Need help with Carpal Tunnel

Hello All -- I've been typing since the age of 16 -- 40 years -- and had jobs that required me to do so all day. Then came home at night and worked on personal projects. Even banged out stuff on those high carriage typewriters that newsrooms used to have that took the whole weight of the hand to slam down the keys. You could feel like Liberace playing one of those things.

At any rate, I now have carpal tunnel syndrome. It is getting worse on a daily basis.

Thing is, it doesn't hurt while I am at the keyboard. Easy to delude myself it doesn't matter. But hurting more and more and more in all other activities.

Plz don't say see a doc. I don't have time to sit in a doc-in-the-box waiting room for 3 hours so he can tell me to stop typing. It's how I earn a living, how I rec'reate, and all I can do is try to splint the thing correctly, exercise or whatever I'm supposed to do.

Also, I've got to figure out a better keyboard position. I know being ergonomic is what avoided this for decades. However, I used to be able to afford to have a BR set up with desk and chair & all. Now I type in a recliner with a laptop on a bedtray that is a little too high to be ergonomic. This avoids the terrible pain that I had for decades in my neck and shoulders and that caused blitzkrieg stress headaches.

I didn't have the carpal tunnel this summer, bec. I had a recliner in a rented apartment into which I could jam the legs of the bedtray down low. The recliner I purchased for myself doesn't allow that. So, yes, I'm going to be looking for a clever solution to this position problem.

In the meantime, advice on what to help myself will be gratefully appreciated.

I was going to suggest an ergonomic keyboard. I have a Belkin that is a wonderful position, but it's a piece of bleep as far as the keys busting and sticking easily.

After years with no problems, my wrists and elbows were in pain after just a few minutes of typing last year. I haven't had a problem since switching from the standard boards that come with computers.

Sounds like with your set up that it wouldn't work.

I started getting carpal tunnel like symptoms probably 10 years ago. I read a lot of information on the internet and books, and attended an RSI support group. Eventually I found that my case wasn't the career-ending tragedy that some people make it out to be. My symptoms come and go, increase and decrease. I went to a couple doctors and didn't get any great help-- one gave me wrist braces, one gave me NSAIDs. I've tried different things. Here's what definitely helped:
- lowering my typing table nearly to lap height
- getting a good ergonomic keyboard (a Kinesis)
- adding thyroid medication (seems to reduce overall inflammation)

Here are things that helped some
- wrist supports, worn either overnight or while working
- NSAIDs, but eventually they gave me stomach irritation
- Stretching and self-massage

Here are things that definitely make it worse
- using a laptop keyboard instead of my Kinesis
- job resentment
- having the keyboard too high (like typical desk level)

I guess my message is don't assume it's going to cripple you. It may be manageable.

P.S... Just wanted to clarify that my symptoms are mostly tendinitis rather than true carpal tunnel. If I get nerve tingling and numbness I really step up the treatment, because my understanding is that when you feel that stuff it means your nerves are being rubbed by the inflamed tissues, and they can get permantently damaged. If I get any nerve symptoms I wear the immobilizing braces and take the naprosyn until it improves. For a while I had a lot of nerve sensations in my left arm, and I finally realized I was resting on my left elbow in my office chair all day, which compresses the nerve in the elbow. When I quit doing that it improved.

Thanks for the tips. I presume that the NSAIDs are some kind of prescription drug???

Perhaps a keyboard would help. I hadn't made the connection to switching to a laptop, but I'll bet that's part of it.

NSAIDs=non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, like Naprosyn. Yes it's prescription. The stuff works but most people get stomach trouble if they take it continally long-term.

Personally I think laptop keyboards are awful. They're small, so your shoulders are always hunched and forward, and the key travel distance is really short, so your fingers are sort of pounding on each stroke.

Wants2Fly,

I am in the process of being trained to do ergonomic audits on computer workstations where I work, so I'll pass along some of the things that we're being taught to look for.

The main point in all of it is "neutral position"...you mentioned the keyboard height...is this forcing you to bend your wrists when you type? It's particularly bad if your wrists are bent back. Also, are you planting your wrists while you type? If the laptop is on a bed tray, there's lot of hard edges around...are you ever resting your wrists on these edges?

What do you use for "mousing" - do you have a separate device, or do you use whatever pointing device is incorporated into the laptop? If you have a separate mouse, do you have to stretch out your arm to use it, or can your arms remain neutral? Do you clutch or clench your hand when you are mousing?

It's hard sometimes to observe your own behaviors, but if you try to pay attention when your working on your computer, you may see where you are out of neutral position and can adjust your behavior.

Finally, I will stress the Alternate Work Rule. Meaning, for every hour you are engaged in a repetitive activity, take 10 minutes and do something else that uses different muscle groups...sometimes it works better to break it up, like get up and do something different for five minutes every half hour. I swear, I have some of the worst ergonomic habits, but I don't end up with problems because I'm so fidgety, I am constantly changing position, and switching to alternate activities.

Well, probably WAY more questions that you wanted to see, but that's about what I can add for now.

Good luck,
Jo

Hi MJ - How fortunate for me to get someone who is auditing work stations for this. This is not a true laptop -- It is a desktop replacement. The reason I've kept it on a tray instead of my lap is that it pulls down on my hip and gets that to aching. The laptop is higher than the edge of the tray,so that's no problem. With the legs up, however, it has required me to bend my wrists back.

For right now, I'm using the tray with the legs folded under. The alleviates the bent wrist problem. So far so good with the hip -- but I've only started this today.

The small keyboard doesn't bother me a bit. I've heard a lot of people complain about them, but I like the way that the keys are close together. I'm a touch typist, and my touch has accommodated to being fairly light on the keys. No hunching problems, either: I sit right back in my recliner, fully supported. And I use the little pad right on the laptop, no extra mouse.

I'll see if the adjustment of folding the legs down works over the long haul.

Thanks for that excellent advice, MJ and GG.

(((hugs))) I, too, have been typing 40years. But, I do not have carpal tunnel syndrome (in spite of my neuropathies.)

I definitely suspect the encroachment of the computer keyboard/laptop/notebook and the angle of the screens, and the heighths of the tables and chairs... the technological scene came upon society so fast and by young people who didn't have typing science background.... anyway...

KEEP your WRISTS UP! SIT UP straight! Raise your monitor if you must... ah gee adjust all : chair, monitor and keyboard...
I have a notebook and my physical therapist has checked and double checked with me to make sure (especially when I'm using it in bed) that I don't succumb to poor usage.

Which, btw, is a good "thing" to try... a physical therapist.. or a chiropractor. I knew someone who had the tunnel problem and hadn't attended to it and so it was creeping into the elbow... and of course would also reach the shoulder if... anyway, the chiro made some quick wrist, elbow adjustments, a few verbal reprimands, and voila no more trouble for that person....

PS wrist splints do not correct the problem folks... they merely immobilize the wrists! If your posture is still poor, you will get other problems... even with the thumbs (and then you will need thumb spica splints...)

The solution is longer term for some than others I think... ATTENDING to the mechanics of what you are doing and not just what you are doing ON the computer... mj I think that's a great field to be studying.

Wants2--

Naprosyn is also known as Aleve, in a lesser dose. I take three (660 mg) when my carpal tunnel flares up, and its just like taking a Naprosyn (which I have a script for, just can't fill *sigh*)

I have a splint I wear at night, so that it can allow the "tunnel" to open up (at least that's what my good doc said). I don't argue it because it has taken a lot of the pain, tingling, and numbness away.

Hope this helps ya!

Hugz,
Jenn