Carpal Tunnel? o.o

[FadedOne]

hmm...ok. I've been dealing with arm/hand soreness for about a week now. Was talking to my Mom about it today because it hadn't gone away like i'd expected and she's convinced i'm dealing with carpal tunnel. bah....my typing ability is totally cut down lately b/c my right arm is numb and weak feeling. I rely on typing and right-arm usage ALOT(*stares particularly at inbox and emails really needing replies*) and this is a real pain.

basic question therefore is....anyone else dealt with this that could suggest some kind of home-remedy? im using an ice-pack thing and 'attempting' to type less but uh...my keyboard is my friend. i can't resist. oh..and I took some tylenol. besides that though, I dunno.

er...hopefully this makes sense. my brain hasn't been working so well today. anyway yeah...any advice appreciated. ^_^

Lara

[Mangafanatic]

Well, I can't tell you how to fix it, but I can tell you part of how (I've heard) you can prevent it.

After typing or doing some other prcess that requires your wrists to hold a constant position for an extended time, roll your wrists around in all directions for about thirty seconds.

As far as remedies go, ice is the only thing I know. You should PM Shooby. (Just don't tell him I told you to.)

[Jasdero]

Oh! I had this once! I wore one of these for a while, and it completely went away:

http://www.walgreens.com/store/product.jsp?CATID=100127&navAction=jump&navCount=2&skuid=sku354978&id=prod354977

[Yojimbo]

I use a gel pad placed below my mousepad and it helps. You might try one for your mouepad and your keyboard. Also like Osaka said *lightly* turn your wrists around in a circular motion. Also messaging them helps I've found when ya start to get that tingly feeling. Other than just give it a rest try not to type and stuff too long without a break for your hands. My mom had to have two surgeries for carpal tunnel, and she can tell you it wasn't fun.

[shooraijin]

Gel or memory foam, I've found, because I had mild carpal tunnel until I reconfigured my workstation.

For my patients with carpal tunnel, I usually stick them in braces to wear at night (because a lot of people compress their wrists) in addition to doing environmental prevention. If it doesn't get better, I send them for nerve conduction studies pending possible surgical decompression.

[Ashley]

I know what you mean--between running CAA, a very busy online life, and digital art, I feel your pain. My wrists and fingers ache a little. What helped a lot is to have a little gel pad thingy that I put over the broad part of my laptop that cushions my wrists while I type. I also don't just leave them there...I put my hands in my lap when I'm not typing and just reading.

[Rev. Doc]

I suspected I had Carpal Tunnel for some time. I used the wrist braces at night because my hands would fall asleep. In time however, my arms began to get sore on most evenings. Found out from my father (who also had it) that his doctor informed him that if put off too long it could cause nerve damage in the arms. That's when I decided to go in and have it checked. I had the nerve conduction studies and surgical decompression that Shoob spoke of on both my wrists. Unfortunately, even today when I do activities such as grating cheese for tacos or shovel dirt my arms still will get tired and sore very quickly. While home remedies may help somewhat, if I were you I would go ahead and have it check by a physician and get his advice.

[Yahshua]

Hm feel your pain Lara truly ah for me it is mostly writing long papers at the keyboard although I have a natural keyboard it does not helps in a long runs.

[Yumie]

In my last couple of days of school I studied for Geometry for 20 hours, and the studying I did involved a lot of writing. Using my arms like that for such extended periods of time every day, my lower arm up towards my elbow started to hurt really bad, and I couldn't write or type without it feeling tight (it was very painful.) So I went to a lady at my church who is a massage therapist, and she felt my muscles and asked me some questions, and finally said that I had carpel tunnel swelling (not carpel tunnel syndrome.) I don't understand everything about it, but I think from what I understand carpel tunnel swelling can develope into carpel tunnel syndrome if you continue to overuse that arm or something like that. So she massaged it for a long time (it hurt really bad because the muscle was so tight, and my arm was even bruised afterward, but the muscle loosened up a lot.) After that, she told me to keep ice on it and try not to use it. Within a couple of days of doing that, my arm got better.

No clue if any of that will help you at all or not. But there it is anyways.

[Mave]

I've worn some arm guard/wrist bandage before when my wrist ached after too many hours of drawing. I generally reduce activity on my left hand for 3-4 days. Now, that wasn't really difficult since I already use my right hand to carry out important activities (eg. using the mouse and driving).

I can't offer much help but I sincerely hope that your hand gets better after some adjustments you make in your lifestyle.

[FadedOne]

Thanks for the comments.

yeah..it stopped hurting today, but then I wrote a long blog entry tonight and man..ow..pain and tightness again. silly human arm...I keep joking about how I want a prosthetic FMA arm now. But yeah...I'm going to consider some kind of arm rest or something I guess. The way my computer setup is now, using the mouse requires me resting my wrist or forearm(midway) right on the corner of the desk and that's causing some pain. dumb desk lol. and yeah..I do type way too much. the 21st century requires it lol.

anyways yeah...thanks for all the helpful tips hopefully this eases up. If I could just be more PATIENT but I have none of that and I keep using this arm b/c I can't be bothered by any kind of handicap so I just ignore it. *is dumb* lol. oh well.

[Mithrandir]

Ah. CTS. I guess I qualify as the resident expert on CTS here. (I've been dealing with it for quite a number of years, and as a programer, it just doesn't go away for me). If you do have it, I would reallly strongly urge you NOT to ignore it.

The first thing you want to do is figure out if you have CTS.

Try this:
Let your sore arm/wrist hang limp for a few seconds, then bring it up and tap it about an inch below the base of your hand. If you feel any pain or tingeling in your finger tips, you better stop typing. In fact, see a doctor and get some advice. Another thing to do is a bit more tricky but I'll try to explain. Bend your wrists and extend your fingers parallel to your wrist. If your fingers go numb after a little bit of this, see my advice above.

If you DO have CTS, deal with it promptly. If you don't you may end up like me. My wrists hurt all the time, and acutally keep me from doing some of the things I want to. (You may notice I'm around here less frequently these days; I can't play guitar on my church's worship band all the time.) You can imagine it makes for a stressful life to sometimes have to go days at a time not typing, playing the guitar, playing video games, shuffleing cards and pretty much anything else that involves any repitition.

[Slater]

hai, the best advice as Mithy said is to stop typing. That's totally what causes it. CTS is a malalignment between the bones in your hands. Sounds nasty, eh? It is, and it's something that most sane people don't want getting worse.

[Mithrandir]

CTS is a malalignment between the bones in your hands.

Hmm... I've never heard of that.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is caused by the tendones in your wrists swelling up and pinching the nerve that they surround. (These tendones form a ring around some of the carple bones in the hand that the nerve passes through. This ring is called the "carpal tunnel." )

If you want a bit more info: http://health.yahoo.com/ency/healthwise/hw213308 was the top of a yahoo search and it seems to have some OK advice. Still, the doctor is the best bet if your pain persists. See if you can find one that specializes in work related injuries, if you can (lots of cases of CTS are work related). A keyword for you may be "RSI: Repeditive Stress Injury."

[Slater]

eh I was close. The carpals are the little bones that make up the area above your hand, so...

[LorentzForce]

The best way not to get it is to not to type so much.

I've been programming since I was 8 so I kinda grew up into it (read: my wrist was "deformed" in order to fit a keyboard, how scary is that), but even then I still had a problem years back because the skin under my hand would rub off. Gel pad worked.

My tips are (other than ones above) that your working area is very important. Get proper computer chairs, proper desk with proper height, adjust your monitor's angle and position at a comfortable level (so you look slightly down at the monitor), and get a good keyboard and mouse. I personally own an IBM Model-M and Logitech MX500 for my input devices, you might find those ergonomic keyboard much more comfortable.

Remember that RSI is a serious injury; treat it like you broke a bone.