Some Tips To Avoid Wrist & Hand Pain While Typing
I’m not a medical doctor, but I am an EMT, and damn, this here wrist pain is an EMERGENCY! :P
Here are some tips I have found to be helpful, some from searching on the internet, some from helpful friends. I’ve been coding now about three months, and using my computer far more than usual, and wow, everything has been hurting. While I am still working through my issues, it’s getting better by using a few tools and techniques:
a) WRIST BRACE: go to CVS and buy the rigid wrist brace — it’s tan color, and is marketed as “firm” support. Get one for each hand, and note that they are marked as “left” or “right” — don’t buy two right handed ones! Wear them while typing, and if your wrists/arms are really hurting, while sleeping too.
I have two: one for each hand. Sometimes I wear one, sometimes the other, sometimes both. The great thing is that it forces your wrist to stay straight, so it does relieve the pain quite a lot. Sometimes I make them tight; sometimes loose. You have to play around with the straps to find what works for you.
b) VERTICAL MOUSE: Buy a vertical mouse. The one I now have is the Evoluent Vertical Mouse, wireless. It helps avoid twisting your wrist into an unnatural position.
You can see that my wrist is a natural handshake position and none of the bones in my hand are twisted. This mouse helps avoid that twisting that tends to pinch the nerves and cause pain.
c) BRING YOUR KEYBOARD AND MOUSE CLOSE TO THE EDGE OF THE DESK: For a long time, I would type while resting my elbows on the desk, with the keyboard pushed far away. I learned recently that this is why my elbows hurt when I’m sleeping, and why I have some forearm pain while typing. Apparently, there is supposed to be zero pressure at all on the elbows or wrists while typing. So now I have the keyboard and mouse pulled close to the edge of the table, and my elbows are at 90 degree angles, and the forearm wight is fully supported by my muscles, and not by my elbow or forearm. (Though my palms now do lightly rest on my new keyboard.) Here’s a photo:
You can see my elbow is not resting on anything, and my wrist is straight and not bent. Surprisingly, this new elbow position (hanging in mid-air) makes a big difference. Now, if you look really close, you’ll see one of the chinese tattoos on my arm. This one says: 没接口 (mei jie kou) which means, “No excuses!” And you and I both refuse to allow wrist and forearm pain get in the way of our destinies, right? Right. And yes, I know, lots of papers on my desks. I’m a busy man, what can I say? :D
d) BUY A SPLIT ERGONOMIC KEYBOARD: I just ordered mine yesterday, due to arrive in a few days. [Update: it arrived!] The idea is that with the split keyboard, your wrists can stay fully straight. With a regular keyboard, your wrists have to turn out to the sides in order to type in the proper position.
This is my old keyboard. See how my wrist is pivoted to the left?
Now this is my wrist using my new split keyboard:
Big difference! It’s now totally straight. (Does anyone else think I should be a hand model? Just sayin…”
The split keyboard I bought was the Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Keyboard for Business (5KV-00001). I bought this one for a number of reasons:
a) it is wireless
b) it doesn’t come with a mouse, so it was less expensive. (Further, there are many complaints about the supplied mouse. Plus, I didn’t want the microsoft mouse because it’s a normal mouse, and I want to continue to use my vertical mouse.)
c) Finally, it has a lot of unique features, some of which you can see in these photos:
A few things to note in the above photos: First, the keyboard is not only split, but it’s also tilted inward, raised up higher in the center, and… as you can see from the book that I placed at the front of the keyboard, it’s actually raised up quite a bit in the front — that is not my book holding up the front of the keyboard. This raised front feature too is designed to help keep your wrists straight. Note, however, that you can easily remove the added height: it’s connected with magnetism.
Second, in answer to your question, yes, it’s a little weird touch typing on this keyboard. The keys are still in the same order, but the locations are separated down the middle and well, it definitely feels different. I am touch typing this update now on the new keyboard, and while I was totally clumsy at first, now, about thirty minutes later, I am starting to get the hang of it, and it’s honestly starting to feel normal again. But they moved the “B” to the left side and I am used to using my right hand to find the letter “B” — but now, when I reach to type if with my right hand, it’s not there, and my finger drops into the hole in the center of the keyboard! Super creepy haha, but I’m figuring it out and retraining my left hand.
Three more cool things: the keyboard comes a few cool features. First, it comes with a wireless number pad, which means you can use it like a calculator in your hand. Further, on the keyboard (and the number pad itself), there’s a cool calculator button that launches the calculator. I never knew how much fun launching a calculator could be! Finally, there is a cool button near the arrow keys at the bottom that when pressed, opens up the “right click” menu. So you can avoid using the mouse a bit if you learn how to use this efficiently — I haven’t yet had a chance to play with it yet but it seems useful as another way to avoid touching the mouse.
Further, and I’m shocked right now: my wrists don’t hurt at all at the moment and I’m not even wearing either of my braces. I will provide an update again in a week, and share whether the pain has decreased, and if so, to what extent. Could all of these techniques all finally be coming together?!
e) STRETCH: Finally, here are three stretches you can do to help relieve the pain and keep your wrists limber. Apparently, one of the first things to go if you are on the road towards carpel tunnel is flexibility in your wrists. So don’t lose that flexibility in the first place!
First, the prayer stretch. Put your hands together like you’re praying. Bring palms all the way to your chest. Rotate fingers towards you. Then, pull your hands down until you feel the stretch. Hold this. Here is a photo showing position one. Hold this for ten seconds, three times.
Then, rotate your fingers/wrist away from you and down, keeping your wrists against your chest, like this. Now pull your wrists UP towards your chin, and again, you should feel a stretch. Also hold for three counts of ten:
Second stretch: turn your palms face up, fingers pointing down. Now, in this position, push your hand up against the wall, palm against the wall. Hold this for three sets of ten. Be careful — don’t over due this one. Here is a photo:
Finally, turn your palms face down, hand straight. Now, with the other hand, bend the hand at the wrist, and stretch. Hold this. Here is a photo:
These are the three stretches that can help relieve the pain, and in fact, it’s recommended you do these stretches even if you’re not in pain — do them before, during, and after you are working at your computer to help reduce the risk of developing painful conditions by keeping good flexibility a part of your daily mission.
Standby — I will post an update soon on my progress!
UPDATE: February 7, 2017
It’s been about a month. I am still using all of the tools and techniques mentioned above. I found ONE particular change, however, to be effective: I removed the magnetic device that raise the front of the keyboard up. For me, that helped relieve a lot of the pain.
Is my pain better than before? Yes, the pain has decreased dramatically. Here are some additional things I have learned to do:
a) Always make sure my chair is raised high enough (or keyboard low enough) that my elbows are at 90 degrees or greater. It really helps.
b) Sometimes I wear both wrist braces, sometimes one, sometimes none. I find that without them, my wrists hurt. So I put them on, and I feel instantly better. But after a while, one will start hurting again. So I take that one off, and I get some more relief. Then I’ll take the other off, or add the other back on.
c) I take regular stretch breaks, for both my legs in general, and my butt, but for my wrists. Every 45 minutes at least.
d) I found a NEW wrist exercise that’s really great too: take both hands and push the palms together in front of you like you’re praying. Then interlock your fingers. Then PUSH your hands together. And then, while holding this pressure, start rotating your wrists in a slow clockwise motion. Ten times. Then reverse. Really feels great.
e) I try not to use the computer as much as I did. Yes, my progress is slower, but my pain has subsided. The drop in pain is worth the drop in productivity! Think about it: which is worse — slowing down a bit for the next 2 months, 2 years, or 2 decades? Or… destroying your wrists and never being able to type ever again! That may be extreme, but… truly, I’m not taking the risk.
Bottom line, what I’ve discovered is that if there is pain, keep trying new things. Keep experimenting, just as I have been. Eventually, you are bound to stumble upon positions and techniques that work best for you.
I am seeing a physical therapist/pain management doctor at the Bronx VA Medical Center in a few weeks. I’ll let you know what they say. :D
