Carpal Tunnel Syndr-ow!

[Wrestlevania]

Bastard thing! Never suffered from RSI or any similar affliction before, but farkin' 'ell does this bloody hurt.

Anyone got any helpful tips for a fellow keyboard jockey?

[ThunderPeel2001]

Unless my keyboard is really flat and I've got something underneath both my wrists, I tend to get pain in them.

[DanJW]

[Roderick]

I'm killing my hands now by drawing and working 24/7 for a deadline, and I find it works to occasionally dip my hands into warm water for a minute. That softens up everything.

As far as prevention is concerned; the right posture is important, but moreso frequent breaks and variation in what you do. Try drinking a lot so you need to take regular pottybreaks

[Wrestlevania]

I just trotted downstairs to speak to the (disarmingly pretty) pharmacist in Boots; all she said I should do for now is take Ibuprofen, with a view to seeing my doctor if it either doesn't subside or makes a (2nd) unwelcome return.

I first noticed it whilst I was on holiday, having spent the afternoon strimming around the edges of about 3 hectares of meadow as a favour for my in-laws. I was using a bloody huge, frighteningly-powerful petrol strimmer to do the nasty, which vibrated like an knackered old car and was a sod to hang on to.

It ached for a couple of days after that, then subsided. But it's back again suddenly this morning, after spending a day out with Mrs V and the kids yesterday. I'm thinking it might have been those three times I took T on the bouncy castle...

[elmuerte]

Drink alcohol while using the keyboard. That prevents most forms of RSI.

[ThunderPeel2001]

That sounds closer to damage done by vibrations... A friend of mine was a tree surgeon and, thanks to the constant vibrations shaking the blood in his hands, got himself Raynaud's disease. Not fun.

Keeping your hands warm should help with the blood flow, but I guess it's pretty unlikely that you could have done any major damage from a single exposure... How long ago did you strim the hedge? (That sounds like a weird euphemism doesn't it?)

[DanJW]

Yeah I thought of whitefinger, but I think those kind of vibration-related diseases are due to long-term exposure.

[Wrestlevania]

I don't think it's anything as 'exciting' as something that serious; I was only using the strimmer for about 3-4hrs. The chemist suggested I may have caused some minor, specific muscle damage in my arm and then agitated it while it was still healing.

I've booked a doctor's appointment for next Monday anyway, as I've got the day off and want to speak to him about it.

[Spaff]

Drink alcohol while using the keyboard. That prevents most forms of RSI.

/signed

[Verohari]

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/phantom%20limb%20pain

It's gone now, isn't it? =P

[Wrestlevania]

Oh, charming. Pursued into cyberspace by gobby colleagues! (My own fault I 'spose...)

No, it's not completely gone. The tendons in my second and third fingers still feel "thick" and the fingers themselves don't move as freely as they should. But the outright pain and shooting sensations have gone now.

I'm just trying to be mindful of agitating it a second time, so I'm off the wanking for a bit not going on any bouncy castles or using industrial gardening utilities for a while. My wrist itself still aches from time to time though, but it's nothing like it was before.

But thanks for sort of caring.

/me makes mental note to try and kick Verohari's shins under the desk for the rest of the day