Do you have experience with RSI (repetitive strain injury) or similar?
I have an appointment with my doctor after Christmas (the earliest I can get to see her), so don’t say ‘see your doctor’. That’s already in hand. I’m interested in other people’s experiences and things they did that helped.
I type constantly for my work. It’s unavoidable. I do have Dragon Naturally Speaking on my computer to reduce my need to type as much as I can but my work demands I work on a computer all the time and using Dragon slows me down a lot.
My right arm is very painful. The pain is in my upper arm and down to my elbow. Where the pain is located varies. One day my elbow might hurt more than my upper arm and then my upper arm is more painful. I can feel small lumps under the skin where I suspect my muscle(s) is/are inflamed. I’m guessing it’s RSI of some form and I’ll no doubt find out for sure in the New Year.
I plan to try to restrict the amount of typing I do over the next few weeks, but what’s your experience been with such injuries and did you find workarounds that were particularly helpful?
I’m also going to use the time to set up my formal home work area to ensure I’m not making it worse because of how I sit. I work from home a lot so often I don’t sit at my desk while I work.
I can’t just stop typing unless I stop working. As I’ve said, I will be trying to minimise my computer use over the next couple of weeks but beyond that, I’m not sure how I can avoid it.
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Do you have an ergonomic mouse and keyboard? I got one, it’s much nicer. My wrists were giving me crap after my concussion. The doc gave me a couple of balls to squeeze. It helped.
No, but I’ll look at getting more ergonomic options over the break. I do think mouse use is the main problem. I’ve also bought a Lenovo, Thinkpad Yoga and I can use a digital pen with that so I might try using that when I’m marking. It will at least mean I’m using a different group of muscles perhaps. I think I just have to investigate other ways of working.
I’m glad you are going to the doctor if you have “lumps.” Are they perfectly round like cysts?
At first I was going to say complete rest and ibuprofen for two weeks might help. I say that because carpal tunnel sometimes can resolve with complete rest for the wrists in cases that are not very severe. Even modified rest as you plan to do could help.
The lumps worry me a little. Where are they?
Also, check your vitamin D. When my D is low I get muscle pain. It’s like the muscle tires very quickly. For instance gardening or knitting for an hour would leave the arm muscles I was using in pain and I was so shaky I could barely hold a glass of water. Getting my D level up was magical. You need the blood test to know where you are at. Just popping some D isn’t good enough, because you have no idea how much you need. I need huge amounts to stay in normal range. Also, B12 is associated with nerve trouble. The normal range in America is lower than many other countries. If you are on the low side of normal I still would take some B12 supplements. I really encourage you to ask for these blood tests:
Vitamin D
Vitamin B12
iron or CBC
TSH
One other thing, typing desk height is usually a little high for comfort. Many desks have a lower pull out for the keyboard and mouse.
Thanks @JLeslie, I’ll ask her to check my levels when I see her and no, they’re not perfectly round lumps. More like a long swelling. If you think of a skein of wool, it’s sort of like one of the threads (or more) are swollen in certain areas. Best way I can describe it. It’s not like a huge lump, just a noticeable swelling in some places and that’s where the pain seems to be located.
I often work with my laptop on a board on my knee. I’m sure a big part of the cause is bad positioning of my mouse etc. I suspect my not working at a formal desk is why my wrist isn’t affected. I don’t get any pain in my wrist. Just my elbow area and upper arm.
Do you have any old injuries like tennis elbow?
Yes, repetitive use injuries as well in my wrists and fingers.
Tendonitis and trigger finger. Infact, killing me the last few days again.
I often wake up in the middle of the night with frozen fingers. lol
Decades of all sorts of repetitive actions, mainly outdoorsy things, dishes, housework, and daily horse chores, raking/shoveling, pitchforking, unscrewing feed container lids, ripping flakes of hay apart, scooping grain and other animal feeds, filling and dumping waterfowl buckets and swimming pools. Scooping the litter box.
My life of shit. lol
Chop wood carry water. haha
You beat me to this question, @Earthbound_Misfit. After 30 years using computers, I’ve just started having a lot of pain in my right wrist, forearm, bicep and shoulder. I tried an ergonomic vertical mouse but I can’t get used to it. I’m going to follow this thread closely.
@JLeslie, no I don’t but I have had pain over the years but it’s always gone away and not been as bad as it is now.
I’ll let you know what my Dr says @Pachy. It’s a bit hard to work in some jobs and avoid using a computer isn’t it? I know your occupation puts you in the same boat as me.
Indeed it does… @Earthbound_Misfit. I’ve been trying to use my Mac a bit less, but like Michael Corleone in “Godfather III” would have said if he’d had the same problem with a computer…
Just when I thought I was out… it pulls me back in.
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