People who work at keyboards all day are prone to developing intense wrist pain. It is often misdiagnosed as carpel tunnel syndrome, and suggested solutions can be draconian: take anti-inflamatory medications multiple times per day every day, long sessions with ice packs or heat, wrist braces, expensive ergonomic equipment (keyboards, desks, chairs), speech-to-text programs, surgery, and more. If you are a keyboarder experiencing wrist pain, it is highly likely the cause is repetitive strain injury (RSI).
When you sit at the keyboard with your hands on it, you imperceptibly hunch your shoulders forward. This contracts the muscles in your neck. Over a long period (years in my case) of constant contraction, the muscles shorten and become tight. Eventually they cross a threshold of tightness, and become painful.
When I encountered this problem, I had trouble lifting a pan in the kitchen or driving my car without sharp pain in my wrists. When I looked for help, I found very few clear explanations, and I felt powerless and scared that my career (and life at the keyboard) was over. I unabashedly owe much of who I am to computers, and it was a tough time.
With some simple neck stretches taught to me by Rick Mahaffey of Penninsula RSI (now retired), I completely reversed my condition with 3 - 4 months of consistent daily stretching even though I was “the worst case of anyone under 30” he had ever seen. Rick helped untold numbers of people from Bay Area tech companies with the same knowledge and techniques. It cannot be overstated how different this approach was to everything else I found online, and I don’t feel it is hyperbole to say he saved my life.
Rick’s method involves simple stretches. That’s it. In addition, we can take microbreaks (quite literally a few seconds of relaxing your shoulders to reset that contraction and get some blood flowing) throughout the day. These can be supplemented with various other treatments. But the core of the problem has to be addressed with stretches you do yourself, consistently. These can also be supplemented with the following long or short term:
- OMT, pressure point massage, muscle energy
- Warmth to get blood flowing (hot pack, hot bath, etc.)
- Anti-inflamatory medications
- Ergonomic equipment
Once you have done the stretches long enough, you won’t need to do them every day or take micro breaks. Whenever I get lazy, I stop. Following a few months or perhaps a year, the edges of the pain start to come back. I start the stretches again and the pain goes away.
Here is a PDF I put together to describe where the pain comes from, how we get repetitive strain injuries at the keyboard, and some solutions including the necessary stretches. I originally meant it to be like a poster I put up at my college. I’ll expand this page and the PDF to be more serious and comprehensive over time.