Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

[Santilli]

I was just diagnosed with CTS in both arms.
Anyone else have it, and have any solutions?
Wake up with numbness in one or the other hands.
Sometimes hands just go numb.
Left can be so bad I can't feel if I've pressed down enough to activate the mouse buttons.
Been using a cold pack for a wrist rest if it's bad.
Braces didn't really work for me...

 

[ddrueding]

I feel like I've been flirting with it for decades. Mild pain most of the time, and when it gets bad I take a break from the computer and/or focus on strength/dexterity exercises. No idea if that is an optimal strategy or not, but so far I feel like I've dodged a bullet.

 

[LunarMist]

I was just diagnosed with CTS in both arms.
Anyone else have it, and have any solutions?
Wake up with numbness in one or the other hands.
Sometimes hands just go numb.
Left can be so bad I can't feel if I've pressed down enough to activate the mouse buttons.
Been using a cold pack for a wrist rest if it's bad.
Braces didn't really work for me...

Your Dr. that diagnosed it should be giving a reference to a surgeon. There are plenty that specialise in the release surgery and there are several different versions. Get two opinions.

 

[LunarMist]

I feel like I've been flirting with it for decades. Mild pain most of the time, and when it gets bad I take a break from the computer and/or focus on strength/dexterity exercises. No idea if that is an optimal strategy or not, but so far I feel like I've dodged a bullet.

I'm sure you know that all pain is not carpal tunnel. Regardless, anything more than discomfort should lead you to behavioural changes. I had some mild pain back in the 20th century that was not and quickly resolved with ergonomic changes, especially the wrist rests.

 

[ddrueding]

I'm sure you know that all pain is not carpal tunnel. Regardless, anything more than discomfort should lead you to behavioural changes. I had some mild pain back in the 20th century that was not and quickly resolved with ergonomic changes, especially the wrist rests.

Now that I have chairs with a million adjustments, height adjustable desk, and have trained to be mostly ambidextrous with the mouse, when pain shows up I'm usually able to make some adjustments to get out of it.

 

[Santilli]

Your Dr. that diagnosed it should be giving a reference to a surgeon. There are plenty that specialise in the release surgery and there are several different versions. Get two opinions.

I was referred by my nuerosurgeon, head of pretty much everything down here, to the person that tested for it. Thought it might be due to a pinched spinal column, but appears it isn't.
Changed mice.
Using a cold pack as a wrist rest when it hurts, or I'm numb.
Had not thought of a different chair.

 

[LunarMist]

It seems like good news if only CTS. Now go see the hand surgeon. Just do it. Are you left handed or both?

 

[Santilli]

It seems like good news if only CTS. Now go see the hand surgeon. Just do it. Are you left handed or both?

Being the head of the board in SD, he's very busy, but down to earth. IIRC, appt is in August.

 

[jtr1962]

Been dealing with this since my late 20s at least, possibly longer. In part I blame it on the group punishment teachers used to give classes. I often had to write "I must not talk in class" 1,000 times in grade school because a few rowdy kids did. In any case by my late 20s working full-time was out, along with driving and doing any kind of task using extensive use of my hands on anything but an intermittent basis. CTS can be kept from getting worse by limiting your activities in this way. Even riding my bike my hands start to go numb after 15 or 20 minutes but I can still steer at least. My feet also sometimes go numb, so the CTS may have spread there also.

I never officially had it diagnosed. Got kicked off my parent's insurance in college, and couldn't afford to see a doctor once I had to pay out of pocket. I'm pretty sure it's CTS based on the symptoms, and the similarity to what my mother and sister went through.

 

[Santilli]

Surgery on left hand is done. Stiches out yesterday. Fingers still a bit numb, but no waking extreme pain in awhile. Doc thinks 6 months for nerves to fully grow back.

 

[Mercutio]

I'm overwhelmingly a trackball user rather than a mouse person, going all the way back to the Microsoft Ballpoint in the early 90s.
My wrists don't bother me at all and I spend actually obscene amounts of time on a computer. I buy a new trackball about every five years and just ordered another one, but I do kind of wonder how helpful it's been for me that I've never been a full time mouse user.

Does anybody else use a trackball more than a mouse?

 

[ddrueding]

I have a Logitech MX Ergo S that I bought one of the times my wrist started acting up. I've never been fast enough with it to switch full time. I'm currently running an MX Master 3S for my right hand and change to a Superlight in my left when it hurts. I've also experimented with a Wacom tablet.

 

[Mercutio]

From what I remember, I made the switch in about 1992. I spent about two hours getting comfortable with a trackball and it's been my primary pointing device ever since. My original reason was that my first "computer desk" was salvaged from a high school classroom, so it just had the tiny little pull-up writing surface. It didn't have room for a keyboard AND a mouse. It might be easier for me from years and years of familiarity though.

My partner is about 75% trackball now as well, although she also spends a lot of time with a Cintiq when she's working.