Morning team,
Most people who have been following my blog know that I've been struggling with an injury due to too many hours spent on the computer, more specifically a lap top.
I finally went and saw a wrist specialist yesterday and what came back was good and bad. Bad because I was hoping for some magic solution that didn't happen but good because it's not carpal tunnel or cysts from inflation or any of the other things that my GP or I thought.
The diagnoses was that nothing was seriously wrong but it was going to keep getting worse if I didn't take care of it.
Here were her main recommendations
Your work station is very important. Make sure arms and elbows are at 90dgrs when typing. Use the back rest on your chair properly. Remove arm rests if they don't allow for a 90dgr bend at the elbow.
Take breaks from computer work every 45 mins and do wrist stretches.
Contrasts hot and cold baths for my arm twice a day. She suggested 3 mins in the hot bath then 1 min in the cold, 4 times. I tried this at the office and it brought a lot of relief.
Today was the first day trying this therapy on my own and it was a bit comical. I didn't have the fancy equipment that they used at the doctors office so I used the bathtub and the sink. Hot for the tub and cold for the sink. I probably should have done vice versa cause I wasted a lot of hot water for just my arm. It was really difficult to get my arm into the tub and then stay there for 3 mins at a time. The sink worked okay for the cold part but obviously my arm is too large for the sink so I tried to curve my wrist around to make it fit. I used my iphone timer which worked reasonably well once I turned down the volume and switched the alert from my alarm clock sound....
I'm going camping tonight so we'll see how that goes....
- Wear a wrist brace at night. This is when you are most likely to place your injured wrist in compromising positions.
I hope this helps anyone who is suffering from wrist pain caused by computer work.