Sunday, October 01, 2006

Carpal Tunnel

A'ight. Fess up. What's the carpal tunnel relief secret? I've had issues with it before, but it was pregnancy related and went away after. This...is just plain old carpal tunnel. Anyone else with aching forarms and tingling fingers?

3 comments:

Nonny Blackthorne said...

I haven't had carpal tunnel, but I have had severe tendonitis in my wrists before, to the point I couldn't hold an empty coffee mug.

It's very, VERY important to find an ergonomic setup that works for you. This may actually be by some people's definitions, "nonergonomic." The most comfortable setup I had was laid back in a plushy recliner with an optical mouse on the very wide, thick arms with the keyboard in my lap. :) General advice, though, is to use an ergo chair with the keyboard on a keyboard tray... but it can take some time to find out what works.

You might look into getting an ergonomic keyboard. I've used my MS Natural split keyboard for years and love it... though there are other types out there. :)

Also look into switching to the Dvorak keyboard layout. The keys in the normal layout -- QWERTY -- are put in a way to slow you down. Dvorak, on the other hand, the commonly used letters are on the "home" row so there's much less moving around of hands. More info here: http://www.mwbrooks.com/dvorak/

I would also suggest arnica gel and Natrol's msm/glucosamine creme. Both have worked wonderfully for my tendonitis (a bad flare, they'll have gone within 3 - 5 days), though I don't know how they would help with true carpal tunnel. (I suppose it's worth a try, and they're fairly cheap.) My grocery store carries them, but you can also usually find them at a GNC or health food store.


I know how much this SUCKS and I really hope some of this helps!! Feel free to drop me an email, IM, or pm on Divas if you need to chat more privately. **HUGS**

Karen Erickson said...

I've suffered from carpal tunnel for years. Hauling heavy clothes around in my retail years and then of course the many many years of typing in an office and at home. I've learned that holding my wrists at the proper angle really does help so typing doesn't bother me so much anymore. It's when I sleep and my wrists/hands are in weird positions that I have the most problems with.

Hope you can figure something out to help you. I probably wasn't much help was I? Well, my sympathies are with you. :)

Sela Carsen said...

Nonny had some great suggestions. I love my split keyboard. I touch type in QWERTY, though, so learning Dvorak would probably break my braincell.

Some of C.C's magical muscle rub and a heating pad have taken care of the worst of my pain, but I'm very gentle with my wrists these days. Better to take an hour off here and there than lose a few days to major pain.