RSI, repetitive stress injury.
Three words no writer, in our computer age, wants to seriously consider. But the pains in my fingers/hands, wrists, and elbows that I experienced yesterday don’t seem like the sort of thing one should ignore. As of last night, as a result, I’ve acquired some supportive wrist braces, have started taking B vitamins, and make sure to stretch and relax my hands every half hour or so.
It’s easy to take typing for granted. I learned touch typing in the 6th grade - I thought it was later than that but reexamined memory proves otherwise. I was already pretty keyboard savvy, but proper technique increased both my speed and accuracy; I have barely stopped typing since.
It would be easy to ignore this sort of temporary pain. After all, it goes away if I stop typing for a while. But every time I have been tempted to pretend I don’t need the oh, so stylish wrist braces (these things are SO getting Bedazzled), I imagine not being able to type at all. And that has me taking a typing break with a quickness!
I’ve started another project, the novel rewrite I think I mentioned in my previous post. I’m considering some voice recognition software to use as I progress with that. I’d much rather talk to y’all about stories.
In the meantime, learn from my pain! Take frequent breaks when typing - this seems to be the best preventative. Also, make sure you are sitting with good posture and, if at all possible, use an ergonomic keyboard.
8:22 am on August 14th, 2008
Hi!
Since you’re already trying out B complex, I’ll give you an unsolicited recommendation to try taking Bromelain also.
I’ve has RSI issues of and on for a few years now. (Graphic designer on constant deadlines — wheeee!!!) The combination of both B and bromelain seems to help me more than either alone. Good luck.
9:51 am on August 14th, 2008
I gotta admit, I know about RSIs in painful and loving detail. I have moderately chronic tendonitis in one wrist; mostly from playing the piano, but somewhat from typing and the idiosyncratic way I hold writing implements.
You’re doing everything right, but can I suggest a couple other things? Feel free to delete this comment if it’s too annoying.
First, if it IS (acute) tendonitis (which, based on the elbow involvement, I’d guess it is), ice and ibuprofen are your friend. If there’s a reason you can’t take ibuprofen (or if you feel you need to consult your doctor first, or just don’t want to), you can still ice yourself down. Tendonitis is basically an inflammation, and ice should help that. The usual rules of icing apply: short periods of time, not more frequently than every couple hours, etc. (The ibuprofen suggestions for tendonitis are as follows: you need to take 600-800 mg at every dose [6 hrs] to get anti-inflammatory benefits if you can tolerate that much, and DO NOT use the pain relief benefits as an excuse to overwork yourself — I did that a lot.)
Second, the single most helpful exercise I ever did (it was suggested by a piano teacher) was this: Take a sheet of newspaper — a whole sheet, two pages — and, starting at one corner, crumple it into a ball in your hand. Once you’ve got it entirely crumpled, un-crumple it. It’s more difficult than it sounds!
Also, if you don’t have immobilizers in your wrist braces (some plastic/metal to keep you from flexing your wrists) and the problem persists, consider them. I also had a problem with sleeping funny and stressing out my wrist(s) at night, so I’d wear them to bed occasionally. Definitely even more stylish. Fortunately, I was a nineteen-year-old singleton at the time.
I hope everything gets better!
9:52 am on August 14th, 2008
And, I just noticed that your post was over a week ago. Oh well. I tried!