Carpal Tunnel Symptons and workarounds

[RufflyRustic]

I've suffered RSI for years due to playing the piano, typing and using a mouse. I've tried to be fairly careful of what I do, but have found that hand sanding has brought on CTS-like symptons. I cannot hammer or paint for very long, so tend to use rebates, dowels and screws more often than not.

The Questions:
Does anyone suffer from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS), sore wrists and arms, Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI)? If so, have you changed your wood working habits so as to relieve the strain and pain? Have you found particular tools to be better than others? Have you made any jigs to help in your work?

PS - Yes - I've searched for previous postings and have found some good discussion and information there.

thanks
RufflyRustic

[keith53]

I do sympathise. In my work as a Comms Tech I used to make a lot of data cables & ended up having my left middle finger sieze in the closed position on occasion. Very painful. Ended up having to have it operated on & haven't had any probs since.

Being a 10 finger typist and a computer user since they were invented (almost) I don't believe this has contributed. In this area, pay attention to the height of your chair and keyboard rest. Your elbows should be roughly equal the height of the keyboard so that your arms are level or at worst have a slight downward trend when typing. This is the ergonomically recommended position and it is actually quite comfortable.

Try that little change but if pain persists, I recommend Fosters Larger. Consume one can after the other till the symptoms subside then lie down and rest...

Cheers,
Keith

[flea1607]

Hi Rustic


I to suffer from RSI from years of bashing the keyboard - My doctor put me onto Therma Skin Wrist Guards which saved me a lot of pain. In the early years, it was like uniform always had it on. Even still almost 20 years later, (although i definately dont do as much keyboard bashing) I still have to use only occasionally.

Although I have not done much woodworking I do know that when sanding a table top down I did use the therma skin as the wrist was geting sore from the vibrations. (Mind you wearing one in Cairns during the wet season was not a comfortable situation but it did help).

Cheers

[arose62]

I'm a touch-typist and worked in IT for about 15 years. I found that after about 10 yrs, my arms & fingers were starting to play up, so I switched to the MS Natural keyboard (the one thats all curvy, and has the keys divided into two separate sections). This helped for about a year, then the pain started to come back.

I did some research, and then switched to the Dvorak layout (instead of the standard QWERTY). It took a couple of weeks to get back up to speed, but I've never had any problems since.
As a bonus, my co-workers now never touch my PCs, as they can't work out the way that press one key gives a different character.

Cheers,
Andrew

[RufflyRustic]

Thanks for the info to date.

I used to have a wrist guard, but I developed too much muscle doing woodwork and bowling so it no longer fits. However, I do have a wrist wrist for mousing work which makes a big difference.

I am sitting up straight, egronomically etc, but did need the reminder - thanks Keith.

I have a natural keyboard at home, but have found I don't need it at work anymore as I'm not so keyboard-oriented anymore as I was for data entry and hours of straight typing. But - the natural keyboard stopped people using my pc which was good.

I haven't needed to get a Dvorak keyboard yet, but looked into it a few years ago. Yes, it would be the keyboard I'd use if things go bad. I'd love to see their faces when they see your keyboard and try to use it

Thanks
Wendy

[AlexS]

Heard today about a new keyboard for supernerds - it's a natural keyboard, but there are no markings on any of the keys. The idea is that it shows you're a supernerd because you don't need them, and stops people borrowing your keyboard.

SWMBO reckons that all typists of her vintage learned to type blind anyway.

[DavidG]

Don't muck round. Get both wrists cut. No problems then.

Seriously I had Carpal tunnel in both wrists. Terrible pain, particularly at night. After the ops I am as good as new.

[gatiep]

As a bonus, my co-workers now never touch my PCs, as they can't work out the way that press one key gives a different character.

Cheers,
Andrew

Mmmmmmm maybe I've got one of dem keyboards. I always get different characters when I "type" and I peck with one finger only!

[Studley 2436]

Hi Wendy
Being a Chef before I was a Pro Photographer I suffered both tennis elbow and golfers elbow. It was nasty and debilitating. It bothered me recently enough too. Getting a wrist rest helped me past it this time. Nurofen is a really great help getting better too. What I did in the past which worked really well for me was excercising it out with light weights. You hold a 2kg barbell in your hand palm facing down with your arm resting on a bench and flex down then lift it up and turn it outwards as you lift up. Do 15 reps followed by another 15. It got me back from a nasty injury I had from rolling too many Pizza doughs by hand.

Stevo

[bitingmidge]

I actually had an RS Eye for a year, but a special lens and a leather patch and it's almost good as new now.

P

[Harry72]

I've got a bad elbow/hands and sholder/neck problems, nothing to do with keyboards... caused by using large jackhammers cutting up lead spills at work where cranes and forklifts couldnt get to it, we would cut it up into 8-10"x 1" thick squares so it could be lifted out by hand(hot backbreaking young mans work...).
Thank god they got rid of the old continous flow process and comisioned a batch based process instead.
As a result with my right elbow I cant use a screw driver more than about 2 20mm screws or play my stringy piece of wood for more than 1/2hr, makita helps me with the screws and I dont play the guitar much anymore!

[Cliff Rogers]

I suppose you wouldn't use one of these then????


http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...14&postcount=1

[journeyman Mick]

Wendy,
no carpal tunnel problems (yet ) but ongoing problems with both shoulders (worn out) and elbows/forearms (tendons tearing ) all caused by (industrial) woodworking . Doctors keep recomending anti-inflamatories (which I can't have) and pain killers (which I don't want as I reckon if it doesn't hurt I'll just damage it more). They then suggest surgery which I'm not keen on, but I know lots of guys that have had surgery for all these complaints. I try to avoid using hand tools where possible and also hand held power tools. If hand sanding is causing problems then you need to avoid it like the plague but using a sander may cause more problems because of the vibrations.

Mick

[Cliff Rogers]

...an RS Eye ....and a leather patch ...

AArrrrhh! Thart'll be th' reason for th' loiking fer wooden boats...

[keith53]

Perhaps this might help http://www.glasbergen.com/images/g18.gif