What do you do to prevent wrist-pain? (CTS)

[GoStumpy]

I seem to get carpal tunnel syndrome whenever I go on a stint of gameplaying.. Be it poker, BF3, etc.

I am using a standard Microsoft Intellipoint mouse.

Just bought a Microsoft Sidewinder X4 gaming keyboard, not sure if that will help at all or not.. It's mostly my mouse-hand.

Does everyone suffer from this at one point or another? I don't play more than 3-4 hours/night, and probably not more than 3 nights per week.. But it's starting to take its toll.. Now my hand aches while I'm at work...

Thoughts? Ideas?

I'm thinking of getting one of those padded-wrist mousepads, do those work with FPS gaming??

 

[SunnyD]

Strengthen your wrist muscles so that can support the bone structures better.

In short: Jerk off more.

 

[Maximilian]

Strengthen your wrist muscles so that can support the bone structures better.

In short: Jerk off more.

Beat me to it. Excuse the pun.

 

[Dankk]

I game with a Logitech Trackman Marble. Extremely ergonomic, very comfortable, very accurate. In shooters I can do quick 180 degree turns with the flick of my finger. No need to move my wrist or pick up the mouse.

Using a regular mouse, I too get wrist strain. Especially after playing long TF2 sessions, or when taking my laptop to a friend's house where the seating conditions aren't very comfortable. Trackball solves all of those.

Although like SunnyD said, maybe I should exercise more.

 

[imaheadcase]

Make sure you don't have you're wrise hanging down to mouse, try to get it flat as possible.

I can not say this enough, a good desk with a good keyboard space that moves up and down is the best purchase you can make for a computer setup, the 2nd is the monitor. Its the 2 thinks you use no matter what you upgrade/buy throughout the years. So they better be perfect. Spending $1000 for a good anthro desk was the best purchase i ever made for my setup.

 

[tydas]

If your suffering now try a wrist support along with two advils every night for a week..worked for me

 

[frowertr]

+2 for the Trackman Marble. I have been using a trackball for 10 years now and I HATE normal mice after using the Trackmans. Your wrist will love you for it. You won't have to move your wrist at all as your thumb takes care of all the movement. Very comfortable.

 

[Kalmah]

I was getting that problem really bad a little over a year ago. I picked up one of those mousepads with the gel cushion. It was a pain in the ass to get use to but it's not a burden anymore. Worked great btw. You'll probably hate it at first though.

 

[KaOTiK]

+1 to jerk off more

 

[Childs]

Strengthen your wrist muscles so that can support the bone structures better.

In short: Jerk off more.

Doesnt help.


ahahahhahaa I experience the same thing. I got this mouse cushion which helps keep my wrist level, and it seems to allow me to play longer. It juts prolongs the inevitable. Every so often I just dont play for a night or two, and that helps as well.

 

[Merad]

Are your fingers numb? Or just pain in the wrist? That probably isn't carpal tunnel, but tendinitis. Try a wrist brace (the kind you can wear while playing). Also try googling for some stretching exercises for your arm/wrist.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Keeping your wrist straight is key as others mentioned. If your setup doesn't allow it change it so it does.

 

[GoStumpy]

At the moment my wrist does appear to be on a bit of an incline... Like it's flat on the desk and my hand arches up onto the mouse... same as anyone would be using a mouse..

I do agree that it's most likely tendonitis (this time) because it isn't in my fingers, more just my palm and a stiffness in my wrist.

I'm going to get a padded mouse first of all, not sure how well I could use a trackball for FPS shooters... I think I'd rather stick to a normal mouse

I looked up some youtube wrist stretches and exercises to help with the pain, and so far so good! I'll definitely remember those!

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

At the moment my wrist does appear to be on a bit of an incline... Like it's flat on the desk and my hand arches up onto the mouse... same as anyone would be using a mouse..

I do agree that it's most likely tendonitis (this time) because it isn't in my fingers, more just my palm and a stiffness in my wrist.

I'm going to get a padded mouse first of all, not sure how well I could use a trackball for FPS shooters... I think I'd rather stick to a normal mouse

I looked up some youtube wrist stretches and exercises to help with the pain, and so far so good! I'll definitely remember those!

I don't lean my wrist on anything. Err while typing. I do lean my wrist towards the end of my desk for mouse, but at an angle so my wrist is still straight. Manipulating your fingers for long periods while your wrist is bent is going to destroy it.

 

[wuliheron]

People with carpel tunnel often drive holding the bottom of the steering wheel in order to maximize blood flow to their hands. Its all about keeping your hands as close to waist height and your body as possible. I've got my mouse on a low printer table on my right and a logitec G13 strapped to the left arm of my chair. Works great.

 

[mizzou]

#1 correct your posture
#2 work out, build muscles
#3 don't do extremely long periods of gaming anymore
#4 relax, the pain will go away with care

 

[raasco]

Pad
http://www.amazon.com/ALLSOP-30203-M...4087968&sr=8-2

 

[HeXen]

steroids injected into wrists

 

[poohbear]

Keeping your wrist straight is key as others mentioned. If your setup doesn't allow it change it so it does.

this. very important.

also take breaks!!!! 3-4 hours of gaming will take a toll no matter how good your setup is! every 30 minutes take a 5 minute break, and when not gaming take your hand off the mouse.

 

[Craig234]

Some good and IMO not so good advice here (good is straight wrist, breaks where you move your hand around, and the wrist pads).

I had increasing wrist pain playing, and a wrist pad has pretty much eliminated it - I get the larger one, not the kind built into a pad.

The problem seems to largely come from pressuring/pinching a nerve for a long period of time. I don't think 'strengthening your wrist' prevents that.

 

[wuliheron]

The "problem" is complex and can have any number of contributing factors from tendinitis to arthritis to "white finger". Try just about anything and everything and if that doesn't help consult a doctor.

 

[Barfo]

+1 to jerk off more

This works for every kind of problem.

 

[astrosfan315]

Where do you rest your elbow? Compressing the nerve at the elbow in the ulnar groove on a chair with arms or restricting blood flow will cause pain at the wrist. What you should do is stop the activity that you think is causing your symptoms for a couple of days, if the symptoms at your wrist do not abate, then consult a physician. If they abate with rest, then you are experiencing a tendinitis and not a true CTS.

I personally get pain in my index finger after long mouse use. I work with computers all day then FPS at home and counter strike and games like WoW cause the most problem because I'm constantly rapidly clicking, or holding the mouse button down long and cause a repetitive injury. Take two aleve (naprosyn) a day and that will help, but more than anything stop the activity for a while and rest does wonders.

For reference I work with a group of 20 orthopedists and actually spoke to my hand specialist buddy about this years ago and that was what he told me. My problem turned out to be my chair. I bought a chair with bigger arms on it and problem sovled, now I just deal with the index finger a couple times a year.

 

[Lonbjerg]

Exercise more...it ain't rocket science.

 

[GoStumpy]

First thing I'm going to do is more wrist-oriented exercises... curl my wrist with weights and see if that helps...

I usually have my whole arm on the desk, so that everything is flat...

Lately I've been putting my laptop under my forearm so that I'm not angling my hand up to go onto the mouse. Wrist looks much straighter that way.

I took a break for the weekend, and my wrist felt better... Played some BF3 last night and it hurts again today Hurts up my forearm to my elbow, which I think is a symptom of tendinitis more than CTS. My fingers aren't numb, for sure, but my palm hurts a bit.

Damn near sounds like a cement mixer when I rotate my hand, though! Crack pop pop crack