Developed mild carpal tunnel (I think). Now what??

[teddyFBI]

I'm always extraordinarily conscientious in supporting my wrist and elbow while playing online (i've got like a pullout tray that i have a down pillow on, so my elbow is essentially parrallel to the mouse surface), but i seem to have developed some CTS symptoms anyway -- i went out and played some VERY light softball only to have my elbow start bothering me 30 minutes in. Then when I came back to play a little poker afterward, i realized that my elbow was hurting most when i put it in my poker-playing position; hence i'm guessing it's probably the hundreds of thousands of hands i've logged over the past year.

Anyway - now what? a) is this carpal tunnel? b) what should i be doing that i'm not already? i have pretty good elbow/wrist support. c) how do I treat this? i've got a softball tourney in a few weeks and i want to be able to play.

[BradleyT]

There were some posts quite a while back about wrist braces, maybe whoever made that post can reply here.

[teddyFBI]

EDIT: after reading a little bit, i don't know if it's 'classic' carpal tunnel; my symptoms are MUCH more like tennis-elbow (but both are really just repetitive stress injuries)...minor distinction, i guess -- just wanted to be clear on the source of the pain: outside of elbow, not in hand/wrist.

[Kablooie]

You may also want to try using your left hand for the mouse - there's some work that suggested that this resulted in less RSI type complaints, as the resulting posture and movements were more 'natural'.

I've always been a left handed mouse user, and i've never had RSI problems. For whatever that's worth.

[Reef]

[ QUOTE ]
There were some posts quite a while back about wrist braces, maybe whoever made that post can reply here.

[/ QUOTE ]

here

[surfdoc]

Your symptoms sound more like tennis elbow or lateral epicondylitis. Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) will result in hand symptoms as the problem lies in the carpal tunnel (wrist). What you have is an overuse injury and resting those muscles involved and taking NSAIDs (motrin type drugs) is the standard first line therapy. Now back to poker as I really don't feel like "working".

[balkii]

medical doctors are unfortunately not much help when it comes to things like this. they look at you, possibly x-ray you, and say, "i cant find anything wrong," or "dont play poker or softball for a few weeks."

unfortunately this does nothing to help you.

chiropractors often arent much better. they'll snap your back and head and arm into place (which feels great) but they dont get to the root issue: fixing the muscle patterns in your daily use that are causing the pains.

i struggled with RSI (repetitive strain injury) for years from my job doing data entry a while back. never got any relief until i started taking lessons in the Alexander Technique . This is a way to learn how to eliminate harmful movement and tension patterns from the way you use the keyboard and mouse, the way you throw a softball or swing a bat, and the way you sit, stand, sleep, and move about in your daily life.

10 minutes of computer use used to put me in pain. I can now sit for hours in front of the computer (yay) but more importantly my posture has improved, i have less back neck and shoulder pain, playing instruments has become less painful and more fun, and many other facets of life have improved.

i recommend this book as an introduction. you can thank me later.

[surfdoc]

Here is a lay reference of what I was describing. web page . Here is a more detailed description of CTS

[WackoJacko]

is this laughable, I mean does this post have integrity?????

[surfdoc]

[ QUOTE ]
medical doctors are unfortunately not much help when it comes to things like this. they look at you, possibly x-ray you, and say, "i cant find anything wrong," or "dont play poker or softball for a few weeks."

[/ QUOTE ]

This is comedy at its finest.