Best products from r/RSI

These problems have to do with accumulated muscular tension which over time becomes "permanent". It can be removed but it will not go away on its own. Muscles will start to stick together and more and more movement patterns are impaired. In the body, everything is connected to everything, so it is more useful to work on realigning the body as a whole.

As you have found, most regular doctors know nothing about such things and have no interest in learning.

You must now embark on a Healing Journey. You can take a self-help approach or you can spend a lot of money paying various
therapists to help you. Or you can do both. The types of therapists that may be helpful will be various kinds of "bodyworkers" - massage therapists, myofascial therapists, Rolfers, Hellerworkers, etc. Maybe some chiropractors. You might look into yoga and other types of stretching. You need to spend time checking into various approaches and helpers to see what and/or who works for you.
You can make all the progress you want on this. Its just a matter of how much you want to learn and how much time you want to spend learning about and working on yourself.

Here are some very special books that I highly recommend:
(there are countless more)

 

• Conquering Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Other Repetitive Strain Injuries - Sharon Butler
  
• https://www.amazon.com/dp/1572240393/
  
• Author's Website: http://www.selfcare4rsi.com
  
   
  
  
  
• Deskbound - Kelly Starrett
  
• https://www.amazon.com/dp/1628600586/
  
• Author's website: http://www.mobilitywod.com
  
• also search Youtube for Mobility WOD videos
  
   
  
  
  
• Pain Free - Pete Egoscue
  
• https://www.amazon.com/dp/0553379887/
  
• Author's website: http://www.egoscue.com
  
   
  
  
• The Endless Web: Fascial Anatomy and Physical Reality - R. Louis Schultes
  
• https://www.amazon.com/dp/1556432283/
  
   
  
  
• Discovering the Body's Wisdom - Mirka Knaster
  
• "A Comprehensive Guide to More than Fifty Mind-Body Practices
  
• that Can Relieve Pain, Reduce Stress, and Foster Health,
  
• Spiritual Growth, and Inner Peace"
  
• https://www.amazon.com/dp/0553373277/
  
   
  
  Note the reviews on these books. And note that you can get them cheaper used.
  
  Have faith. Good luck!
  

So you've had RSI for the last 7 years!? Props to you for keeping going! Typing out that post must have been a painful process. IANA doctor, so take this all with a grain of salt as you should anything on the internet.

First thing is to find out if you've done any serious damage to your wrists. Is it at all possible for you to have a scan or something similar done? That would be a great start.

Rest and gentle stretches seem to be the way for most people, tendons can heal but they heal a lot more slowly than muscles do. There are many things on the internet, but a really good book I bought (one of 3) is It's Not Carpal Tunnel Syndome. It says it's for computer professionals, but it's for anyone really. I also read through this book and it seemed to have some good advice.

But honestly, what got me through was a thing called TMS. It's hard to grasp, that something like RSI (especially as severe as you have it, it seems) can be caused by your mind but it worked for me. It sounds really, really insane, but I was at the point where I was giving up and just thought 'screw it'. There's a pretty recently made program that could be a starting point, but I recovered by reading through this book and putting in to practice some of the exercises he goes through in the final chapters. It genuinely sounds like a shill from the outside, like someone trying to make money off of the suffering of others, but you don't have to spend any money on it.

Good luck with whatever you choose, /u/TexturedMango. There's a facebook group that will give you excellent advice too if you want the link to that.

That's a good idea. I think it stands to reason that one will have to put their finger back down after the click anyway, right? I can find some mice that work like that. I noticed when I started using a state-funded Chromebook in high school that it was much easier to click things than I was used to, since I was using a modern trackpad. All you have to do with newer trackpads to click is gently tap, no *pressing* of any sort. The mouse I linked and other "touch mice" are basically just trackpads that aren't pad-shaped.

On the other hand, I wonder if your idea could be adapted into a mouse with two regions that are used for left-clicking. So your finger is resting, but then you gently move it up or to the side to the "secondary click position". Now that your index finger is resting on the secondary zone, the left-click is complete. These would be really close together to be useful. Click-and-drag would not be possible without an additional full "click" mechanism. But that's ok, a full press on the mouse button occasionally beats doing it for every click. Interesting stuff!

https://talonvoice.com/ You might want to look into the Talon's eye tracking stuff even if you're not a coder. They're working on more noise recognition features so you can click without clicking. :) The Talon Slack also does have a channel discussing the health related aspects, if you'd like to talk to others about your diagnosis/treatment. It's a lot more sane than the Facebook groups...

You might find a trackball mouse useful. There are large ones that you can use your palm to click with instead of your fingers!

" take ibuprofen if my arms started to hurt." That's really dismissive and hardly a long term solution. If anything, try ice. Do you know if you have any swelling?

I had a diagnosis of tennis elbow as well. In the early stages I focused on icing and stretching. Once I was able to grip things without pain, I moved on to doing very light eccentric wrist curls. That was paired with some manual therapy to help relax my extensors, which were tight and pulling on the tendon.

This is a list of resources I've found reliable and useful.

General Diagnosis/Treatment -

https://rsiselftreatment.com/

https://www.amazon.com/Its-Carpal-Tunnel-Syndrome-Professionals/dp/0965510999

https://www.painscience.com/index-pain-conditions.php

https://trainingandrehabilitation.com/how-truly-treat-thoracic-outlet-syndrome/

https://www.acropt.com/blog/2017/9/6/arm-hand-pain-when-it-could-actually-be-your-shoulder

Trigger Points -

https://www.amazon.com/Trigger-Point-Therapy-Workbook-Self-Treatment/dp/1572243759

https://www.muscle-joint-pain.com/

http://www.triggerpoints.net/

Posture -

https://modernhealthmonk.com/neck-pain-and-shoulder-pain-upper-crossed-syndrome/

https://www.acropt.com/blog/2017/8/17/postural-stretches

https://www.simplestrengthening.com/ (edited)

The sharkk may be a little thinner than ideal for me- but I do like it a lot. I mainly chose it because it was a cheap price point. I wonder if I'd find the size of the Evoulent to be better.

I have also been pretty curious about the Penguin:
https://www.amazon.com/Penguin-Ambidextrous-Vertical-Mouse-Medium/dp/B007GFYM1K

I have to say my hands feel uncomfortable just reading this. I remember moments when the smallest movements would feel like they are about to break my hands. I hope you are seeing progress though.

Is it the aiming or pressing the buttons that aggravates your condition? I used to switch my hand and used left hand one day and right hand another day. I also used a mouse that is vertical (and it sucks to use it but at the time it was perfectly helping).

This is the mouse: https://www.amazon.co.uk/3M-EM550GPL-Optical-Ergonomic-Wireless/dp/B001H9UGD4/

I further used application to avoid using mouse in general. I have basically the whole linux environment that allows me to rarely use mouse.

For example, in the case of a browser, I use a vim plugin. This means that I can press hyper-links without using my mouse.

I also remember in one review that stress is a factor. I can't tell you what helped exactly, because I have reoriented my life around it, and tried to many things. Was it the tread mill I had? Was it the sport I did all the time?

I am at the point where I am also more happy and slightly less stressed. And that apparently is a factor too. Stress in general - which incrases inflammation - which is the "source" of the issue in hands. I am also taking a bit of aspirin and ibuprofen pills (and occasionally use the topical cream). They are anti-inflammatory which means they might be addressing the source of the issue. Prolonged inflammation affects negatively the cellular environment.

I also have the powerball now (two months) and I should try it more. But I am more hopeful about the back-stretching.

I was able to purchase this desk on craigslist. I think anything that gets you standing up straight will be good. I can't imagine there is much of a difference between desk models, I'd just make sure you can adjust it to your height.

Do you notice numbness/tingling more in some parts of the hand (such as the top or base of the Palm or in certain fingers).

Dr. Scott Fried has a routine in his book: http://www.amazon.com/Carpal-Tunnel-Helpbook-Self-Healing-Alternatives/dp/0738204552/

Nerve flexing is more of a stopgap measure to prevent you from becoming worse. Of course I still recommend only using the routine under the supervision of a physical therapist or chiropractor.

You don't need to completely avoid using it, but switch immediately to the other hand if there's discomfort.

Another reminder:

Make sure your wrist is neutral (no flexion or extension).

http://i.imgur.com/vypL53j.gif

In regards to feeling discomfort when you're resting your wrist on the table:

Unless you're so close to the table where your elbow is on the surface, I think that there's some exertion required to keep your wrist on the surface.

An example of a bad position would be if you're far away from the surface, and your wrists are hanging on the edge.

(That's why I'm eventually going to switch from a keyboard tray to an adjustable desk, and keyboard slide with a custom sized tray.

http://www.amazon.com/Keyboard-Slide-Extension-Steel-Set/dp/B00AHFRUHE

I want more of my forearm on a surface, and a stock tray isn't deep enough.

I have a bad back, which is why I like stiff and non-adjustable chairs.

If you have an adjustable chair, then it should be fine since you can use a regular table
).

Find a better resting position for the right hand.

Try:

Maybe have more of your right forearm on the surface.

Have it the table, but don't rest it on a mouse (there's some wrist extension involved when it's on the mouse).

Have the right arm by your side.

Have you visited a doctor yet? Trouble pronating sounds like a specific enough symptom that it might narrow down the possible diagnoses considerably.

I would encourage breaking from computer use for awhile. When you return though you should check out vertical keyboards. You don't have to pronate your hands. For example: https://www.amazon.com/SafeType-Keyboard-Black-Color-V902/dp/B0049PFYWQ

I see. The only mouse I was able to find is penclic

https://www.amazon.de/Penclic-Windows-ergonomisch-Kabellos-Rechtsh%C3%A4nder/dp/B005GL0H24/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?keywords=penclic+ergonomische+maus&qid=1571729743&sr=8-6

Do you recommend these?

Here is the mobile version of your link