I have arthritis and carpal tunnel in both hands. The arthritis started in my teens (bad family genes for that), and the carpal tunnel from a job where I typed on an old Remington manual typewriter. It got so bad from having to really hit those keys hard, the bosses had to teach me to use the old typesetting machine or I couldn't do any work. It's also why I can't hand write much at all any more, having spent so much time doing stuff by hand, like taking notes. This was long before computers were everywhere.
Over the years, I've basically ruined my hands from doing hard, physical labor. My whole body is shot. I'm getting older and stuff that wouldn't bother me before is hurting now. I have a messed up shoulder, a lower back that's getting worse (early childhood accident), and bad knees. I'm a mess.
I try not to do any one thing for hours at a time. I get up, move around, flex, listen when my hands are really hurting. It can put a wrench in the writing plans, but there ya go. I plan to be around a long time still, and those books won't write themselves.
Oh, man, I've had that a couple of times! Ouch. I find if I feel it coming on, I can sometimes lessen it or even avert it by using a golf ball to roll around the arch. I have high arches and high insteps, and I've been told that could lead to problems like this. I don't know, but once I had it so bad I couldn't put my heel down for about three months. That aggravated my knee and hip on that side, and that was no fun at all.
