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January 9, 2009

A new symptom ()

by fluffy at 10:36 AM
Usually my left wrist is more painful than my right (which is the case currently), but lately it's my right wrist which sucks more. It's like my fingers don't want to move correctly sometimes, and sometimes my right thumb twitches involuntarily, like there's a nerve problem or something. I've been drawing a lot more than usual lately so that probably has something to do with it.

My grip strength is still excellent, though, and I don't have numbness in my fingertips, so it's not carpal tunnel syndrome (I did probably have CTS 10 years ago but since then most of my wrist problems have been more likely some form of tendinosis).

Man, why does biology have to suck?

For now I'll try mousing with my left hand, and maybe try to figure out a more ergonomic setup for my Wacom tablet at home (I'm not going to try drawing left-handed though).

Comments

#11657 01/09/2009 03:46 pm
Blah, left-hand mousing just had the effect of making my left wrist hurt a LOT since it was suddenly doing even more work than usual. Maybe this weekend I'll just not do anything on the computer (as if that's possible for me to consider).
#11661 01/10/2009 03:47 pm
Oh and this morning I woke up with my right hand entirely numb (although it cleared up pretty quickly). HOORAY. I really need to find my damn wrist braces.
#11728 02/03/2009 01:08 am
I fight this a lot. The carpal wrist braces help a lot. Avoiding impact to the delicate tendons crossing your palm is important, too. Consider the mouse that is mounded up if you use one. Alternate tools. Blah blah blah.
#11729 02/03/2009 01:11 am
Pug is always saying, learn and use as many key commands as possible.

So far it is the mouse that is my enemy, and screwdrivers, but not the tablet.
#11730 02/03/2009 08:17 am
For me it's the keyboard which causes problems, which is why it's generally worse in my left wrist than in my right.

Wrist braces only do so much. It's good to sleep with them on (although I seem to keep taking them off in my sleep) but working with them isn't as good as just keeping your wrists straight yourself, which I do. But that only does so much too.

I also use a gel palm-rest, which is better than any kind of wrist-rest, but not as good as keeping my hands suspended over the keyboard. But that also only does so much.