23, 2007, 10:30:28 AM
I´ve been doing a lot of mouse/wacom tablet work recently and my right wrist is hurting like blazers. There´s a single point of pain in the middle of all my wrist bones but it doesn´t run up my arm or anything. Is that CTS or just, umm, a sore wrist?

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raygunray

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Reply #9 on: June 23, 2007, 01:53:36 PM
I'm feeling a lot better. Fortunately it wasn't CTS but overworked tendons.  I got two massage sessions and took frequent breaks while working.  I get a throb now and then, but it looks like I'm back to normal.

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Russell Nash

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Reply #10 on: June 23, 2007, 02:03:52 PM
I´ve been doing a lot of mouse/wacom tablet work recently and my right wrist is hurting like blazers. There´s a single point of pain in the middle of all my wrist bones but it doesn´t run up my arm or anything. Is that CTS or just, umm, a sore wrist?

I would say this is your body giving you a warning.  Check out some of the hints folks have given on here (when I get this kind of pain I use the wrist braces I mentioned in my earlier post) and look online.  I think if this isn't your normal level of work and you give your hand a little TLC, you'll be fine.



Planish

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Reply #11 on: July 08, 2007, 01:48:34 AM
Quote
Also, people have been using typewriters for a long time, but CTS seems like a recent event.  What gives?
Typewriters (particularly the non-electric ones) required a lot more moving around than the flat keyboards, and a lot more force. Carriage returns and line feeds required that you take the right hand off the keys and push it back for every line. Nowadays you just keep typing and let the software wrap it. Also you were forced to pause from typing to feed in a new sheet of paper for every page (unless it was roll-fed, I suppose). Maybe that has something to do with it. Even so, I suspect that it existed, but they just invented the name more recently.
I worked at one place where we had an older lady who had spent many years on a manual typewriter and when they switched her to computers we'd have to replace her keyboard twice a year. She just bashed the hell out of them.

I used to get shooting pains from my mouse-hand wrist, but a mouse pad with a built-in gel pad under the wrist fixed me right up.

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