i am scared of carpal tunnel...

[DAM]

hello all, well, here is my story, i am a 21 year old college student, i work 4-5 hours a day as a computer tech and i basically spend about 8 hours or more infront of the computer. now lately ive been feeling some disconfort in my hands and elbows, nothing too serious, however as luck would have it i do not have very good wrist (footbal and soccer accidents, almost broke both wrist as well as got my right thumbed fractured from a kick).

i have been doing some reading about carpal tunnel (and i still cant spell it) and also about tennis elbow, and was wandering if anyone had any more info on this? any links would be greatly appreciated.

since my life are computers and upon graduation i was some type of computer job, i really need my hands, they are the ones that will feed me and will someday feed my family. so, just recently i starting to get really paranoid about this. for not apperant reason either.

does regular excersize help?


how about all those ergonomic devices, as well as voice recognition software?


thanks for all the help.



dam(edited cause spelling is suck)

 

[DanC]

You're joking right?
With spelling like that - you made it into College???? :Q

Oh well...
It's "Carpal Tunnel" Syndrome, and if you had it - you'd know it.
There's lot's about it on the internet if you spell it right.

Don't look for trouble - if you had even the beginnings, you'd be in agony.

 

[Zucchini]

Its called carpal tunnel. Just make sure to get a good wrist rest, and possibly a ergonomic keyboard if you can adjust to that. Make sure your work station is also ergonomically sound, have good posture, and try not to rest your weight on you wrists when you type.

exercise always helps anyhow, you play tennis? Tennis elbow is not a problem you you use a vibration dampener with your raquet. little chunk of rubber u shove into the strings you can buy at any sports store.

 

Maybe you just need to get up and do some stretches every so often, maybe it's just your arms/wrists aching from being in the same position for 8hrs/day.

 

[dennilfloss]

Get a Logitech TrackMan Marble+ optical trackball and watch your fear of carpal tunnel go poof! Of course, you will end up with a super muscular thumb but the ladies like that.

Under My Thumb (Rolling Stones)

 

[BigSmooth]

dennilfloss, that comment + song choice is disturbingly funny at best.

 

[Impact55]

My grandpa recently had the surgery for carpal tunnel, it was painful for him for a bout a week , then it felt a lot better. I'm sure you won't get it for a while, and if you had it you WOULD feel a lot more pain . I know a person that was 16 and had it though...

 

[toph99]

if you're feeling any discomfort at all, go see a doctor. the earlier you catch it, the easier is it to treat. the biggest mistake you can make is to wait.

 

[huey1124]

carpal tunnel syndrome should not be taken lightly. i worked at a grocery store paying my way through college, and several of my co-workers was diagnosed to having it while i worked there. they were all checkers (aka cashier, but we called them checkers), and the repetative motion of scanning items over the laser scanner, caused this. a person would never think that moving a can of corn or a loaf of bread from right to left would cause anything serious, but it does. they all had surgeries, and their bodies will never be the same. grocery stores always try to improve the work environment, as it is very expensive for them whenever the employees have to get surgeries and take time off of work. anyways, i strongly suggest that you take steps to improve your work environment and habits if you're feeling discomfort. there are many websites that will show how to go about doing this. while you don't "gain" anything by having those ergonomic wrist pads and such, they will reduce your chances of getting carpal tunnel syndrome. better to be safe than sorry!

 

[Yeeny]

DAM: My husband had carpal tunnel syndrome, and it can be quite painful. He also had surgery for it, and it went away. But there are things you can do to prevent it. Try Looks like some helpful information I will see if I can find any more sites for you.

 

[perry]

Could also be tendonitis. I thought I was starting to get carpal tunel over the summer, went to the doc, he took x-rays, and says it was just tendonitis. Whew. Some drugs (Celebrex) and a wrist guard (neoprene thing secured by velcro) later, all is well.

That reminds me. Time to take the medicine. Wrist has been acting up the last week or so (which is what I get for being lazy and not wearing the wrist guard).

edit: Another site

another edit: Book at amazon that has some good exercises to help you work pain free at your PC. I tried them for about 2 months and they helped quite a bit. Something interesting -- no wrist exercises. It relies to stretching other parts of the body to help relieve the pain. No advice on sitting right either. Sit however you want, the exercises make up for it. I dunno what doctors think about that, but they sure helped me before I got lazy again.

 

[DAM]

awesome info guys, thanks a million, ill look into this after my calculus test tomorrow. as for me, off to studying.








dam(gracias)

 

[DJ_Donut]

here's a very good software that will releive you from online clicking hell.

takes a while to get use to but your wrist will definitely thank you for using it.

mousetool.com

also, the place has some good sites related to repetitive stress injuries.

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

I have it already.





<< i am scared of carpal tunnel... >>


then stop jerking off so often!

 

[Ranger X]

I can feel it already.

 

[Rankor]

Considered a repetitive stress injury (RSI), do not ignore the warning signs. Early diagnosis would be like tendonitis w/c is what I had.

Consult your personal physician and take breaks during normal intervals.