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carpal tunnel prevention: what do you guys use?

Ns1

Ns1

No Lifer
So it appears everyone in my office is developing carpal tunnel, I guess I should do something before I get it too.

I have wrist guards for my keyboard/mouse. At home I have wrist guards for my keyboard/trackpad. What else is there?
 
SpatiallyAware said:
Most of my issues had to do with scrolling. I bought one of these for each of my pcs and use it to scroll which has solved 99% of the problems.

http://store.griffintechnology.com/powermate-1

We have some people here with the MS natural or whatever ergonomic one. I call it the lobster keyboard, it's really kind of ridiculous. Others have trackballs..
Click to expand...

interesting? from a carpal tunnel standpoint only, does that device offer anything over a scroll wheel?
 
Ns1 said:
interesting? from a carpal tunnel standpoint only, does that device offer anything more than a scroll wheel?
Click to expand...


I guess not, but I use it for other things.. At work, pressing down on it is mute and pressing down while turning will adjust the volume. I actually have two at home, one for scrolling and the other is for volume.

It's a cool little device, carpal tunnel aside.

Edit: Wait I see what you're asking.. and yes... using the scroll wheel on a mouse is a very unnatural movement.
 
If you're playing a lot of video games requiring the mouse (e.g. first person shooters or diablo) I'd quit those, no kidding. I used to have carpal quite bad in one wrist, years back. I spend just as much time at a PC now, but other than the obvious wrist ramps (which I haven't had to use in years) next up you need to stop gaming, it creates a lot of stress for the wrist.
 
SpatiallyAware said:
I guess not, but I use it for other things.. At work, pressing down on it is mute and pressing down while turning will adjust the volume. I actually have two at home, one for scrolling and the other is for volume.

It's a cool little device, carpal tunnel aside.

Edit: Wait I see what you're asking.. and yes... using the scroll wheel on a mouse is a very unnatural movement.
Click to expand...

Maybe for you. 😛
 
Doppel said:
If you're playing a lot of video games requiring the mouse (e.g. first person shooters or diablo) I'd quit those, no kidding. I used to have carpal quite bad in one wrist, years back. I spend just as much time at a PC now, but other than the obvious wrist ramps (which I haven't had to use in years) next up you need to stop gaming, it creates a lot of stress for the wrist.
Click to expand...

Sadly this is true. I don't game a lot but when I do decide to have a 5 hour long set of UT matches, my wrist really hurts after and I have to take a break.

There are also some exercises you can do to prevent it. I should really start doing those more often myself. I'm at the computer all day at work (sometimes 12 hours straight) then I'm on it most of the time at home.

I was also not aware till recently but once you get carpal tunnel, there is no turning back. I thought it was something you could reverse, but you can't. So better to prevent it before you get it. Guess it's like teeth issues, once you have a cavity or other issue, it's too late.
 
Red Squirrel said:
I was also not aware till recently but once you get carpal tunnel, there is no turning back.
Click to expand...
I guess it depends on severity. I never had a physician diagnose mine, but it was classic symptoms. Wrist pain, it felt painful often, I went so far as getting a night brace for it as well. Hurt a lot to move my hand upward. Keeping my wrists straight (via pads) helped.

Also something that most people don't realize is don't have your damn keyboard tilted up where the back is higher than the front. It's ridiculous and keeping it flat can help the hands. Some people even have their keyboards til down away from them. I experimented with that to some success.

Honestly, though, it's been a good decade since I had major wrist pain. I get it from time to time very mildly but I'm going at least months between any feeling there at all. It can get better. Take a month off gaming if it is a factor.

Stretching and strengthening seems like maybe it would help prevent this, but the number one thing when you have it is to rest it. You cannot do forearm curls to get your way out of this.
 
B20-2260-main-ca.jpg
 
I do not like the gel pad wrist guards. They put pressure exactly where the pressure should not be.

I adjust my chair height so my forearm rests completely on the table, while leaving my shoulders at a natural position. The edge of the table, being just next to my elbow. This allows my arm to rest on the meatiest part of my forearm, thereby allowing the minute adjustment of the mouse interacting with the computer requires.

I used to do software testing, and started having problems within 4-5 months after starting the job. So I quit the job. A co-worker has had shoulder stiffness and wrist pain for years, she recently had surgery to loosen up her shoulder, from the software testing.

I do not like those ergonomic keyboards and have used a few different types. The feel unnatural and backwards to me. Now, I am most comfortable on a standard straight keyboard.
 
I bought one of those ergonomic keyboards for a friend of mine who works with computers all day and he said that the keyboard has helped a lot.

He is a taller guy with wide shoulders so the angle in which his wrist bend to type is more acute. They keyboard also has a scroll button that you can reach with your thumb.
 
http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/advantage.htm

I purchased two of them, one for work one for home. Not only can I type faster, but all the problems I had in my wrist are gone too.

Oh, and when scrolling through forums, use either page down or push the mousewheel in and move hte mouse downwards. Scroll wheels are TERRIBLE for you.
 
I owned one of these for a long time when I was gaming and just generally at the PC more, and it was really nice. When it broke I went and got a Logietch G5 which works well enough now that I don't game as much as I used to.

But really, that thing worked wonders for me.
 
I use programmable macros. Lots of macros. Lots of automation in general.
 
tbh i use computers for a long time and not doing anything special. well, if you count using great keyboards with TrackPoint for a mouse of ibm laptops, then yes, i would recommned it 😉
 
Wireless trackball controlled by thumb movement. Best thing I ever did to stop wrist pain. No matter which mouse I tried, I always had pain, because you're still moving it around. With the trackball, you can put it anywhere you want and you only move your thumb.
 
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