Me and my RSI

[starlady]

Back in April I was diagnosed with a repetitive stress injury of the right elbow, specifically tennis (AKA golfer's) elbow, because of bad pain in…my right wrist. Last week I went back to the hand specialist, who said that with my current management regimen I probably didn't need to keep going to physical therapy. My current management regimen involves: 

# External (wireless) keyboard - So that I'm not hunching my arms up like a velociraptor when I type. 

# External (wireless) mouse - I use it left-handed for the most part.  

# Book rest for my laptop - I bought a leather-bound copy of Vanity Fair for this purpose, namely raising the laptop closer to eye level. 

# Elbow brace - I insisted on this to the RSI specialist and my PT person because of synecdochic's very helpful post on RSI prevention and you, and I think it does help to wear the elbow brace at night while I sleep. At the least, I've eliminated the previously rather frequent instances of waking up with my right arm asleep or half-asleep under the rest of my body. 

# Stretching and exercise - I have a regimen of stretches to do thanks to my PT person, and it's also time to get serious about increasing my upper body and core strength. We'll see how that goes. 

# Eternal attempts to have better posture - "You're a slumper," my PT person told me on my first visit, which is basically true. 

# Time Out - This program tells you to step away from the computer and take rest breaks. The current new version only works with Mountain Lion (!), so I should probably also tell you about Stretch Break, which is basically the same thing but costs money. (NB, however, that if you have access to a university computing center, your school may have a license to give it to you for cheap or for free; mine does.) Time Out 1.6, the old version, is still compatible with Snow Leopard. 

I had a moment of intense envy when someone mentioned RSIs to one of the organizers at AdaCampDC and she had no idea what the abbreviation meant. Hopefully, if I stick to these methods, I'll not have another bout of pain like last spring (I haven't touched the violin since before then, though, and I want to, so we'll see), but it's not like there's a "cure" for this. (Though, by the same token, I was infuriated when the RSI specialist I saw evaded my questions about what the approach was for me to not have arm and wrist pain.) Given how much time I spend on the computer, I thought I'd share what I've learned. 

Comments

[torachan]

Oh, is the arm falling asleep thing connected to the elbow RSI? I have both, but hadn't realised they were connected. (My hands also get tingly in various positions much easier than they used to. Annoyingly, the position of having my hands on the handlebars when I ride my bike is the worst, so if I ride for more than a couple miles at a stretch, they start falling asleep. ;_;)

[starlady]

Well, synecdochic points out that most people damage their tendons most while they sleep, and the RSI specialist and my PT person agreed that it certainly didn't help my elbow if I was waking up with my arm falling asleep. So I sprang for the elbow brace, and…I think it has helped.

[jesse_the_k]

The tingling-while-biking may or may not be related. Many cyclists do develop this, and bicycles offer a great variety of ways to change one's position. Sometimes it's too many possibilities -- stem height & depth; handlebar width & height and design (racing, tourist, upright &c); saddle height vertical and position horizontal.

If you have a bike shop you trust, or a cyclist/mechanic/sage, you can systematically tweak settings and (I hope!) eliminate the tingle.

[torachan]

Oh, interesting. I didn't realise it was a common thing. I have occasionally thought to google, but of course never when I'm at the computer. ^_^;;

[thistleingrey]

It can be, though sometimes the cause is up near the shoulderblade / spine rather than the elbow (that is, upstream on the same nerve branch).

[thistleingrey]

Urgh, RSI. Yuck. I had the impression that golfer's and tennis are distinct--no? Tennis on the outer edge of the forearm, golfer's along the inner (inner = towards the body and down when one's lying on one's back). My own years of violin have given me complementary, seemingly perpetual loci of doom, but my memory may be lying about the terms--it's been years since I saw a PT.

I was amused in grad school when marking papers with a pencil (I wrote final comments manually, too, heh) irritated my tendons more than typing did. But pencil use is better exercise, generally....

[starlady]

The NP who diagnosed me said "golfer's elbow" and then said they were the same. But what you say sounds like it makes sense. It is definitely golfer's elbow in my case!

I grade papers on the computer, too, because it's so much easier. But violin never gave me an RSI, thankfully - I did have some nerve pain my first year of college, when I probably doubled my average practice time per week, which led to the amusing incident with the sports medicine guy who said, "Well, you don't have nerve damage, and you're hyperflexible, so I can't help you!" Fucking doctors, it amazes me what they will accept for their patients that they wouldn't for themselves.

My biggest violin injury was the violin hickey, though mine never got as bad as more serious friends' of mine.