My wrist is fucking killing me!
- Thread starter matt3
- Start date
The beanbag and gel wrist support things aren't that great. Ergonomically they don't make sense because your arm naturally lays flat if you put it on a flat surface. Physically they are bad because you're applying pressure right where the tendons are that are moving on the underside of your wrist.
Arm rests on chairs aren't that good for you either, because we have a tendency to raise them too high and slouch on them which is bad for our shoulders and neck, and since everything is connected from the neck on down if you've got problems up there you most likely have problems down lower too. With arms on your chair you're unlikely able to get the chair close enough to your desk so you end up leaning forward.
If you're using any kind of thick mouse pad, like the 1/4 inch neoprene ones, try getting one of the paper thin types. Your mouse pad shouldn't be more than a millimeter thick. A thick mouse pad also has a hard edge on it that is usually right where your wrist is which may also be applying pressure. A raised mouse unnaturally elevates and bends your hand backwards that much more. 3M makes some good cheap thin mousing surfaces or you can go for one of the high performance gaming ones.
Turn up the tracking speed on your mouse. This means you cover much more real estate on your monitor with smaller wrist movements. I don't have to move my mouse more than about an inch to cover the full width of my 24" screen.
Get a hydraulic keyboard and mouse tray that bolts to the bottom of the desk that raises and lowers and tilts and then lower the arms of your chair (I personally remove them entirely). The desk surface is usually much higher than where your arms are meant to be. They are meant to be, more or less, hanging down and not elevated by the arms of your chair. This way you sit straighter. From the shoulder down to the elbow your arm hangs down naturally and then from the elbow to the wrist they extend at basically a 90 degree angle horizontal to the floor. You can regularly adjust the keyboard and mouse position, even negatively sloping away from you (http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/AHTutorials/typingposture.html) so you're not always stuck in the same stance. The better keyboard trays lift to adjust and then lock on their own.
Kelly: Leverless Lift-N-Lock Trays 69000 Series
Ergonomic Keyboard Tray - Leader 8 Combo - ISE, Inc. Leader 8 from ComfortChannel at SHOP.COM
Google "ergonomic keyboard tray".
Get a hydraulic desk and switch from sitting to standing and back again several times a day. Sitting in the exact same position for extended periods is bad. Variety is good for you.
Arm rests on chairs aren't that good for you either, because we have a tendency to raise them too high and slouch on them which is bad for our shoulders and neck, and since everything is connected from the neck on down if you've got problems up there you most likely have problems down lower too. With arms on your chair you're unlikely able to get the chair close enough to your desk so you end up leaning forward.
If you're using any kind of thick mouse pad, like the 1/4 inch neoprene ones, try getting one of the paper thin types. Your mouse pad shouldn't be more than a millimeter thick. A thick mouse pad also has a hard edge on it that is usually right where your wrist is which may also be applying pressure. A raised mouse unnaturally elevates and bends your hand backwards that much more. 3M makes some good cheap thin mousing surfaces or you can go for one of the high performance gaming ones.
Turn up the tracking speed on your mouse. This means you cover much more real estate on your monitor with smaller wrist movements. I don't have to move my mouse more than about an inch to cover the full width of my 24" screen.
Get a hydraulic keyboard and mouse tray that bolts to the bottom of the desk that raises and lowers and tilts and then lower the arms of your chair (I personally remove them entirely). The desk surface is usually much higher than where your arms are meant to be. They are meant to be, more or less, hanging down and not elevated by the arms of your chair. This way you sit straighter. From the shoulder down to the elbow your arm hangs down naturally and then from the elbow to the wrist they extend at basically a 90 degree angle horizontal to the floor. You can regularly adjust the keyboard and mouse position, even negatively sloping away from you (http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/AHTutorials/typingposture.html) so you're not always stuck in the same stance. The better keyboard trays lift to adjust and then lock on their own.
Kelly: Leverless Lift-N-Lock Trays 69000 Series
Ergonomic Keyboard Tray - Leader 8 Combo - ISE, Inc. Leader 8 from ComfortChannel at SHOP.COM
Google "ergonomic keyboard tray".
Get a hydraulic desk and switch from sitting to standing and back again several times a day. Sitting in the exact same position for extended periods is bad. Variety is good for you.
Glad someone else brought this up...
Back around 2006-7ish I had a fucking ton of pain in 1 of my wrist, so much so I was having to leave my day job at the time early every day and was going on meds. I also had the pinky numbness.
I dont know what worked, but this is what I did:
1. Limited myself to just working on the computer for the job ( was doing after hours shit on my own too ) for about a month, and even limited what I did on the computer for them to about 4-5 hours a day max for a month
2. During this month, I realized also the height of my deck/chair was a main factor. In my case the chair was lower so I changed that.
3. Did some exercises and flexing of my wrists every couple hours.
4. Got an ACE bandage and wrapped up my wrists. Prob didn't do much but the pressure seemed to help take my mind off the pain.
5. Still get the pinky numbness every once and a while, but I have realized its where my lower forearm ( right above the wrist area ) hits the edge of the desk and restricts blood flow when I let my arms hang down typing on the keyboard.
I haven't had the pain in my wrists since then luckily, but it hurt for about 3-4 months before I finally changed shit up.
A while back I bought one of those ikea tables that's adjustable. When I moved offices I guess it got moved up a little higher somehow or another.
Didn't really think to much about it. Was busy so just dove right back into work. A couple weeks into it I started getting pain in the mouse wrist as well.
Bought a new mouse. Didn't help.
Bought a mouse pad with one of those little foam bumps. Didn't help.
Bought a bean bag thing. Didn't help.
Bought fuckin tylenol. Didn't help.
Buddy used my computer for something - he's taller than me by a good bit. He says, damn this is comfortable. I don't even have to scrunch at all. Can I have your desk?
I went shit........ rolled under the desk, and dropped it down a little.
Couple days later no pain.
Hell my desk chair is ugly as hell. I've been "Repairing" it since before college (I've replaced the back with different chair backs, put different wheels on it, replaced the arms from a different chair). Yes I've bought other chairs to pirate parts from - don't want to give up the 'seat' part - when it finally dies I'll have to stress over a new chair that isn't TOO comfortable that doesn't hurt my ass or back. I've had this chair for 20 years. It started out on BBS systems. It was a cheap chair then
Since it's so old it doesn't always stay where I put it. Slowly goes lower. If I don't fix it after a while it gets uncomfortable to type. With the the amount of time we spend in front of the p.c. just a little adjustment seems to matter.
Didn't really think to much about it. Was busy so just dove right back into work. A couple weeks into it I started getting pain in the mouse wrist as well.
Bought a new mouse. Didn't help.
Bought a mouse pad with one of those little foam bumps. Didn't help.
Bought a bean bag thing. Didn't help.
Bought fuckin tylenol. Didn't help.
Buddy used my computer for something - he's taller than me by a good bit. He says, damn this is comfortable. I don't even have to scrunch at all. Can I have your desk?
I went shit........ rolled under the desk, and dropped it down a little.
Couple days later no pain.
Hell my desk chair is ugly as hell. I've been "Repairing" it since before college (I've replaced the back with different chair backs, put different wheels on it, replaced the arms from a different chair). Yes I've bought other chairs to pirate parts from - don't want to give up the 'seat' part - when it finally dies I'll have to stress over a new chair that isn't TOO comfortable that doesn't hurt my ass or back. I've had this chair for 20 years. It started out on BBS systems. It was a cheap chair then
Since it's so old it doesn't always stay where I put it. Slowly goes lower. If I don't fix it after a while it gets uncomfortable to type. With the the amount of time we spend in front of the p.c. just a little adjustment seems to matter.
Your arm naturally lays flat, but then you are cocking your hand up to handle the mouse which is what causes the problem. If you lay your arm flat on a desk with the palm down, you will see a gap between your wrist and the desk. Now do it with your hand on a mouse and you will see the gap disappear as your wrist lowers to the desk and your hand goes up at an unnatural angle. The beanbag essentially evens it out so that your forearm, and hand are straight and level, because where the wrist would normally dip, it is now supported by the beanbag. Because it is a beanbag, there is no pressure on your wrist. That is of course, my non-medically trained analysis for whatever its worth.
Everybody is different though so try whatever works for you. As funny as it sounds though, the aeron chair, the 3 different desks, the multiple keyboard/mouse combos etc - the biggest difference for me was with a $5 beanbag.
+1 for this. And arm height is definitely key.
I've been using a symmetrical trackball mouse for a while and I like it. The mouse doesn't move anywhere, it just stays stationary on my desk. No more moving the hand and wrist, just fingers.
I also use a touch tablet and a keyboard with an integrated mouse to switch things up. Three ways to move the mouse, each of which require different muscle uses.
Try navigating with keystrokes more too.
And if all else fails this is a sure bet.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOaJeRPXU48"]YouTube - NO HANDS MOUSE www.footmouse.com[/ame]
I hear what you're saying and you are right, no solution is perfect for everyone.
I have rather large hands and so my hand doesn't elevate when it's on the mouse as only my fingers are actually over it and the back part of the palm of my hand is still flat on my desk. The thin mouse pad plays an important part in this. There is only minimal elevation and the wrist depression is almost nil. When my hand and arm are flat on the table there's only a very slight space under my wrist which doesn't change much when I grasp the mouse. Smaller hands, a bigger mouse, or a different grip on the mouse could change this though. The beanbag is probably the best solution but because it's actually supporting your wrist there is still pressure there, albeit dispersed over a larger area. This will cause more friction on the tendons as the sheaths that surround them will be slightly compressed. It would probably be less compression that if your wrist were bent backwards but the ideal solution is to get your arm in a better position as illustrated, so you don't have any pressure on the wrist at all.
I have had two of those MS 4000 ergo keyboards and love them.
I would second Rage9's suggestion about making sure your arm is at a restful elevation. A couple other things:
Take breaks, at least 5 minutes every hour. Sometime midway between breaks, take 20 seconds to just notice how your body feels and make sure to relax any places where you are holding tension. It's amazing how long you can hold a muscle semi-flexed and not even know it if it's a habit.
Also, do you game much? I found that long sessions on the PS3 controller greatly exacerbated my wrist and finger pain.
Take breaks, at least 5 minutes every hour. Sometime midway between breaks, take 20 seconds to just notice how your body feels and make sure to relax any places where you are holding tension. It's amazing how long you can hold a muscle semi-flexed and not even know it if it's a habit.
Also, do you game much? I found that long sessions on the PS3 controller greatly exacerbated my wrist and finger pain.
I had wrist pain that spread to my forearm and elbow a couple years ago and it freaked me out enough to go to the doctor.
They told me to make ergo adjustments and wear a splint at night for a while. All good since then - changed my mouse, mouse pad, keyboard, monitor height and chair.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Scare Follow-up
They told me to make ergo adjustments and wear a splint at night for a while. All good since then - changed my mouse, mouse pad, keyboard, monitor height and chair.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Scare Follow-up
Depends on what your exact issue is. Does it hurt when you close your hand and try to lift something? Pretend youwere putting some sort of shoulder bag /purse on your shoulder, notice how you do your hand? Does that hurt? if so one of these worked wonders for me when I was at the keyboard:
the pain didn't completely stop until I got on cymbalta/ savella (2 different drugs that do the same thing) for my back. I would recommend checking out savella if nothing else works, there are very few side affects. More in my chronic pain thread.
the pain didn't completely stop until I got on cymbalta/ savella (2 different drugs that do the same thing) for my back. I would recommend checking out savella if nothing else works, there are very few side affects. More in my chronic pain thread.
Yeah - i got a padded wrist rest. Problem solved.
that, plus doing yoga to strengthen up, and take regular breaks.
I bought a $5 bean bag (link here: Amazon.com: Comfortbead Wrist Rest (mouse): Electronics) for under my wrist and haven't had a problem since.
Agreed. After years of wrist pain (to the point of having to wear a splint), nothing worked until I tried this:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Handsta...hion/9217304.p?skuId=9217304&id=1218060803265
Haven't had pain in two years.
Never had a wrist ache since and it's very functional, close to a normal mouse but without the problems.
Easy to use / no getting used too either.