Carpal Tunnel

[Former Member 14]

I dont think I will be forking out 4 grand on a chair anytime soon

Forking $4K out for a chair wasn't the highlight of that month I can assure you. If my back and body wasn't this stuffed I'd be sitting on something similar to what Chips bought.

Let us know when your op is coming up, hey?


Cheers



Dave

[wagerjunction]

So I had an appointment with the doctor yesterday as my hand has been numb on and off lately, he told me I have carpal tunnel and will need a minor operation. He said its quite common for people that work all day on computers so was wondering if any of you guys suffered/ever had the op? and how long did it take to recover? Although I have never had an operation that bit didn't bother me... but when he said recovery time- 2 to 6 weeks without typing!!! panic set in!

Hey Gemma, saw this thread only now.

I had a colleague who had the surgery. Actually she was back to normal and typing after one week. It's been about a year now and she's all fine.

I do hope you will get better thanks to the alternatives and that the surgery will not be necessary after all. In any case, we are here for you

[Gabriel_LCP]

I once suffered from numbness in a couple of my fingers on one of my hands. I also went to the doctor and was told that it was the way I used the keyboard and mouse. I was told to make sure that the edge of the desk does not press into your forearms for long periods as this was damaging nerves that run along that area thus resulting in the numbness in my fingers.

I changed my position when working at my desk, making sure that my forearms are not pressing against the edge. The problem gradually disappeared over several weeks.

As I was reading this I had my forearm pressed against the desk so I immediately changed position, but know I'm noticing that every time I type i lay my forearm in that position, I need to do something about it!

Gemma, I wish you the best of luck. I've heard the operation is relatively quick and simple for the doctors so don't worry about complications or anything! Hope to hear more updates about this!

[AWH-Gemma]

Forking $4K out for a chair wasn't the highlight of that month I can assure you. If my back and body wasn't this stuffed I'd be sitting on something similar to what Chips bought.

Let us know when your op is coming up, hey?


Cheers



Dave

Will do! Will be on the waiting list so I'm not holiding my breath, docs estimation was minimum 4 months and maximum next year but I should know more when I visit the specialist on the weekend, your story was the best Amy, I think someone saying my friend had it and only took a week to heal was what I wanted to hear all along lol & thanks Gabriel and everyone else

[wagerjunction]

Will do! Will be on the waiting list so I'm not holiding my breath, docs estimation was minimum 4 months and maximum next year but I should know more when I visit the specialist on the weekend, your story was the best Amy, I think someone saying my friend had it and only took a week to heal was what I wanted to hear all along lol & thanks Gabriel and everyone else

Always here to comfort you Gemma dear

And anyway, that's the worse case scenario. Maybe your problem will get sorted out and you won't need the surgery after all. Fingers crossed.

[Zoorana]

Hey Gemma, I wouldn't advise on going for the surgery. I had carpal tunnel about a year ago and it got worse when i was pregnant i couldn't work at all. My wrist was inflamed and it was just terrible. The pain was agonizing. And since i was pregnant, i couldn't do any surgery nor take any painkillers. I was left with not much of a choice so all i did was stretching exercises. Changing to ergonomic keyboard is good. But the best thing you can do is have a good posture and STRETCH that bugger whenever you can.

Here's website with a video that'd give you an idea of the stretching exercise. It's truly basic but it sure helped me.
http://www.labnol.org/home/health/ca...xercises/8096/

Hope this helps and a speedy recovery to you!

[AmCan]

i had lots of hand cramps and wrist pains years ago on my mouse hand. I dumped the mouse and went to trackball that i control with my thumb, it's helped. I also use the old microsoft "natural keyboard" that splits the two sides of the keyboard so that instead of a straight line, a each side of the keyboard offset 5-10 degrees off center. I've used these both for 15+ years and have had very few issues with my wrists/hands since. When i do i try to take it easy, reduce work for a couple days and that tends to help.

Hope these various "ergonomic" suggestions help you find relief.

[AWH-Gemma]

Thanks guys, Zoorana the doctor actually said it gets worse when you are pregnant but he said noone actually knows why, weird anyway, thanks for the exercises I will take a look and do them tonight, how often did you do the exercises and for how long until it got better?

The mouse and keyboard are great, I think the best thing might actually be the mouse mat though

[davenewgates]

Good thing i have no problems like that as of now and hope not to! But goodluck on your operation, get back as soon as you've recovered!

[Zoorana]

Hi ya Gemma, yea true that. My obstetrician was clueless as well. The pain started a few months before i was pregnant but got worse only towards the third trimester for some reason.

As i told you before, i couldn't do much with my condition so stretching was the only alternative. That and since i'm from Singapore, i used lots and lots of Tiger Balm. I kept applying that and i'd make a point to get away from my computer every 15 minutes or so. I'd walk around for a bit and do the stretching as shown in the video i gave you.

The swelling went down after i gave birth. But i still had the pain on my wrist. I just kept on doing the stretching as i was getting used to it and the pain was gone after a few months. Although the pain is completely gone today, i still make a practice of getting away from my com every 15 or 20 mins to do the stretching and i've had no pain ever since.

Funny thing is that i've been doing this so much that i'd find myself stretching away at supermarket queue, while waiting for the traffic light to turn green, or even at parties etc that i'd get the occasional weird glances from people. lol

[AWH-Gemma]

I will definately get into the habit of doing them, thanks again for the link

[Zoorana]

No problem, I'm happy to help

And I forgot to mention that i was also wearing a wrist-guard. It helped to keep my wrist at a safe angle. Especially when I had to do lots of typing and mousing even with the pain. But not when it was really swelling though, as the weight of the wrist-guard made it really uncomfortable.

Hope all goes well for you Gemma, speedy recovery to you

[rodicpetarson]

I once numbness in my fingers a couple had one in my hands on one. I went to the doctor and said it was the way I use keyboard and mouse.This what I would assume that these kinds of things can be fixed without cutting me open directly, but he was very stubborn.

[Renee]

Yes there was a thread for that but sciatica is a pain in the sciatic nerve in the leg(s). Usually overdoing it, weak lower back muscles, lifting wrong or a bulged disc will cause that. Think higher Renee...

So I've been having issues with my right leg lately and after going to the physio today thinking it was a pulled hamstring, turns out it is my sciatic nerve in my right leg caused by neural tension.. WTF!

I think I jinxed myself!