Reddit reviews It's Not Carpal Tunnel Syndrome!: RSI Theory and Therapy for Computer Professionals
We found 16 Reddit comments about It's Not Carpal Tunnel Syndrome!: RSI Theory and Therapy for Computer Professionals. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Simax
IMPORTANT REPLY!!1one: I've been dealing with this for YEARS. I finally figured it out. I feel like the acne kid in the frontpage here.
Actually the only/best solution is activity and enough sleep. Your brain needs at least ~8 hours of sleep to restore your muscles. Your body needs physical activity to move blood and keep the wiring clean.
Hand pain:
It is weird, but your knuckles are part of one big nerve and although it seems like only they are fucked up, a lot of it is really your shoulders are fucked and your chest isn't open, so your knuckles don't get lubricated enough to deal with typing all day. (I know that sounds weird :-) )
Sleep: Give your body space to relax and sleep after work/homework/WoW and you will see immediate results because your muscles will reset properly. If you are about to tell me you can't relax or sleep easy, this is a good indicator that you need to slowly train your body to relax! Physical activity is part of that training. It will ease your brain from this tenseness, you will be able to sleep better, which will let you relax more.
Activity:
Yoga is cheap physical therapy and attacks exactly the part of the body computer scientists fuck up. My Yoga class has more men than women so don't be socially shy about it. Look for forrest yoga, it is actually designed for working professionals who wear themselves down and isn't too hard but will still give you rad muscles. Wake your body up in the morning with a rubber band shoulder exercises.
Further tips:
If your doctor is a dick and says your life is over, says stop typing so much (when it is your job), or jumps immediately to getting you median nerve surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome then his education is outdated. That is what people believed 15 years ago. Don't let it get bad enough to be nerve damage. It's probably just musculoskeletal problems and you can fix those!. Read the book "It's not carpal tunnel syndrome!" if you need further guidance.
You can tell this guy wasn't getting sleep, he was a perfectionist. We are really shitty priority queues by definition. I am a perfectionist who dealt with this and I know what I am talking about here.
https://talonvoice.com/ You might want to look into the Talon's eye tracking stuff even if you're not a coder. They're working on more noise recognition features so you can click without clicking. :) The Talon Slack also does have a channel discussing the health related aspects, if you'd like to talk to others about your diagnosis/treatment. It's a lot more sane than the Facebook groups...
You might find a trackball mouse useful. There are large ones that you can use your palm to click with instead of your fingers!
" take ibuprofen if my arms started to hurt." That's really dismissive and hardly a long term solution. If anything, try ice. Do you know if you have any swelling?
I had a diagnosis of tennis elbow as well. In the early stages I focused on icing and stretching. Once I was able to grip things without pain, I moved on to doing very light eccentric wrist curls. That was paired with some manual therapy to help relax my extensors, which were tight and pulling on the tendon.
This is a list of resources I've found reliable and useful.
General Diagnosis/Treatment -
https://rsiselftreatment.com/
https://www.amazon.com/Its-Carpal-Tunnel-Syndrome-Professionals/dp/0965510999
https://www.painscience.com/index-pain-conditions.php
https://trainingandrehabilitation.com/how-truly-treat-thoracic-outlet-syndrome/
https://www.acropt.com/blog/2017/9/6/arm-hand-pain-when-it-could-actually-be-your-shoulder
Trigger Points -
https://www.amazon.com/Trigger-Point-Therapy-Workbook-Self-Treatment/dp/1572243759
https://www.muscle-joint-pain.com/
http://www.triggerpoints.net/
Posture -
https://modernhealthmonk.com/neck-pain-and-shoulder-pain-upper-crossed-syndrome/
https://www.acropt.com/blog/2017/8/17/postural-stretches
https://www.simplestrengthening.com/ (edited)
It's not carpal tunnel syndrome!
This should be at the top of the comments list with 150 points. This book helped me immensely.
I've suffered from pretty bad RSI from office work and this book covered alot of things, included explanations and stretching mitigations: https://www.amazon.com/Its-Carpal-Tunnel-Syndrome-Professionals/dp/0965510999/
You can find plenty of youtube videos that recommend things too, guitar players have similar problems and you might find similar recommendations for them also.
Carpal tunnel syndrome is a specific injury. If you're having physical discomfort and pain from using a computer it is more likely RSI (Repetitive strain injury).
First of all you must fix your workstation. An adjustable chair and a keyboard tray are the most important items. Learn to be an ambi-mouser and use keyboard shortcuts more often.
Secondly your body is not meant to type on a computer all day. You need to exercise, stretch, take breaks, etc.
Thirdly buy this book for professional advice - It's Not Carpal Tunnel Syndrome! RSI Theory & Therapy for Computer Professionals
I just recommended this book to OP as well:
https://www.amazon.com/Its-Carpal-Tunnel-Syndrome-Professionals/dp/0965510999
There's a lot of controversy over RSI issues and the need for surgery. I don't know if that makes me sound like some medical conspiracy theorist or something, but I highly recommend reading this before you get surgery. Doc told me I was going to need surgery, but I read this book and made a few minor adjustments instead. I was able to play free of pain within a month or so.
Hey! Just to let you know. I was in the exact same situation a few years ago. I was probably as worried as you are. After reading this book,
http://www.amazon.com/Its-Carpal-Tunnel-Syndrome-Professionals/dp/0965510999
I was able to manage my problem. I now play guitar with no issues. I just make sure to take breaks at reasonable time periods and stretch regularly. Good luck!
Well, first of all, did you talk with your boss? They might be able to work something out with you.
Anyway, I had RSI issues that affected my work too. The general practitioner I went to was not very helpful (and many are not interested or knowledgeable about RSI), but they did write me a prescription for occupational therapy, which was quite helpful. Between regularly doing the exercises my OT gave me and improving the ergonomics of my setup (I absolutely will not just place my keyboard and mouse on a desk; I need a keyboard tray) I have gotten it under control.
I don't think there's going to be good dictation software for programming. But you could try installing some software like Workrave. This kind of software will basically set a timer (which can be configured) which encourages (or forces, depending on how you set it) you to stop using the computer and take a break at set intervals. It kind of messes up your productivity, but I used it when my symptoms were at their worst.
Also, I highly recommend these books:
There is a ton of misinformation and bad advice out there. Don't buy a brace and use it all the time; that's the wrong solution. You need to strengthen your hands and wrists.
e: One more thing: a lot of us with RSI have a tendency to strike the keys way too hard. You should try to work on reducing that impulse, if you have it.
Hey, this comment is coming a little late, but:
http://www.amazon.com/Its-Carpal-Tunnel-Syndrome-Professionals/dp/0965510999/
That was the first book I read. It's written for people who work at computers for a living, but applies to anyone that does repetitive work that can cause these types of injuries (eg, musicians, or any desk job). It covers all aspects of RSI from what it is, to how it develops, and how to treat it. Really great intro book. The main take-home message is that the muscles need a rest, and that pain is often caused by muscles at some point other than where you are feeling the pain (ie, the pain is referred to another spot in the body).
http://www.amazon.com/Trigger-Point-Therapy-Workbook-Self-Treatment/dp/1572243759/
This book talks about trigger points specifically, and is written as a reference. Look up the part of the body where you feel pain, and it will direct you to muscles known to cause pain in that spot as well as how to treat them. I really like this book and would probably also give it 5 stars if I were to rate it on Amazon, but the reviews themselves seem overly positive. The only reason I mention that is because there is work involved in applying this information. It took me a few months of experimenting to really get the hang of it and understand the body parts I was dealing with but I was very glad once I did. I've found painful spots all over my body since then and I've been able to treat most problems very easily by just looking them up in this book to understand how things work a bit better.
So you've had RSI for the last 7 years!? Props to you for keeping going! Typing out that post must have been a painful process. IANA doctor, so take this all with a grain of salt as you should anything on the internet.
First thing is to find out if you've done any serious damage to your wrists. Is it at all possible for you to have a scan or something similar done? That would be a great start.
Rest and gentle stretches seem to be the way for most people, tendons can heal but they heal a lot more slowly than muscles do. There are many things on the internet, but a really good book I bought (one of 3) is It's Not Carpal Tunnel Syndome. It says it's for computer professionals, but it's for anyone really. I also read through this book and it seemed to have some good advice.
But honestly, what got me through was a thing called TMS. It's hard to grasp, that something like RSI (especially as severe as you have it, it seems) can be caused by your mind but it worked for me. It sounds really, really insane, but I was at the point where I was giving up and just thought 'screw it'. There's a pretty recently made program that could be a starting point, but I recovered by reading through this book and putting in to practice some of the exercises he goes through in the final chapters. It genuinely sounds like a shill from the outside, like someone trying to make money off of the suffering of others, but you don't have to spend any money on it.
Good luck with whatever you choose, /u/TexturedMango. There's a facebook group that will give you excellent advice too if you want the link to that.
She has a book as well which is probably your next best bet if you can’t shell out to see her. It has a lot of the exercises in there.
https://www.amazon.com/Its-Carpal-Tunnel-Syndrome-Professionals/dp/0965510999
RSI is an area that could use a good dose of skepticism. I think wrist braces fall squarely into the "untested solution that is always presented as the first step" bucket that so many ineffective cures fall into.
I've dealt with RSI issues on and off for 15 years. I still haven't found a better book on the subject than it's not carpal tunnel, and even that one I'm not happy with. The TLDR of the book is: get physical therapy to help you in the short term, learn better habits in the long term, and which methods you pick will depend on your particular injury.
I hope you're able to get your RSI under control, it can be very frustrating.
I know this is an older post, but I wanted to recommend you check out the book "It's not carpal tunnel syndrome". It's aimed at people who work on computers all day, but includes exercises and stretches to do.
Basically, take breaks when you're doing repetitive work; do wrist, arm, and shoulder stretches (like the aforementioned nerve glides); do wrist, arm, and shoulder strengthening exercises. More muscle helps keep nerves from getting compressed. Yoga is a good all-around preventative.
Those really common wrist braces don't do anything and doctors can't/won't help unless your hand is basically falling off (source: I've been to several hand specialists about my own tingly hands). Maybe a physical therapist would be able to help.
You can figure out where in your arm the nerve is getting compressed based on which portion/s of your hand go numb/tingly. It's not necessarily from binding, either. Excessive computer or phone use, or particularly weak wrist/arm muscles could also be to blame.
Cut and paste from an email I sent to an acquaintance who asked me essentiall the same question. Some San Francisco specific advice, but my hands hurt too much to edit it out right now, sorry. I'm not better, so perhaps I'm not the best person to ask. But I have gotten better - it's the relapses that I am having trouble with:
--------------------------
I highly recomend this book, to just about anyone, injured already or not:
http://www.amazon.com/Conquering-Carpal-Tunnel-Syndrome-Repetitive/dp/1572240393
This following one has been just as important, if not more so.
However, if you just jump into it, without being treated by a proper
deep tissue massage therapist for a while, you are almost certain to
injure yourself pretty badly.
http://www.amazon.com/Trigger-Point-Therapy-Workbook-Self-Treatment/dp/1572243759/ref=pd_cp_b_2
That said, I could never afford a daily professional massage, whereas
being able to work on oneself between meetings is key to maximising
the results. Just be really, really gentle - it can be easy to hurt
yourself when you haven't had the practice to distinguishing between
the transient pain of muscualr release and that caused by actual
injuring yourself.
(While the book itself is tremendously useful, it's organized in the
most backwards fashion. Instead of being organized by injury, it's
organized by physiology, so you will need lots of sticky book marks)
The following book has some useful conceptual information, though it
is not as practical as those first two
http://www.amazon.com/Carpal-Syndrome-Therapy-Computer-Professionals/dp/0965510999/ref=pd_cp_b_1
It does the best job of explaining the issues and how to deal with
them, but the actual exercises are sparse and not very useful.
Essentially, it goes against the conventional wisdom, that complete
rest is required for recovery, and suggests that very slow and steady,
increases in exercise >so long as they cause no pain whatsoever< are
an important part of the process.
The massage therapist I have seen is Jason Garcia, who now has his own practice near the Millbrae Bart/Caltrain station.
http://www.handsonwell.com/massage.html
I would also recomend the SF RSI support group, though I have not been attending much at all. I should, though the August speaker sounds like a charlatan. The November speaker looks like quite one to attend.
http://sf-rsi.unsealed.net/