stinkin' carpel tunnel

[Tom_ZeCat]

I have pain in my right wrist, not excruciating, but enough that I have to be cautious. I've set my mouse to left-handed even though I'm a righty. It's not as bad as it sounds. I have ambidextrious tendencies. I can write almost as well with my left as my right. So going lefty with my mouse for a while will help. Anyone know if those wristband things really help? Or if there's anything else I ought to be doing?

[Qqmike]

Experiment with things, see what works. Hot, or cold. Wristband--experiment with that, placing it down lower on forearm or up higher but below elbow, or higher above elbow. I know someone who had medically diagnosed case of it and successfully treated it in both hands with acupuncture--no trace of it now, going on several years. Rest, whenever possible. Try a google on it, too.

[HalationEffect]

One thing that might be worth considering is replacing the mouse with a trackball.

[Tom_ZeCat]

One thing that might be worth considering is replacing the mouse with a trackball.

Always found them diffucult to use, but maybe you get used to them?

[Goeroeboeroe]

I've that problem too, but much less since I changed a few things.
I use two mice: one for left hand, one for right hand. Simple things I sometimes do with my left hand mouse, so my right hand can rest.
I installed RSIBreak. Doesn't have anything to do with a mouse or trackball, but it helps me to pause in time.
In systemsettings I enabled Mousenavigation. For most things I now can use the keyboard instead of the mouse. In installed plasma-widget-kbstate, because when enabling mouse-navigation you can lock Shift etc. kbstate shows what keys are locked etc. (It's plain ugly, but it works. It has a white non-transparent background, brrr)
I use Firefox as my main browser. The extension Mouseless Browsing let me use numbers instead the mouse to follow a link.
These things together helped me quite a lot. And most of the time they work faster then using the mouse...

[oshunluvr]

The problem with most trackballs is they're too small. A ball less than 2 inches in diameter is too delicate/jumpy. I used a trackball for 20 years without problems but it was a huge 4 inch ball - like the size of a softball - and weighed a lot. You could give it a spin and it would take 12-14 seconds to come to a rest. However, it was built into the RADAR console I worked at so it's not like I could get one for home, but if I could, I would!

To the wrist issue: look at your general posture as well. The angle you're holding the mouse, where your elbows are, the height of your desk surface; all might be part of the issue. Definately if you're having pain, take some anti-inflamatory and give your wrist a several day break.

[lcorken]

I had wrist pain, knee pain and occasional back pain. It turns out I have a minor gluten sensitivity. Not Celiac, just a low level irritation. Your doctor would likely find you negative for Celiac. The best way to find out is to abstain from all gluten for 30 days and then eat some and see if you get a reaction. There are also blood or hair tests for general food issues. Google it. The US FERENGI medical system will generally pooh pooh this stuff as it does not sell drugs and surgery.

@Goeroeboeroe Two mice? Wow, I gotta try that!

oshunluvr suggested changing position. Some folks use an adjustable desk to alternate between sitting, standing, kneeling, etc. Also you should avoid sitting for more than 15-20 minutes in one position. The periodic trip to the water cooler, fridge, or just stand up and stretch. But don't over due the fridge thing. This is a generalization and may or may not help a specific wrist problem.

Ken.

[Tom_ZeCat]

I had wrist pain, knee pain and occasional back pain. It turns out I have a minor gluten sensitivity. Not Celiac, just a low level irritation. Your doctor would likely find you negative for Celiac. The best way to find out is to abstain from all gluten for 30 days and then eat some and see if you get a reaction. There are also blood or hair tests for general food issues. Google it. The US FERENGI medical system will generally pooh pooh this stuff as it does not sell drugs and surgery.

@Goeroeboeroe Two mice? Wow, I gotta try that!

oshunluvr suggested changing position. Some folks use an adjustable desk to alternate between sitting, standing, kneeling, etc. Also you should avoid sitting for more than 15-20 minutes in one position. The periodic trip to the water cooler, fridge, or just stand up and stretch. But don't over due the fridge thing. This is a generalization and may or may not help a specific wrist problem.

Ken.

Gluten, huh? I do suffer from chronic knee, back pain, and migraines. I'm already a vegetarian. I've made several attempts to go vegan, and when I can stay that way, I get far fewer migraines. What kind of foods do you find gluten in? Bread, obviously, and mock meats like seitan, probably. Are they pretty good at labeling gluten on the packaging?

[woodsmoke]

The place whereat I train for diving has a lady that contracts for use of the pool and she does a really different version of chiropracty in water. This also includes some "shiatsu", type stuff , pressure points on the palm and feet.

A trainer there has "incipient" carpel tunnel and has been paying cash, the insurace amount ran out, to do the same tired "therapies" which are basically rolling dowels on velcro which actually only exacerbates the problem.

I suggested to him that he get a session from her and the result, according to him, was just amazing, he had complete use of his hand after the session.

Now, whether it was the "chiropracty" in the water, because this is all about "nerves", including the nerves that go from the hand to the spinal cord, or it was the "shiatsu" I don't know and she doesn't know, but he has had an amazing transormation.

So....maybe some kind of "gentle"...don't know...reflexology, hand pressure point stuff, it should be done by someone who knows what they are doing..but a possibility.

woodsmoke

[lcorken]

Gluten, huh? I do suffer from chronic knee, back pain, and migraines. I'm already a vegetarian. I've made several attempts to go vegan, and when I can stay that way, I get far fewer migraines. What kind of foods do you find gluten in? Bread, obviously, and mock meats like seitan, probably. Are they pretty good at labeling gluten on the packaging?

Ya gotta read labels. Anything with Wheat, spelt, barley, rye is suspect. So much for beer. You can get gluten free beer but it's pricey. I discovered hard cider. Although at age 66 am thinking I may have developed an alcohol problem. Rats.

I'm not sure of the difference between vegetarian and vegan but if one eats eggs and dairy that could be an issue. Eggs and milk are among the most allergenic foods along with nuts, wheat, soy and shell fish. My wife and I eat eggs with no obvious problems. One day we got some duck eggs at the growers market. She developed some bad stomach pains until the duck eggs were gone. Repeat, same results. This was an almost immediate reaction for her, no problem for me.

Not so with the wheat and other glutenous grains. We felt fine till the next day. I had joint pain, acid reflux and she had headache and depression. Everybody is different. Best to do an N=1 experiment on yourself.

Gluten can cause gut permeability which allows some of the wrong stuff to get into the blood stream resulting in various problems. Low level inflammation in different parts of the body, etc. I've heard of estimates ranging from 20% to 80% of the population having at least some problems with gluten. Unfortunately, the US doctors only test for the severest form which is celiac.

If I were a vegetarian I think I would go the raw route. Lotta fruit vegetables, nuts, but not grains or legumes. Beware of deficiencies of the B vitamins. In northern latitudes a good D3 supplement is good.

Good health to you.
Ken.

[SteveRiley]

The place whereat I train for diving has a lady that contracts for use of the pool and she does a really different version of chiropracty in water. This also includes some "shiatsu", type stuff , pressure points on the palm and feet... So....maybe some kind of "gentle"...don't know...reflexology, hand pressure point stuff, it should be done by someone who knows what they are doing

Neither of these treatments is supported by reliable evidence.

Chiropractic is one great big sham.
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/.../chiropractic/

Similarly, reflexology is crap. Not one shred of evidence supports the existence of qi in the body.
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/...erence-here-2/

Really, there is no such thing as "alternative medicine." There is medicine that works, and there is everything else.

[Tom_ZeCat]

My wrister is feeling a lot better. I spent several days using my mouse left-handed and writing left-handed. I was dismayed at how much coordination I had lost with writing. I've had ambidextrious tendencies because of carpel tunnel. Back in 2000 to 2001 I had a job where I used a mouse and wrote stuff down all day. I started getting carpel tunnel and ended up doing all the writing wiith my left hand for about 3 months. By the time that was over, my left-handed writing was almost as good as that done with my right.

I think I'm just going to switch to left-handed from time to time to avoid stress.

[life0riley]

I'm glad your wrist is better.

I've found in general that I have less aches and pains when I stay active and spend less time sitting in front of a computer monitor. That's difficult to do now in my current support position. I've been fortunate and haven't had any wrist issues. I'm sure playing the piano helped. I'm always conscious about proper hand and wrist position. Most of my issues are upper back and neck.

I did some powerlifting in the 80's. Chiropractic played a small but important role in my recovery and training for meets.

[ronw]

At a previous job with workstations designed by a masochist, I tried some fancy carpal tunnel items.

In the end, a cheap bowling wrist brace completely solved the problem. Not this particular one, but like this: http://www.amazon.com/Mueller-Fitted...f=pd_sim_hpc_1

[lcorken]

Neither of these treatments is supported by reliable evidence.

Chiropractic is one great big sham.
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/.../chiropractic/

Similarly, reflexology is crap. Not one shred of evidence supports the existence of qi in the body.
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/...erence-here-2/

Really, there is no such thing as "alternative medicine." There is medicine that works, and there is everything else.

That seems a rather narrow point of view to me. It's like saying I should not wear a jacket because I don't have a thermometer to tell me it's cold. "The market has spoken", Micro-soft is best because it's more popular, we can measure that.

Much good and bad has come from science based medicine and alternative. The US is capitalistic. The Medical industry is for profit as is everything else. They see Medicare and insurance and frightened patients as an endless source of money. Not sustainable is it.

There are "alternative medicines" that work. Mainstream medical hates this because it may take some business from them. Yes, science based medicine is selling products and services just like the hawkers and quacks. Much of medicine is designed to treat symptoms rather than causes. There is no profit in preventing illness. There is as much scamming in the mainstream as alternatives. Drugs are oversold and supplements are oversold.

I'm not anti medicine. If I need medical help I will get it. There is a lot of conflicting info out there but the more informed we are the better equipped to make informed decisions. If I decide an alternative would be better for me I'm in.

Good health to you.
Ken.