RSI Hurts
Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome
I think that I am particularly susceptible to carpal tunnel-style injuries (or repetitive strain injuries or whatever you want to call them).
I've forgotten about it for a long time, but a few years ago I had pain in my feet, in and near my toes. It got worse whenever I ice skated. It was pretty bad so I went to see a podiatrist.
He diagnosed with me with tarsal tunnel syndrome. I had never heard of such a thing, and until he had made the diagnosis I had never noticed the similarities between my wrist and hand pain and my foot pain.
As soon as he spoke the words, it was an "Aha!" moment for me. The pain had been almost completely explicable, because there was never any single incident of strong impact to my feet. But thinking of my foot pain as carpal tunnel in my feet solved the mystery.
The pain in my feet is practically gone, because I ended up stopping the activities that caused overuse in my toes and feet.
A Slippery Slope
What I described a couple of days ago was pretty serious. I have been trying to take steps to prevent whole-arm pain from coming back. It's a slippery slope: first my fingers, then my wrists, then my hands and forearms, and now my entire right arm.
Who knows when it will stop? Will my entire body be in pain then, from head to toe?
I've realized that I just can't work permanently in a job involving computers. I have to do something else soon.
Sewing
I have gotten into sewing lately and have been working on a few little sewing crafts. I thought that sewing would aggravate my repetitive strain injury symptoms, but so far it hasn't been too bad at all.
I admit, though, that sewing for me involves 2-3 hours in a day, with many, many breaks. I take breaks not because of the pain, but rather because I stop to look up various things online. Sewing is a meditative activity that brings on lots of thoughts and ideas, rather than an intense, time-critical activity like programming in which distractions are to be minimized.
Therefore, it makes sense that I'd naturally take plenty of breaks while sewing, but not while typing and coding. If it were the other way around, I'd never get any of my official work done.
Clicking and Dragging
Clicking and dragging can be extremely painful for anyone with RSI or carpal tunnel, no matter what input device you use.
Even with my Wacom tablet, clicking and dragging is the most painful computer activity that I can think of.
The other day I had some files to sort. I was clicking them and then dragging them into various folders. After less than an hour, my entire arm, from my fingertips to my shoulder, was in severe pain.
I would have worn a sling if I had one, since the pain was so bad. Instead, I went to bed, like I always do when I encounter severe pain and can't stop it in any other way.
Mouse with Thumb Trackball
My boyfriend uses a mouse that has a thumb trackball. He bought it hoping that it would be more comfortable than his previous mouse.
The thumb trackball has proven to be more painful than beneficial, however. Rolling a ball with one's thumb is quite unnatural and strenuous.
I think that the main reason to protect your thumb is because it is the most vital part of your hand. Without a functioning thumb, it would be much more difficult to grasp objects. Humans (and primates) are special because of our opposable thumbs, and we should try to preserve our thumbs as much as possible.
A blog (weblog) about my firsthand experiences with RSI. RSI is short for repetitive strain injury and is sometimes interchangeable with the term "carpal tunnel".
