typing pains

[shamguy4]

Not sure this goes here, but it is a question for writers.

I type a lot. Im guessing everyone here does. Do your hands ever hurt? thumbs?
Was just wondering if other writers had the same pains and what they do for it.

I have very mild wrist and hand inflammation. Its not like carpel tunnel, my hands are fine at everything else other than typing.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I've become prone to repetitive stress injuries in recent years. I got a carpal tunnel sort of thing when I was doing a lot of typing at work some years ago, and an arm muscle thing when I crocheted a queen-sized bedspread for my nephew's wedding, and more recently I got some weird hand-muscle problems from doing a lot of editing work on my laptop. For the latter, I bought a trackball and it's slowly getting better.

When I was working with a regular keyboard at a desk, I always preferred to reverse-tilt my keyboard. I used a keyboard wrist-rest but put it under the front edge of the keyboard instead of in front for the wrists and then folded the back feet of the keyboard up, so it tilted away from me. That generally helped with my wrists. The time I got the carpal tunnel thing was when I had a flat Mac keyboard and didn't have it tilted that way.

 

[shamguy4]

i have a sitting standing desk and it has helped so much but i still have thumb pains.
I also dont type with all my fingers... the pinky is useless. I just never got to using it. I use my first two fingers and thumb....

 

[Phyrebrat]

It's RSI.

pH

 

[Ihe]

I have very mild wrist and hand inflammation.

[Insert inappropriate joke here].

 

[shamguy4]

[Insert inappropriate joke here].

I said the pain is only there when on the computer.... Or does that make this worse?

Weirdly I have another pain but i dont usually mention it because people think im crazy. I cannot touch my Macbook. When its on and the battery makes it hot, I get pain in my hands and my fingers burn horribly. My skin turns red. I looked it up online and there are others with the same pain. Some say its an allergic reaction others say somehow the aluminum and the battery are reacting together or something....

So i need to use a separate keyboard and mouse. When I make enough money I need to get a new desktop or imac so I don't have to touch.
I make websites for a living so im on an apple environment.

 

[Biskit]

It sounds like you have over-worked something - muscles, tendons, joint cartilage, whatever...

I've noticed I'm more prone to these sorts of aches and pains as this middle-age thing settles in, but as I understand it, the key thing is acute vs chronic. Has it come on suddenly after a round of serious, heavy-duty typing, or a slower onset? A sudden reaction to over-doing things is probably not a concern (provided it settles down in a week or two), but if this is something that has built up over time I would suggest it's time to see a doctor.

The fact that you only get it when typing suggests you have inflamed something very specific, and if the problem is with soft/connective tissue it can take a while to heal. Acute ought to sort out on it's own (although it can still be slow), but chronic problems tend to need care and management.

Either way, you probably want to ease off on the typing for a while.

For the latter, I bought a trackball and it's slowly getting better.

I use a trackball and have done for twenty years plus. I also use it left-handed, even though I'm right handed, following some soft-tissue damage in my right shoulder. The trackball really cuts down on the shoulder/elbow movement, but more wear-and-tear on the thumb. I've tried a touchpad, but that never worked so well.

 

[The Storyteller]

I type on a laptop, and I don't usually have any problems. I don't usually write for hours and hours on end (though I have a few times), so it's possible it would bother me if I went at it for too long without breaks!

 

[shamguy4]

I went once to a doctor who told me I needed to just rest them. I also once went to therapy for shoulder and it was useless.
The shoulder continued to hurt until I decided to get a massage. Turns out this should have been the first thing. So I am very into massage and finding knots and stuff but it seems this is a bit on the chronic side at this point.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Hey, shamguy4. Arthritis is manifesting pretty badly in my thumbs the last year or so; I have a lot of pain in my thumb joints when I type. I switched from a hump-backed mouse, to a slimline mouse, and found that a fair bit of the pain went away (when I use a hump-backed one now, the pain comes more quickly, and more acutely). Is this a repetitive stress issue, would you guess...or is there any chance it might be arthritis? Hope you find help soon, CC

edit - no idea if this might be of help to you, but I also started doing exercises to strengthen my hands/wrists, and this seems to have helped my thumb joints, too.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I type a lot - for my work plus a lot of writing- and use a wrist rest etc. I also touch type which helps I think.

 

[shamguy4]

@Cat's Cradle i went once in the past few years and the doctor said he didn't think it was athritis.
Basically I have the weakest grip in the world.

@TheDustyZebra the reverse keyboard tilt idea is cool.

 

[Biskit]

I went once to a doctor

Trust me, I'm a doctor. I'll have your photons in perfect health sooner than you can say quantum physics...

That aside, the Biskitetta tends to opt for physio-therapist for these sorts of things, rather than a doctor. Either way, get it looked at by someone who knows which bones connect where. If it's trivial they will tell you so, and if more serious then getting it fixed early is generally best. Some years ago I ignored a tiny twinge in the back of my right heel and just got on with stamping around fields in heavy boots for a busy weekend of sorting out those damned Roundhead rebels. By Monday morning the pain had spread and when I finally went to the doctor I was told I had plantar fasciitis, which took months to fix with minimal walking abd aided by industrial grade ibuprofen pills.

 

[shamguy4]

Well on one hand doctors just point to their own hand therapy room next door where they want me to sign up for 4 weeks and i feel like it had been a waste of time for me.
And on the other hand im afraid to get any cortisone shots or something like that...

 

[Biskit]

Just remember the basic rules:
1: Pain is your body leaving a message: please stop doing that.
2: Agony is the follow-up message. No please this time.

And best of luck getting it sorted!

 

[Cat's Cradle]

I'm fighting the onset of arthritis as hard as I can, strengthening every affected area by walking/weights/stretching; I can't work as hard as I did 20 years ago, but I can still be pretty active, and, just personally, I've found that stronger muscles have helped minimize the pain I have in the areas were arthritis is starting to affect me.

I wonder, even if it's not arthritis with you shamguy4, could you benefit from stengthening your hands and wrists? Maybe check with a doctor to see what they think...? Best of luck with this, CC

edit - listen to Biskit, not me!

 

[Danny McG]

That's gotta be the next step in keyboards, all virtual with a neural headband.
They are already trial testing disability aids that can be operated by thinking what you want done, surely after that the next step for 'trickle down' will be gaming and computers.

There'll be some very strange stream-of-consciousness novels hitting the web then

Putting a computer in your brain is no longer science fiction

 

[Biskit]

I did try voice recognition software once but that was unsuccessful. Not only is it tricky and tiring dictating without serious practice, the software 'training' process never got the hang of my voice. The resulting text came across as a hybrid of learning difficulties and speech impediment. (I have the opposite of a speech impediment - the Biskitetta says I talk too much.)

 

[Ragandar]

Voice recognition software is apparently pretty common for people in the translation trade. Though they use it in combination with CAT-tools and translation memory systems, which might help. Never used any of it myself. /shrugs.

I type a lot for my subtitling, but I don't actually type much for my writing. I still like the way pen and paper feels. If that means I have to type it in later so other people can read actually read my work, then I am perfectly fine with that.

 

[The Bluestocking]

I don't get pain in my thumbs and fingers but typing away for my day job followed by typing away on my WIP can end up with me having an aching wrist. This only comes if I've had many hours of typing.