An old weightlifting buddy of mine bought a house this year – a real fixer-upper. Someone else’s brown tabby decided that he liked what she’d done with the place, and the last owners had installed a cat door in the kitchen, so he moved in, too. She calls him Chris, and she does what any midstream-aged Millennial would do: she records their life together on Instagram. Here is a post from a few days ago which I feel is very Balloon-Juice coded:
I find myself overwhelmed with an avalanche of moderately bothersome life events: I am in the middle of upgrading my current ILR permit (a UK green card) to the new electronic format; I’ve just applied to the Home Office for citizenship; my mortgage was finally approved and my house purchase is sprinting toward an early-January closing; all four of my clients realised they had a bunch of unspent marketing funds, which means I suddenly have a ton of projects to deliver by 12/30; I had bronchitis, and I’ve just been to the GP about some pain in my left wrist which, it turns out, is almost certainly carpal tunnel.
Plus there’s prepping for the holidays. And also the political news. In both countries I pay tax to, it seems that the person running the show is actually E. Musk. Rumours are swirling that he’ll give $100 million to Nigel Farage’s Reform party to help them replace the Tories as the opposition from the right—this, after his social media site amplified, often via his personal account, false reports about a murder that seem to have contributed to nationwide race riots this summer. Would be nice if someone would investigate his dipshittery! There are laws for that kind of thing over here, after all. But as we Americans know (and with apologies to Charles Dickens), the law is a vibe.
Le sigh. Talk about whatever in the comments. And drop your carpal tunnel management tips there, too, if you have them. I’ve bought one of those braces, but am happy to hear more advice.
Emily B.
Plus, it seems that Elon Musk has blown up the spending bill and imperiled Mike Johnson’s speakership. Gift link to WaPo article. Pass the popcorn.
Doug R
Didn’t those hideous racist riots die out when MORE people showed up to counter protest?
Jackie
@Emily B.: When does TCFG formally cede the presidency to Musk?
Baud
The audience wanted entertainment.
Juju
I had carpal tunnel a few years back. I was told by MD to get a brace at the grocery store, don’t remember the brand, but the store had what he recommended, and I wore it for about two to three months. The pain went away and I haven’t needed the brace since. I hope yours goes as well as mine did.
lowtechcyclist
@Emily B.:
“We have no idea what sort of bill we’ll have instead, or even whether there will be a bill at all! But look at me killing this bill, aren’t I great?”
Actually, the bill’s still alive. But since it needs a 2/3 vote to pass the House for reasons, it would need a fairly large minority of the GOP caucus to vote for it, and that might not happen now that Elon’s against it.
Old Man Shadow
Where your braces to bed every night. Even if you start feeling better.
lowtechcyclist
“Carpal tunnel” should be an underwater tunnel with carp swimming through it.
@mistermix.bsky.social
Had some wrist pain in my 30’s. I wore the brace at night and while working. Don’t know if it did much. In the end I exercised more to manage stress (riding a bike) and it’s gone away for the last 20+ years.
I know, super helpful advice.
Old Man Shadow
@lowtechcyclist: Shutting the government down right before Christmas.
That’ll go over well with people.
Fucking jackals can’t even wait a month to destroy America, huh?
Rose Judson
@Old Man Shadow: The brace arrived about 3 hours ago and already is helping (I decided to wear it while typing and sleeping).
jeff47
For carpal tunnel you might want a split keyboard like this one: https://kinesis-ergo.com/shop/freestyle2-for-pc-us/
Split works better than “natural” keyboards because you can position it better for the particular way you position your hands.
I develop software, so I spend all my time typing and thus have carpal tunnel. That keyboard keeps it under control.
Baud
@Old Man Shadow:
Why you blaming us?
@mistermix.bsky.social
@jeff47: Ah, I forgot — used a split keyboard for a long time, recommend.
If you don’t want a fancy one, Logitech or Microsoft makes a decent one for not a huge amount of $$.
Notable that I don’t use a split kb anymore but I also transitioned to part-time around the time I ditched the keyboard, so hard to say if I’d still need one if I was working full time.
Poe Larity.
Some people like Verical Mices
Louise B.
I developed carpal tunnel syndrome in both wrists in 2021. I wore braces at night for six months and the problems didn’t correct, so I ended up having surgery. I had both wrists done at the same time, and the recovery was pretty quick. The surgery did seem to fix the situation permanently.
Juju
@Rose Judson: I wore mine always, except for bathing and dealing with food prep and cleaning after food prep.
BigJimSlade
Hang in there, Wose!
(sorry, I just wanted to say Rose with the ‘w’ laden english accent, like sister wendy)
Also, excellent cat picture :-)
Leto
Just had this pop up (via WaPo):
Just luuuuul; carry on.
Steve LaBonne
Congratulations on the mortgage approval, good luck with the closing and the citizenship application.
dmalcolm
@jeff47: I too develop software, and had wrist problems about 15-20 years ago. The Kinesis Advantage 2 saved my career, but FWIW I had taught myself to type, and had learned terrible habits, using modifier keys (ctrl/shift/alt) with the same hand as the key being modified with a stretch, rather than using the opposite hand. Relearning to type with a split keyboard, and forcing myself to always use the other hand for a modifier key (e.g. right hand Right-Ctrl + left hand C for Ctrl-C) helped a *lot*.
That said, I’ve learned the hard way that Ctrl Alt and Del are grouped together on the Kinesis in such a way that it’s a perfect size for a toddler’s hand to press :)
Steve LaBonne
@Leto: As I said in another thread, they are a trolling party, not a governing party.
Scout211
I had carpal tunnel pain off and on for years and wore a brace in the day and a padded soft brace at night. By the time I finally went to the ortho hand specialist and did all the testing, it was diagnosed as severe. I had the surgery and 6 months later I finally got the feeling back in my fingers and the strength back in my grip.
Two years later I was deep cleaning my house for guests this Thanksgiving and the symptoms returned, albeit not very severe. Sigh.
The moral of my story is NEVER DEEP CLEAN YOUR HOUSE!
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. (wink emoji)
rikyrah
The kitty is cute
Luminous Muse
I was “diagnosed” with carpal tunnel thirty years ago, the symptoms likely caused by my composing work on computer and musical keyboards. I was about to get the surgery when I spoke to a jazz pianist who said, “I know a couple of musicians who had it – they never played again!” Instead I took piano lessons from a teacher in the Taubman method of ergonomic playing. It got better enough for me to do my work but I stopped playing classical piano.
Roll forward thirty years and I started playing classical piano again. Same symptoms as before but now the hand doctor said it WASN’T carpal tunnel. Huh. I went the Taubman route again without success. I’m now teaching myself to play ergonomically, and it’s (slowly) working!
Why this may matter to you, Rose – the Taubman method is based on the the notion of using rotational movement to avoid doing things with your fingers when your wrist is in “extension” – i.e. at any significant angle to the forearm. (Those angles are fine and inevitable for short durations. It’s when the angle persists that nerves get pinched.) By being aware of these angles it’s possible to gradually retrain how you do everything, not just typing. BTW the ergonomic keyboards mentioned above likely address just this thing.
Leto
@Steve LaBonne: same as it ever was.
Matt McIrvin
@Luminous Muse: Interesting.
Back in the 1990s, I started getting a lot of pain in my right arm that seemed to be associated with using a mouse. I was using workstations and PCs that, just like today, typically had a big extended keyboard with cursor and numeric keypad stuff over on the right, so using a mouse with my right hand meant pushing it around and clicking on it with it way over to the right, and that was getting painful. Maybe it was because of the wrist contortions I was doing to mouse way off to the side like that.
My solution was just to switch to mousing left-handed. At first I would switch off ambidextrously every so often because I was worried about hurting myself the same way on the left… but that never happened. Apparently as long as the mouse isn’t way off to the side, I’m fine. Using a laptop trackpad is fine too, and I do that a lot as well–and then, I’m using my right hand. But a lot of people in the office assume I’m left-handed (I’m not).
comrade scotts agenda of rage
So the next question is will the Dems do anything to help pass the bill?
We provided support, they provided policy priorities we want. If they don’t provide policy priorities we want, why should we provide support?
I know, I know, people get hurt over a shut down. I’m beginning to think the only way to get thru to voters is to hurt them.
Problem is that it’s probably hurting our voters more.
rikyrah
Have we discussed the latest Policy Paper from the Heritage Foundation on how to increase the birthrate in the USA?
Anybody wanna guess the solutions?
Limit women’s access to Higher Education.
Get them married young.
Get them exposed to religion
.
Sigh…lips so pursed.
TS
@Old Man Shadow:
Always republican house majority vs Democratic president who shut down the government – so those very intelligent people note that it is better to vote for a republican President then the government is never denied funding.
Impeccable logic
Jackie
@rikyrah: What? No mention of banning birth control and condoms?
cmorenc
@Ross Judson:
Be aware that if your carpal tunnel ends up requiring further medical intervention, you might have a nerve conduction test in your future, in which you get subjected to a series of shocks to your hand to measure the degree of nerve concuction impairment. I had carpal tunnel’s first cousin, cubital tunnel syndrome – essentially the identical problem as carpal tunnel, except to the other major nerve path to your hand controliing the parts of your hand roughly from the middle finger outwoard to pinky. Pain in my right hand would subside during the day, but at night it would often flare up and make it impossible to sleep, and it required surgery to re-route the cubital nerve so that it was no longer chronically pinched.
Emily B.
@rikyrah: A letter to the editor in the FT today cited a multinational study that found women were more likely to want more children if their partners shared childcare responsibilities. “If women are expected to do more of the care, they are less likely to want a child or more children,” wrote John Bateson of Bayes Business School at London University.
I’m sure everyone will be shocked by these results. (Just wish Bateson had provided more info about the study.)
Gvg
I have carpel tunnel. When it’s bad, I need to sleep with braces. I can’t type with any wrist braces I have found. I must be a restless sleeper, because the night time bracing helps. Always use arm rests and have the keyboard at the right height. My workplace now has all adjustable height desks, sit to stand, which also works for short and tall people sitting at a desk. I use a vertical mouse. The regular type really hurts my wrist. I also find that a slippery mouse is bad because you grip too hard. I get grippy tape and custom cut bits for my fingers to hold each mouse. Then I can barely hold the mouse and make it go where I want instead of having to death grip it. Gaming mice sell premade grippy forms but not work mice. I used post it notes stuck on my mouse where my fingers went to make patterns, then used those to cut the tape.
Anything else you have to hold too tight, you should do something about.
Another Scott
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
TheHill.com:
It looks like Jeffries has been keeping his powder dry. He seems to still know how to do this politics stuff.
Interesting days ahead?
Best wishes,
Scott.
sab
Rose,
That mackeral cat (brown black tabby) looks exactly like my two most recent adoptees up until about two weeks ago. Sitting with their paws folded and “fuck off” in the balloon thoughts over their heads. Had to laugh. Then a dam broke in their furry heads and they are strolling around like normal cats, and crawling into bed with us at night until the pitbull wakes up and whimpers for attention.
Gin & Tonic
My dear wife developed carpal tunnel syndrome a few years back. Braces and other therapies didn’t help, so she opted for surgery, which was successful. Hasn’t had an issue since.
twbrandt
I want that pillow.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Another Scott:
Good reply from him.
Elizabelle
@sab: I love hearing about your pitbull.
eponymous
Man, that cat’s expression and the sentiment on the pillow behind him are so very congruent.
I am not sure if this tip will help, but here goes:
I got carpal tunnel pretty badly after 10-12 years working as a GIS Analyst – lots of mousing. The thing that worked for me was getting an ergonomic mouse. Sounds like it might not apply for you, but just in case….
Kayla Rudbek
@Matt McIrvin: I prefer using the 3M ergonomic mouse that looks like a joystick. I haven’t tried to get permission from my IT department to use it on the work computer, though.
VFX Lurker
I don’t have carpal tunnel, but I do have pain, which I am managing.
I had undiagnosed pain in the middle of my right forearm for years. I mitigated it with a Pil-O-Splint while sleeping, a wrist brace while working, a Wacom tablet instead of a mouse, and wrist stretches. I also have a nice mechanical hand massager that can massage most of my forearm.
After years of this, I finally got a proper diagnosis and treatment for the pain. In my case, I did not have carpal tunnel. I had referenced pain from my right shoulder manifesting in my right forearm.
The doctor asked me to take video footage of how I sat at my desk, and she made suggestions/corrections for proper ergonomic posture and support. I replaced my 105-key keyboard with a 75% layout Keychron V1 to help keep my hands in front of me while I worked. I also make use of armrests for my elbows now, and I have armrest pads.
For her own setup, my doctor had a flat keyboard and a Contour Design “RollerMouse,” which kept her hands centered at all times and required minimal effort to operate her computer. However, I wanted to keep my Wacom tablet.
In addition to taking the strain off my shoulder with proper ergonomics, my doctor also gave me stretching exercises that targeted the injured shoulder.
You’re light years ahead of where I was. You saw a GP and got a proper diagnosis. Please consider whatever the GP recommends. I’m positive your GP can make the best recommendations, whether it’s ergonomics, exercise and/or surgery. Wishing you the best outcome for your situation.
Steve in the ATL
@Matt McIrvin:
That’s why I did as well and it has worked for 25 years.
sab
@Elizabelle: They are afraid of her and all she wants is feline love. Dogs scare her. Chihuahuas damaged her ears when she was young.
Last night one of the new cats ( Echo) crawled onto my bed and watched the pitbull and the Dobby the Demon Cat snuggled for warmth. So she poked the pitbull a couple of times to see if she was safely comatose. The pitbull instead woke up and looked at Echo. Echo fled and Ponyo sobbed. Ponyo wants new cat friends and cannot understand why the new guys don’t like her. I think we are making huge progress with Echo.
Solomon on the other hand is quite friendly with humans and cats in the basement, but horrified when he encounters the pitbull upstairs. Since she is phobic about basements from her life before us and he sees the basement as home and a refuge, I don’t see those two ever getting on good terms.
Ohio Mom
My carpel tunnel story:
For years, whenever I drove more than 15 minutes straight, my right hand would start tingling, like pins and needles. I thought it odd but didn’t give much thought to it. Never remembered to mention it to a doctor.
Then, a few months ago, I started waking up in the middle of the night feeling like my right hand was on fire. *That* made me remember to tell the rheumatologist. We started out conservatively with a visit to the PT. The wrist brace the PT recommended (purchased at Target) cut the waking-up-hand-on-fire down to a couple of times a week, an improvement over every night but not enough.
Next came nerve testing at the neurologist, which I thought unnecessary but a hoop to jump through must be jumped through. I like my rheumatologist enough that I will do what she says.
My diagnosis confirmed by the testing, a cortisone shot followed. All seemed very well for about a week — finally , no pain! — but a week later, I sprained my wrist while stuffing a comforter into a duvet.
I am hoping the shot did not make a hole in a tendon that then ran like hole in nylon stockings. It’s been two weeks and the pain is getting worse. You never realize how often you need to twist your wrist — opening up doors, brushing teeth, doing the crossword puzzle, etc. — until every twist HURTS.
I go back to the rheumstaologist tomorrow morning, she is squeezing me in at 8:30. I don’t thing being squeezed in is a good sign.
Oh well.
Chief Oshkosh
Open thread? Here’s a conversation about Democratic media engagement that the algorithm put onto my YT home page:
https://youtu.be/WK7Xho5GU9U?si=Nqf6B16x-vRKyUkO
Thoughts?
Ksmiami
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: eh bring the pain. Democrats cannot save Americans from their choices or their apathy.
karen marie
@jeff47: I’ve been typing for six to eight hours every day for the last 35+ years and have never been diagnosed with carpal tunnel. I’ve always made a point of ensuring my chair is at the right height and that my wrists and hands are at the proper angle to avoid pressure on my wrists.
I think the keyboard matters less than how you hold yourself.
Ksmiami
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: blow it up.
Ohio Mom
@Luminous Muse: Oh, that makes sense. I am short and when driving, position myself close to the steering wheel (the better to have my feet reach the pedals easily). This means that my wrists are bent at an angle to my forearm.
Miki
Carpel Tunnel isn’t the same injury as tendinitis, but apparently they overlap. The wrist brace seemed to stabilize the floppy tendons a bit for me, but stopping scrolling worked the best.
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: Vomit inducing.
I hope none of these assholes never get laid again. They are disgusting.
zhena gogolia
@karen marie: Strangely enough, my dear departed PCP assured me that it was genetic and had nothing to do with how much you type. He was usually right about things.
Ohio Mom
@zhena gogolia: In my case, apparently having rheumatoid arthritis predisposes you to developing carpel tunnel. And what predisposed me to RA, having had breast cancer.
sab
I went to the work Christmas party and all of the work computers were kablooey. Something about Windows 11 or Explorer 11. Consultants were scrambling.
My home computer works ( thank God). I do everythimg on line so I think I will update daily with printouts. Keep it current to better confront the bank.
Anyone know anything? Nowadays for my dad’s estate I keep a paper ledger and print out anything that goes through the bank.
Apparently Microsoft shut down something.
Jackie
Newsom’s being pro-active. Smart.
Matt McIrvin
@Steve in the ATL: PC gamers who play first-person shooter games have apparently mostly settled on using WASD with the left hand to move around and the mouse with the right to look and shoot. No way could I manage that–I’d probably have to reverse it, use the cursor keys or IJKL with my right hand and mouse with the left. Playing retro-emulator games and flight simulators on my computer, I use a Bluetooth game controller instead.
Sure Lurkalot
Happy holidays, Rose! Thanks for your contributions here at Balloon Juice. Hope all goes well with your citizenship process and home purchase.
eemom
May have been said already, but the surgery is a total fix and a true minor surgery.
Redshift
I was never diagnosed with carpal tunnel, but I’ve had forearm and hand pain and tingling at various times in my programming career. The first time it was definitely from a bad mouse and desk that had my forearm moving across the edge of my desk. I’ve generally been able to keep it under control by using a trackball or trackpad instead of a mouse, and making adjustments with the keyboard if that’s causing it.
ArchTeryx
Definitely had my stint with tendonitis in my hands, thanks to a low-level government job that abused the crap out of me for no gain (other than five years’ credit for NYS government service, not a small thing). I got physical therapy which included a lot of specific hand and grip exercises, arm exercises, and heat treatments for my hands and wrists. I also had to file a Worker’s Comp claim against NYS Dept. of Education for what they did, and they fought it with all the lawyers at their disposal. But NYS is a very labor-friendly state, so they lost thunderously. It won’t get back the functioning in my hands, but at least I got a settlement out of the deal.
Timill
Can’t advise on carpal tunnel, as I’ve never had it (well, not yet). I’ve been using natural keyboards since the mid-1990s and currently have one of these
An added advantage is that I can switch it between all 3 of my PCs, so my desk no longer looks like Rick Wakeman’s…
My other advantage when mousing is that my hand goes over the mouse, gripping it between thumb and pinky at its midpoint and my wrist is firmly on the mousemat. To move it, I flex only my fingers, so my wrist pretty much doesn’t move and all the tendons run straight.
eemom
So if the govt shuts down, will it fuck up the inauguration of the Fourth Reich?
Sooner or later, Apartheid Prince is gonna do something to fall out of favor.
Elizabelle
@sab: Ponyo sounds like a wonderful dog. Misunderstood by cats!
montanareddog
@Matt McIrvin: not the same reason as you, but I had a colleague in Accounts, who had taught herself to use her mouse lefthanded in order to leave her right hand free for the numeric keypad. She was very fast at filling in spreadsheets.
Matt McIrvin
@montanareddog: As a coder, I basically don’t use the numeric keypad at all… but that cursor key and navigation cluster is important. Laptop keyboards cut it down a bit too much, but I’d probably have been better off with something like the original IBM PC keyboard where the numeric keypad doubles as the navigation cluster and “Num Lock” is off by default.
Soprano2
@zhena gogolia: I was told it was related to weighing more, which I thought was bullshit until I lost weight and it got better. It didn’t go away, I have flareups every now and then, but I don’t have to wear the braces at night. I had the nerve conduction test, and it was actually worse on my left side, which isn’t my dominant hand. I find that hand/wrist stretches can help the pain. Flex your hand, then reverse it. Do that several times to stretch the wrist. You can do that on a hard surface too. I’ll never forget the first time I had the burning hand thing; it took 45 minutes for it to go away, that scared the hell out of me. Good luck!
Baud
Remember when this was the thing that was going to destroy us. Thanks, Biden.
Renie
@eemom:
People calling him President Musk is sure to have the Orange Blob explode in anger and then, hopefully, dump him.
Another Scott
@Matt McIrvin: Ooh. Flashback to the Northgate OmniKey 101 Keyboard.
I had a bunch of buckling-spring IBM keyboards as well. Great hardware, but too many people hated the noise. (They never had to type on real typewriters so they didn’t know what noise was. ;-)
Best wishes,
Scott.
Chief Oshkosh
@Baud: Not reading the NYTimes – what was the “massive mobilization” that saved us? Federal, state, combo?
Baud
@Chief Oshkosh:
Didn’t click either. But there are other articles by other papers in that topic, so a Google search should pull them up.
Dan B
@Baud: That’s great news. My partner’s siblings and some wonderful friends live in that area. And my partner’s brother had hives.
MagdaInBlack
@Renie: Then we definitely need to amplify that.
Jackie
@Renie:
ONLY if TCFG reimburses Musk the $250M he spent to buy TCFG the presidency – plus interest – in cash – will Musk go away. Maybe.
Matt McIrvin
I had a coworker whose RSI got bad enough that the only keyboard he could use was the spectacularly bizarre DataHand:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DataHand
He kept the thing going by hook or by crook for years after the company that made it went under. Apparently a lot of people were in the same boat. Recently the original patents expired, and there was a project to make a 3D-printed revival of it, which someone has now turned into a commercial product made using techniques that scale better:
https://svalboard.com/products/lightly
It’s pretty pricey, but if you need it, I guess you need it. They say the parts are all replaceable with their 3D-printed versions.
Bill Arnold
@Emily B.:
Poked around for that a bit. Here’s a substack article:
#187 Bargaining for Babies (JOHN BATESON, NOV 10, 2024)
Re that set of data, here’s a search in google scholar
Best, usually, to sort by date.
RevRick
@Emily B.: Translation: women are sick and tired of men’s underfunctioning shit and expect them to grow up and step up.
NotMax
@Matt McIrvin
Lots and lots of what are called “tenkeyless” keyboards which have everything except the numbers array. Bonus: they hog less real estate on the desk. Reasonably priced, also too.
Bill Arnold
@Kayla Rudbek:
I use trackpoint keyboards whenever possible (lenovo laptops, also available as external keyboards). They have what is functionally a little joystick with a rubber cap (it has other descriptions, ehem), equidistant from the ‘g’, ‘h’, and ‘b’ keys. I’m right handed, so use the right index finger and right thumb. I keep the touch pad turned off.
Some people hate the things. I can do 80-100 wpm on a good day, and don’t have to bend my wrist at all to do mouse things.
RevRick
@Soprano2: Year ago, last summer I was going to the bathroom when excruciating pain shot down my left leg. I struggled to get my pants back up and then, leveraging myself against the sink, attempted to get upright. But I couldn’t manage anything besides bent over and the pain drove me to my knees and then face down.
MrsRev heard my screams and called the ambulance. I was taken to the ER, given a muscle relaxant and pain reliever and a script. I was able to hobble out, but the experience rattled me. A day and a half later, in the middle of the night, I had another episode and I was pinned helplessly in bed. Again, the EMTs came, muscled me downstairs and told me to go to my appointment at the spine center that afternoon, adding if I needed assistance getting in the car for us to call. I spent the morning getting myself mobile, courtesy of a walker. Got to the spine center, had an x-ray of my lower back, got a diagnosis of sciatica and was given stronger meds plus a referral to PT. Turns out I have scoliosis and some arthritis of my lower spine.
So, every day, twice a day I do various exercises to stretch my back and strengthen my core. The sciatic pain scared the shit out of me, so I definitely don’t want to experience it again. I can’t sit more than an hour or so at a time.
Pain is supposed to be a warning, but it can end up being quite debilitating.
Timill
@Bill Arnold: Unsurprisingly, there’s an XKCD for that.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, … Krebs – How to lose a fortune with just one bad click.
Be careful out there.
Best wishes,
Scott.
I gotta get out of this place
@Matt McIrvin: I did the same thing – switched hands using the mouse. I’d already had several hand surgeries for various reasons and didn’t want another. It didn’t take long to get used to using my left hand. People thought I was left handed (I’m not).
It used to drive the computer techs crazy when they had to update my computer – since I also switched the left/right click on the buttons. (Apparently most lefties where we worked didn’t do that). I was the only person with a “backwards” mouse.
ceece
I had carpal tunnel in both hands in 2020 after moving all my classes online due to COVID.
My left hand had a good deal of muscle atrophy and I couldn’t reliably hold a coffee cup or wash dishes. After the conduction study, insurance agreed that I needed surgery on the left side (in Dec 2020, a weird time to have in patient surgery, for sure!).
Wrist braces all the time helped, and a small rolled towel at the edge of the keyboard to keep my wrists a bit higher than usual was good too. I also prefer a smaller flat laptop keyboard to a full size keyboard. But the surgery was amazing, I had mostly full range of motion before they even stitched me up. The scar was annoying, but resolved in a few months. No issues on that side since. The right hand sometimes has a flare up, then I wear the brace at night and it helps a lot.
Gloria DryGarden
Sometimes carpal tunnel symptoms stem from higher up, where nerves leave the thorax. I studied a kind of body work called Ortho-Bionomy, and my teachers said carpal tunnel was often a first rib issue. And Ortho-Bionomy practitioners can help with it. The spelling is a tad persnickety.
There are practitioners in the uk, here’s a link to some information Ortho-Bionomy IN UK
As you pursue ergonomics and therapies, and the other suggestions in the comments, this may be another avenue to explore.
I hope you can find some relief.
A friend who is also a body worker tells me she just had her nerve conduction test, and she’s seeing a surgeon next week. I’m sure she already tried a lot of things. There’s just no telling. Again, good wishes, good healing
Ramalama
I never got a diagnosis but when I returned to college to finish my degree in fiction, aka my fictional degree, I wrote like mad the last year trying to finish my manuscript. Lots of typing. Aching throbbing wrists and forearms. My Mom told me that my uncle ate lots of avocados whenever he felt throbbing in his carpal areas. Uncle is an artist (painter) but for years worked on and off fishing boats in Alaska for funds so he could paint off season. That’s all he did for years. Pulling in nets. Then painting. Fishermen told him to eat avocados for the pain. He did, which worked for him. I tried it. Works for me.
I spend all my time at my computer on web sites, copywriting, and writing fiction. I have a keychron k10 keyboard because I like clicky keys and I like the rgb lighting. No pain in my wrists.
But this is anecdotal
Your mileage may vary.
Liminal Owl
@rikyrah: Ouch. And thank you—I haven’t seen this mentioned (let alone thoroughly covered) anywhere. Time for some digging.
Matt McIrvin
@I gotta get out of this place: I always switch the buttons too.
That was actually a problem on those old 1990s Unix workstations. They usually had three-button mice and the X Window-based software I was using made heavy use of all three buttons. But it was anyone’s guess whether a given application would actually honor the window manager’s “reverse the mouse buttons” setting or not, so if you tried it, the button arrangement would be a random blend of reversed and un-reversed depending on context, and because of that, sometimes I just didn’t bother.
Liminal Owl
@VFX Lurker: Thank you; that was really helpful—I haven’t had carpal tunnel syndrome recently, but mid-forearm pain and constant shoulder pain (regained full mobility after totator-cuff surgery, but pain never went away). Will look into your remedies.
@Gloria DryGarden: And thanks here too. I’ll look for an Ortho-Bionomy practitioner.
Liminal Owl
@Ohio Mom: Oh dear. Hope all is successfully treated soon.
Liminal Owl
@Rose, Best wishes for speedy granting of your citizenship application, and shorter-term for managing end-of-year rush. And your cookies looked amazing, and I love the kitty picture! I used to follow a Facebook group for situations like your friend’s; the group was called “My house—Not my cat.”