<p>Well, I seem to have developed carpal tunnel syndrome from being on the computer too much. I don’t have the best ergonomic set-up for my hands at my home office. So-I have weakness and pain in my left thumb and the fleshy part of my palm.
Any experience with this out there? I have developed too much of an internet life, obviously!
I am wearing this hideous wrist brace which seems to help. I am even sleeping in it. I am a competitive runner and in good physical condition and thought I was immune to this sort of mundane problem!<br>
Suggestions are appreciated.</p>
<p>I’d also like ways to prevent it. Like how am I supposed to be sitting and placing my hands and all that fun stuff :D</p>
<p>I also had carpal tunnel and at the time did not use a computor very much. Wrist braces did help and I wore them at night. After several months though it really didn’t go away. Driving was even uncomfortable. I ended up having surgery on both wrists though not at the same time. That was several years ago and I don’t have any symptoms now.</p>
<p>I’ve heard that vitamin B6 can sometimes be helpful . . .</p>
<p>Not absolutely sure if the conditions have similar origins, but I found treatment from a chiropractor very very helpful for my tennis elbow. Massage & ultrasound treatment and special stretching for upper arm & wrist. Took pain from 8/10 to 2/10 in 2 sessions. Prior to treatment, I could not life a coffee cup.</p>
<p>Wrist braces are a big help. Also my for some reason my laptop is much easier on my wrists than either of my desk top computers.</p>
<p>Carpal tunnel can be treated with 1 day surgery; its like they snap the tendon back into place</p>
<p>I took a conservative route with anti-inflammatories (Prednisne), O.T. (whirlpool, heat, exercise), plus wrist support. My problem was more involved–the d… dissertation–but the slow route did work.</p>
<p>Does carpal tunnel show up on an x-ray? How is it diagnosed?</p>
<p>They usually diagnose it just by symptoms. There is some EMG techique which involves a needle, but that is usually only done if surgery is being considered.
There are tons of articles, products etc. on the internet- I just wondered if some things work better than others. The wrist brace is good for night and while typing, but it is annoying to wear all day long.l</p>
<p>My son (cello player) struggles with carpal tunnel. Near as I can tell, they never seem to cure it, it sort of comes and goes for him. He tries to alter his positions on cello (hard to do) and practices for shorter times more frequently and it seems under control. I’ve always wondered if it could be from his computer too. He is a lefty, but the problem is in his right hand, which is why they think it is from cello (his bow hand). Good luck.</p>
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<p>I wear the braces all day long only when battling an acute attack, which is rare. Acute attacks are so painful that I will gladly wear a brace or anything else that provides some relief. The rest of the time I just wear them while typing.</p>
<p>I wear a Velcro tendonitis band (sometimes called [“tennis</a> elbow support”](<a href=“http://www.walgreens.com/store/product.jsp?CATID=100126&navAction=jump&navCount=0&id=prod396723]"tennis”>www.walgreens.com/store/product.jsp?CATID=100126&navAction=jump&navCount=0&id=prod396723)) just below my elbow (it does help my carpal tunnel symptoms!) and a pair of [url=<a href=“http://www.handstress.com/]fingerless”>www.handstress.com/]fingerless</a> gloves<a href=“but%20without%20the%20magnet%20inserts”>/url</a> when typing all day long, which are MARVELOUS. I have no idea why these gloves help so much: perhaps it’s the heat? Whatever: it’s always better when I remember to put on my paraphenalia. I’ve suffered for 16 years now and do recommend monitoring the ergonomics of your working position: I unconsciously changed my position to adjust for my wrist problems 16 years ago, which led to tendonitis and elbow problems, and I had apparently adjusted just enough more that I was in danger of doing shoulder damage as well when I was called on it. Truly the best healer is time away from sitting/typing, but of course that’s impractical.</p>
<p>I had carpal tunnel diagnosed a couple years ago. I had the typical symptons - numbness and tingling in fingers, waking up with hands fallen asleep. They use some kind of electrical shock to diagnose it - putting a needle on different points of your hands. Some people apparently find that test to be painful or bothersome. It didn’t bother me and I really don’t remember much about it (maybe they inadvertently erased my memory). I wore braces at night, sometimes on both hands, depending on which hand was acting up. I have it worse in my right hand although I’m left handed. I think it’s from using scissors in my right hand (because I couldn’t find left handed ones) so now I’m grateful I was forced to make that adaptation. I went to physical therapy for months (for that and tendinitis - I have the arm band for that, too, so I look like a biker in black velcro when I’m fully kitted out). The heat and massage feel good; I can’t say whether the strengthening exercises helped. I finally gave up p.t. and my symptons went away - all of them. I think I was aggravating both conditions by doing too much p.t. I’ve also heard hormones play a role. C.T. is caused by inflammation of the ‘things’ (nerves or whatever) that are trying to pass through a narrow tunnel in your wrist. I think the surgical treatment involves cutting, not stretching, but I could be wrong. The other thing I did that helped me was training myself to sleep with my hands not cocked - fist curled up. I lay my palms together out flat under my pillow (still attached to my body, of course). If I wake up in the night I straighten out my hands. It sounds strange but seems to work. P.T. recommended dropping the computer keyboard (so that hands are not raised up to reach it) and that makes a difference for me. In other words, there are many little things that can be done to alleviate the problem short of surgery.</p>
<p>I’ve been told to avoid flexing the wrists back while doing things such as typing and mouse-clicking. So I have gel-rests, which I got at Target, which my wrists rest on while performing those activities.</p>
<p>To avoid the symptoms, I have my table height adjusted so that my elbows make about a 95 degree bend when I am typing. My elbows rest on my chair arms, my wrists rest on the front of my laptop when I am not actively typing. I use a touchpad that is cranked up to hypersensitivity so mouse use requires little motion.</p>
<p>When we redid the office, we set the table height for laptop use - so that our wrist would not be cocked when typing. It took me three tries to find a chair that supported my back and elbows.</p>
<p>Two words. Foot mouse.</p>
<p>I don’t have enough to diagnosis carpal tunnel. I was fortunate to run to a sports medicine doctor before it became carpal tunnel. I wore the brace all day :(. Work had a expert come in and evaluate everythng I needed last year-now we all know what I need, but no change. My job actually does not involve much typing but I help my technician. I wear the braces to type. When my tech is gone, the substitutes don’t know how to type and my wrist flares up. My tech was gone last month-I have tendonitis this time-the pain on top is tendonitis and the pain on the inside is carpal tunnel–or at least for me. My physician wonders why work bothered to evaluate the work station and has me continue with the braces and ice the area 20 min a day. My physician says I am one of his few who actually came in soon enough to prevent the carpal tunnel. He says the surgery doesn’t always work. Actually that is what I have seen from others. I hate sleeping with the ugly thing. I try to cover my sleeve because I hate explaining why I wear a brace. I have found a local pharmacy that sells them cheap. Could be worse. I keep meaning to try the B-6, but I have trouble remembering to take pills. I did read a pharmacy continuing education last week about carpal tunnel-it did mention hormonal changes.</p>
<p>I have occasional tingling in both wrists and often wake up at night with pins and needles in my wrists/hands – but not too much actual pain. I wore braces at night for a year but they didn’t seem to help that much. I did have the nerve test done about a year ago and the hand specialist said the test did not correlate with my symptoms so he would not recommend surgery. Could be worse so I just live with it.</p>
<p>IF the problem persists I would have the EMG for a diffinitive diagnosis and to help plan for treatment. The EMG is a nerve conduction test that measures the time it takes for a nerve stimulus to travel between two different points. They can measure this for different nerves in your arm. A friend of mine had carpal tunnel surgery done based on symptoms alone and after the surgery symptoms reoccured. They did extensive EMG testing and found the problem was actually from her cervical spine. I would also suggest going to a hand specialist</p>
<p>My problems are not bad enough for surgery. The pain is pretty mild and only in my left hand. I am being good about the brace and hope I can reverse some of the damage. I will also look into a better computer set-up when I get home (on a college visit with S). Thanks for all the advice.</p>