3 ms·
Hey, so, I've been coding and playing guitar for ages, two things that definitely give you carpal tunnel. But I also studied Aikido and Judo, two things that g
by zedshaw 16y ago
Hey, so, I've been coding and playing guitar for ages, two things that definitely give you carpal tunnel. But I also studied Aikido and Judo, two things that give you strong flexible wrists. This means that I generally rarely get pain in my wrists, and when I do I can fix it with some exercises and stretches.
So, I'll try to give you some advice, and hopefully this helps without hurting you.
The very first thing you need to quit doing is:
"I'm typing sitting upright on my smaller couch, with ample room for my right arm (the pained one). Normally, I type lying down on my other couch while watching TV or just relaxing, and my right arm can sometimes get pinned a bit."
What the hell is wrong with you? I'm saying this to kick you in the ass, but in no way is this comfortable or good for your body. You are probably contorting your whole body into all sorts of weird problems, and I'm betting you don't exercise, stretch, take breaks, or do anything physical to maintain your health.
First clue, get a damn desk and a good chair, or invent one. Then, don't sit at it for too long at a time. Take breaks. Setup a rule where you don't code while watching TV. It's just a bad habit and it's actually hurting you.
Next up, your whole body is probably screwed. You need to start doing some stretching at a minimum. Stretching your whole body. You can easily go get a book on how to do it, and you should do it every day, twice a day: when you wake up, and before you go to sleep. If you can take a yoga class then that'd be even better.
You should next make sure you're eating right. Stop eating crap, and in fact, eat out if you can if for no other reason then it gets you away from the computer and walking around. Eat vegetables. Lots of them, and not too much meat. Quit eating junk food, meaning fake food that's crapped out of a machine into a plastic bag. Eat real food.
Finally, for your wrists. As you start fixing up the rest of your body and learning to relax through stretching, you'll probably find a lot of tension in your neck, upper shoulders, and back. It's important to stretch your whole body, but focus on these areas specifically. As you sit and code, keep track of tension in your body and give it a number. Then try to change the number up and then down. You want to start analyzing where you hold tension, and using a number system helps you visualize it.
Once you've got some control over tension, and you've got yourself getting more relaxed, you now need to start working on getting your wrists mobile. Now, your doctor sounds like a retard, but he's a doctor and I'm not, so he wins. However, keeping your wrist in a sling is not going to make it improve, so unless he's giving you exercises that improve it, then you need to find a new doctor.
There's no way in hell I'm going to give you wrist stretches online, even though you need some. You could sue my ass. I will say you should talk to your doctor about getting exercises to work with, and potentially that you should find a free Aikido class and see if they will teach you their wrist exercises. They probably won't let you do them since they also don't want to be sued, but they can teach them to you and then you can ask your doctor.
But, the most importan thing is quit living so unhealthy. I'm not saying become a granola eating hippie, but hell man I work at home and I've got a decent setup and don't kill myself coding for hours without breaks infront of the TV.
Good luck.
- AgentConundrum 16y agoI've lurked HN for a long time, barely even commenting, so of course I realized the sort of people who frequent this site. Despite this, I did a double take when I read your username. I just got told off by the Zed Shaw! Sorry, I digress... I'm using this situation with my wrist as a wake up call. I suppose I never really realized the damage I was doing to myself laying on the couch with my laptop. It started as a necessity when I lived with an asshole and confined myself to my closet of a bedroom where there wasn't room for really anything other than the bed. Slacking off, lying down watching a vid feels pretty comfortable (for the record, are you against lying on a couch in general, or only when that inactivity is coupled with a laptop? I've always thought of lying on the couch as being a good way to decompress, but I can change my ways if it's an overall bad thing) but I definitely see how I let things get out of hand. I may have a job lined up to start in a couple months (I'm not a rockstar like most people on this site, so this is the best I've been able to do), and I'm bookmarking a few articles and HN comments to setup a proper office when cash allows. For the time being, money is quite the issue. I do have a desk, but as I said my chair is absolute shit. How important are laptop docks? Just sitting up at the desk will, I'm sure, be at least a step in the right direction. Can I get away with a shitty $20 Staples chair for now (as a first step) or is it essential that I dip deep into my reserves and get a $200+ proper office chair? I'll Google for some introductory stretches for my whole body. I had real stress issues due to being a workaholic and having an asshole boss, so I need to learn stretching/relaxation tecniques as a matter of survival, since at least one of those two problems will persist throughout my career. From the tone of your post, I'm definitely leaning toward trying the massage thing at least once, if for no other reason than to get an initial boost on releasing any pent up tension. As for the wrist stretches, I've been doing some I found just before I wrote my initial post tonight. I haven't felt any pain so far as I write this post. I guess they help. These wrist problems seem to be a good kick in the ass to correct a systemic problem. I guess I came to HN looking for what amounts to band-aids for a bullet wound, and your additional ass kick was a good reminder that that's not what I need to be doing. I'll go price some new chairs tomorrow, and I'll take some initial steps towards better overall fitness. Financially, some bigger measures have to be post-poned, but I can at least start with the things that are in my reach now. Thanks for the kick in the ass. Seriously. Edit: Oh, and you're right about the doctor. This isn't even close to the first time I've questioned his treatment (For instance, his office completely failed to fax in an ultrasound request for me last year, though when I called to check up on it they said they'd sent it and were just waiting on the hospital. At my appointment last week, he noticed there was no fax date on the form, so he had to admit it was likely never sent). There's a reason I tend to go to the walk-in clinic before I bother making an appointment with him.