Wrist pain

[M2d]

ok, you wanted serious answers, so here it goes. fwiw, I'm the health and safety officer at my company, and injury reports/worker's comp/ergonomics is part of my job.

if the pain is a result of work related activities, definately report it. without knowing more/seeing your workstation, I wouldn't be able to give an accurate assessment, but there are some things you can learn/do to help yourself.

first, it may be CTS or some other ergonomic type injury. many of these are similar and differ only in which anatomical structure is affected.

you definately want to go on record as having a workplace injury, though. by doing so, your work is responsible for the costs and not you. the good thing about ergonomic injuries is that, caught early, they're pretty easy to reverse. the bad thing is that, if they're allowed to progress, they can become permanent.

if it is CTS, you should understand what's going on. the Carpal Tunnel is basically a hole in the bones of your wrist through which a bunch of ligaments and the medial nerve run through, on their way to your hand and fingers. the nerve can get pinched or rubbed, causing it to become irritated and inflamed. a common cause of this is improper hand position while typing/mousing.

you want to make sure that your wrist is straight when working. pronation or supination (bent backwards or forwards) reduces the effective area through which all of these tissues can move in (to illustrate this, take your key ring and stick a pen through it. if the pen goes through at a right angle, there's a lot of space between it and the edges of the ring. if you tilt the ring towards or away from the pen, you have a lot less wiggle room).
you also want to make sure that you're not planting your wrists when typing. this also results in pinching. the best typing posture for your wrists is with your fingers only touching the keys and your wrist hovering. this position not only helps keep your wrists straight, but also eliminates any pinching. a wrist rest or gel pad can seem like it helps, but will still result in the same pinching/extending on your wrists. the rest is cool, but only when you're not actively typing. if you stop typing for a second to think/edit/spank to porn, use your wrist rest. if you're actively typing, though, you want to hover.

when mousing (or using a trackball), the same applies, but you should think of a couple of other points. the main thing here is that you want to use the largest muscle groups possible. for moving a mouse or scrolling with a trackball, this means using your entire arm to control movements rather than just your wrist or fingers. by doing this, you force your wrist into a straight position and you allow your larger muscles and bigger body structures to absorb the force involved. while not energy efficient, it takes a lot smaller toll on your body to use large muscles and it does to use small ones.

you also want to take a short break every 20 minutes or so to stretch. this can be simple wrist flexing stretches and can include back, neck and eye stretches (your focus is on a point 2 feet or so away when you're typing, and, if you don't change your focus every so often, you are essentially flexing your eye muscles and holding it all day-just take a few seconds to change your focus to different points both near and far-it'll save your eyesight some down the road).

the bottom line, though is you want to report this and get treatment. like i said, it's relatively easy to reverse when it's just showing (as you are now), but if left unchecked, you could be faced with being unable to sleep because of throbbing wrist pain, tingling or numbing, or even face surgery and the loss of use of your wrists and hands.

hope this helps.

[steelcmg]

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ok, you wanted serious answers, so here it goes. fwiw, I'm the health and safety officer at my company, and injury reports/worker's comp/ergonomics is part of my job.

if the pain is a result of work related activities, definately report it. without knowing more/seeing your workstation, I wouldn't be able to give an accurate assessment, but there are some things you can learn/do to help yourself.

first, it may be CTS or some other ergonomic type injury. many of these are similar and differ only in which anatomical structure is affected.

you definately want to go on record as having a workplace injury, though. by doing so, your work is responsible for the costs and not you. the good thing about ergonomic injuries is that, caught early, they're pretty easy to reverse. the bad thing is that, if they're allowed to progress, they can become permanent.

if it is CTS, you should understand what's going on. the Carpal Tunnel is basically a hole in the bones of your wrist through which a bunch of ligaments and the medial nerve run through, on their way to your hand and fingers. the nerve can get pinched or rubbed, causing it to become irritated and inflamed. a common cause of this is improper hand position while typing/mousing.

you want to make sure that your wrist is straight when working. pronation or supination (bent backwards or forwards) reduces the effective area through which all of these tissues can move in (to illustrate this, take your key ring and stick a pen through it. if the pen goes through at a right angle, there's a lot of space between it and the edges of the ring. if you tilt the ring towards or away from the pen, you have a lot less wiggle room).
you also want to make sure that you're not planting your wrists when typing. this also results in pinching. the best typing posture for your wrists is with your fingers only touching the keys and your wrist hovering. this position not only helps keep your wrists straight, but also eliminates any pinching. a wrist rest or gel pad can seem like it helps, but will still result in the same pinching/extending on your wrists. the rest is cool, but only when you're not actively typing. if you stop typing for a second to think/edit/spank to porn, use your wrist rest. if you're actively typing, though, you want to hover.

when mousing (or using a trackball), the same applies, but you should think of a couple of other points. the main thing here is that you want to use the largest muscle groups possible. for moving a mouse or scrolling with a trackball, this means using your entire arm to control movements rather than just your wrist or fingers. by doing this, you force your wrist into a straight position and you allow your larger muscles and bigger body structures to absorb the force involved. while not energy efficient, it takes a lot smaller toll on your body to use large muscles and it does to use small ones.

you also want to take a short break every 20 minutes or so to stretch. this can be simple wrist flexing stretches and can include back, neck and eye stretches (your focus is on a point 2 feet or so away when you're typing, and, if you don't change your focus every so often, you are essentially flexing your eye muscles and holding it all day-just take a few seconds to change your focus to different points both near and far-it'll save your eyesight some down the road).

the bottom line, though is you want to report this and get treatment. like i said, it's relatively easy to reverse when it's just showing (as you are now), but if left unchecked, you could be faced with being unable to sleep because of throbbing wrist pain, tingling or numbing, or even face surgery and the loss of use of your wrists and hands.

hope this helps.

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Thanks for the post this is a great think to know.

[astroglide]

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That would cut down on the amount of booze i could buy for the month and i dont think that is worth it.

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ok, you wanted serious answers

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[wacki]

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sold

[Brainwalter]

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http://www.kensington.com/html/2200.html

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This thing is [censored] awesome. OP, you should definitely get one.

[BiffMan]

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ok, you wanted serious answers, so here it goes. fwiw, I'm the health and safety officer at my company, and injury reports/worker's comp/ergonomics is part of my job.

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Excellent info, thanks a bunch. Not to hijaack the thread too much, but on a related note, what's the best method of alieviating/coping with mouse finger pain?

I've never had anything chronic, but if I'm using a CAD program for an extended period of time or playing a game that involves lots of click-dragging, I can wind up with some fairly nasty tendon pain in my index finger whether I take frequent breaks or not. I can usually get rid of it by backing off on those motions for a few days, but would like to prevent it from happening in the first place. Do the same issues with CTS apply here? Would strength building help?