Care For Your Poor Abused Hands

My left wrist is pretty much carpal tunnel. Has been for a while... since before Nano...

Well, when I hit 100K it stopped snapping back into place and I couldn't put pressure on it for two days; I did put a cold drink to my wrist though... just wrap your hand around a cold drink. Ice is too cold. But refrigerated pop is good. Besides, it's a good reward to let yourself drink massive amounts of cold pop. If you want to keep going, preferably with caffeine.

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My hands are okay, but my wrist isn't doing too great. Cause of the way my desk i situated and the way I type with my hadns on it my left hands has a bruise on the write because it ends up resting. The first time I stopped writing for the weekend it was parlty cause of them, I just put some ice on it and left it alone and it went away after a day or two. I've managed to avoid having it happen agian, but the skin is rubbing a little raw. Dx

But regardless of what's hurt just rest it. If oyu have to you can always try typing one handed, it's hard and time comsuming but at least you're typing!

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I like Salonpas pain relieving patches. And Tiger Balm. I also take ibuprofen, which is an anti-inflammatory so it helps with the inflammation that causes pain. I also use compression gloves (for arthritis) when doing a lot of typing. They really help.

Okay, not so much problem with my hands but I am having like tennis elbow and my eyes are strained beyond belief, all red and dry. I'm trying to look at the computer so much today, but since I have to use it a lot at work and a lot to write may just have to get stock in visine.

If you try to keep your wrists straight and don't rest the heels of your hands on the desk/laptop/whatever, that helps a bit. I haven't had any trouble yet and this is the way I type.

Something about the way I sit when typing, I tend to stress my forearm to the point of tenderness. Due to a bit of luck however I have a massage therapist living with me who does work on me if I get too sore. I also use cold compresses and get lots of sleep when not in front of my novel. The red eye strain is starting to bother me - anyone have a solution for that?

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me, too. but then i can't really type, which is probably why i haven't got hand pain yet. and i'm sure i'd be further along too.

My ELBOWS are raw and red, though, even though i lotion them daily. which is more than i can say for my ancient facial skin.

i believe that varying the height and placement of your computer from time to time helps-- helps your eyes a little too.

Last year's Nano, I had a really awful week 2 in terms of hand pain...nearly derailed me completely. So I went to CVS and bought a pair of cheap wrist braces. I only wear them when I'm writing lots-in-short-periods, because that's when they start to hurt more, but they've done a pretty good job this year so far. I also take regular breaks when I'm writing to let my hands/wrists/fingers relax

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The best way to avoid eye strain is to make sure the light levels are suitable for you. Both I and my mother have problems when we work in a dark room; my aunt, on the other hand, suffers if there's too much light, so it's really up to the individual. As for red eyes, the only solution I've ever found is to spend several hours away from the computer, or to seriously cut back on your computer time.

But man,I gotta work on positioning. Because of the angle I type from, my right elbow is almost always bent, and I think that's having an effect on my fingers.

I have a frayed ligament in my right wrist, so I use an actual wrist brace when it starts to ache....

Take regular breaks.

Do stretches (full arm, wiggling fingers and stretching them to the ceiling) - that's a big one. Stretching actually helps muscles relax. (So it can help your back as well, if you do full torso stretches! The coffee shop employees are getting used to seeing me do that two or three times a writing session....)

I tend to find that cold doesn't help me at all, and makes things worse, so if it gets really bad, I use warm wraps. Hasn't hit that bad yet, and hopefully won't, but that's another possibility if you find cold not helping.

;) TrudyG

Oh, as for the eye thing, here's a helpful list of things to do. :)

http://www.wikihow.com/Avoid-Getting-Dry-Eyes-from-the-Computer

Now, my writing area can vary anywhere from my bedroom to the dining room to the living room, and because of the variety of seats I sit in (bed w/ laptop in lap, chair w/ laptop on desk, couch w/ laptop on coffee table) the angle my hands are at to the keyboard is constantly changing. This seems to have helped me avoid hand and wrist pain for the most part, so my suggestion is just to write in different places and positions so that the same muscles in your arms and hands aren't being stressed constantly.

A little trick I learned from playing cello for almost thirteen years is that if your hands and wrists start hurting or getting tight, stand up and let your arms hang at your sides. shake your arms with your hands and wrists limp so they flop around for thirty seconds or so; this will increase the bloodflow and relax the muscles that become tense from constant use. If you do this every time your hands start to hurt, it'll greatly reduce or even eliminate pain later. If you get pins and needles from doing this, it means you needed it badly!

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I'd definitely recommend trying out Arnica gel. You just rub it into you wrists/arms/hands/fingers. It's worked wonders for me in the past when I've been suffering from typing too much ^^.

I am a trained touch typist. When typing, your elbows, forearms, wrists and hands should be parallel to the floor. Adjust your chair or typing surface. BTW, I sprained my wrist very badly in June and it has not yet healed; yet I have encounter no pain while typing my NaNovel. That should demonstrate that what I have said has some merit. I haven't had this kind of luck with mice. Using a mouse still hurts my wrist a lot, so I use a lot of keyboard shortcuts. Unfortunately, shortcuts don't work with Solitaire.

As for eye strain, type without looking at the screen. If you are in the middle of a word war or some other passage that flows well, just close your eyes and type. This gives your eyes a rest and gives your inner editor nothing to look at. Avoid any of the eye drops that "get the red out" because they constrict the blood vessels and can lead to rebound redness. Artificial tears don't work for me (thank you menopause), so my doctor recommended Opticrom. It works for me.

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I would also suggest doing some self massage on the muscles in your forearms which connect to wrists and hands. Those muscles will HURT when you do this because you don't realize how impacted they are. Also massage your hands and the meaty part of your thumb. What's even better is to get someone ELSE to do this, preferably with hand lotion. It helps and it feels sublime. If you don't have a sweetie to do this, buddy up with a writing partner.

With Anticipation
2005 "Two Truths and a Lie" literary fiction
2006 "Slipping the Tracks" literary fiction (Winner)
2006 "Exit, Pursued by Bear" literary fiction (Non Nano novel)
2007 "The Dream of Safety" literary fiction (Winner)
2008 "Insufficiency" literary fiction

With Anticipation
2005 "Two Truths and a Lie" literary fiction
2006 "Slipping the Tracks" literary fiction (Winner)
2006 "Exit, Pursued by Bear" literary fiction (Non Nano novel)
2007 "The Dream of Safety" literary fiction (Winner)
2008

Has anybody else experienced pain in their thumb from hitting the spacebar too often? LOL

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WriMo 2008: I, Sunset
WriMo 2007: Love With the Hands Wide Open (35,000 words-ish)

Um, I'd try Tiger Balm. It really works. Or Bag Balm.

Also, if you wrap a scarf or something around your wrist like a brace, it saves money and it really helps. =)

I'm a massage therapist and there are some wonderful massage lotions with arnica in them as well (my favorite is Biotone Arnica and Ivy). Grab a salt shaker or something round that you have handy, press it against the middle of your forearm (halfway between elbow and wrist) and rotate your wrist a number of times to massage the tendons and muscles in there.

I'm a massage therapist. Prepare to learn.

One of the best things for pain of any kind is to ice it- not just apply a sports ointment, but really get an ice pack and put it on there until it's properly chilled. Then, take it off for a little break of about a minute or so, and start all over again. The ice is slowing down the blood flow in the area AND numbing the nerves, and then when you take it off the blood rushes back in there, so it's flushing the area out. A lot of times, when dealing with pain in certain areas, you're dealing with restriction of blood flow and pressure therein, so it's just one way to not only alleviate the pain, but to actually help the area heal itself with new fluids. This also works with neck pain (from being hunched over at the keyboard) and shoulder/back (from all that wordcount stress.) Buy a pharmacy ice pack, strap it on, and go.

The second thing, and this is not for amateurs, so proceed with caution- loosen up your arm muscles.
How, you may ask?
Depending on where the pain is (elbows, some said? Forearms, wrists, fingers) you could always try rudimentary styles of self massage. Try applying pressure to your muscles and tendons of your arm with the pads of your fingertips, you can go with the muscle fiber, against it, or even try a circular motion to really move it all around. This also brings new fluids to the area, as I noted above, but also gives the satisfaction of localized pressure and a direct alleviation to pain- if that place hurts, rub it a little!
Of course, it's always nicer when someone else does it for you, so snag some lotion and a buddy and see if they can move those muscles around on your behalf. A lot of a good massage is just knowig your anatomy, so brush up on the flexors and extensors of the hand and apply gentle gliding pressure to things like tendons, you may have forgotten that they're important in your hand!
Now we reach the dreaded carpal band.
Grab your wrist for a minute. There's that little line right before your wrist starts, right? Where those two big bones (radius and ulna) come together and then become super flexible. There's a whole network of little bones in there called the carpals, and of course they're held together by a big belt of tissue called the carpal band. Yes, you know of this.
Take your thumb (with a drip of lotion if need be) and press down right at the center of your wrist, JUST underneath that crease of where the hand starts. From there, apply pressure and simply glide up that little channel in the base of the hands, towards the fingers. Repeat a few times, and don't be shocked if you feel/hear any creaking.
Take it easy with the pressure, though. You don't want to pulverize yourself. Keep in mind that after this exercise, your wrist might feel even a little bit worse- you awakened all those nerves who have been unhappy for so long and they can be a little pissed at you. Now would be a good time to ice it.

For th ehand itself, open yours up and spread it out. You see the pads right where the fingers hit the palm? You see that big thumb muscle, and the long thin one going down the opposite side? See the creases and lines down the middle of the whole thing?
Never really appreciated a hand before, have you?
With your thumb, and a bit of lotion if you need it, apply more circular patterns of pressure,, then follow the lines and the creases, pulling the skin here and there, to and fro. They're muscles, man, they need love just like the rest of us! A little bit of maintenance will feel pretty nice.
WORD TO THE WISE- they ARE muscles, and you can obviously get knots in them. You'll recognize a knot if you're gliding along the muscle and one part is EXTREMELY painful. Unless you know what you're doing, don't bug it. Leave it alone! Ice it instead! For writers, or anyone who works with their hands (or even massage therapists!) those guys can be killer, and the last thing you want is to mess with it too much and cripple your hand. I released a knot in my hand when I was talking on the phone once, and I couldn't move the hand until I iced it. These can be tough little buggers! Leave it to a professional (or ask them to show you) and DON'T gamble your word count. You need those hands!

the "tl;dr" version is such:
Ice it!
Find the muscles in the arm/hand and apply circular pressure with finger pads / thumb.

Or of course, you could support your local masseuse and check out a Massage Envy. I can't say I've ever been there, but I've heard good things. We're almost to December, right? You could use the extra attention on your neck and shoulders, can't you? Go splurge for an hour! I won't tell.
And remember, tell them you're a writer for NaNo, and that you need extra hand/arm work. Insist that you'll mention them in the Foreword as means of thanks.

Now that I am suitably late for work...
GOOD LUCK EASIN' THOSE STRESSES!
<3

My wrists/hands never hurt from typing. Though usually my pain is caused from sitting too long.

Cholstra, you said "The red eye strain is starting to bother me - anyone have a solution for that?"

Hang a towel over your screen and just imagine what you're typing. After all, it isn't about typing correctly. It's about typing as much as you can. You can always do a spell check if you're uncomfortable leaving typos.

For the arm and hand pain, you proabably don't have your arms at the right angle. You want to make sure they are parralled to the floor and your arms are pretty much level from your elbows to your fingers. Try not to rest your wrists on the desk, if you do fold over a towel a few times and put it a the bottom of your keyboard for your wrist to rest on or get one of those gelly things for your wrist to rest on. I type all day everyday, nano or no nano and as long as i keep the right posture I don't really have any pain.
For the eye, try not looking at your screen so much. I like to stare off into space while i type and just let the words flow. I think it's easier to write like that but it will also help your eyes not to hurt so much. You can close your eyes or put something over the screen, whatever works for you.

Kind of off topic- but that's what my cello teacher (I just started playing a few months ago) has me do whenever my bow hold gets too tense and tight :-P.

I agree 100% with the previous suggestions about taking breaks. Just get up and do something else, even just walking around for a few minutes. It helps your eyes (and I'm sure hands/wrists) and keeps you from getting too stiff.

mandy/fizzingwhizbee

mandy/fizzingwhizbee

Wow, so much good advice there! Thank you, this has already helped me. Plus I work at a college with a training salon for beauty/sports massage - I'm calling in there for a hand massage next week at lunchtime., for sure!

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I find it best (having carpal tunnel and tendonitis) to go to the vending machine or your fridge and get some cold water bottle and hold it. The ice feels so good.

I haven't hd any problems with my hands hurting. I think it's cus off how I sit when I write. I sit in my big reclinner in the family room (with the door locked and lights off) and I put up the foot rest and lean the vhair way back. Then I rest my elbows on the arms of the chair and hold my hands above the keyboard as I write, I don't ver rest my hands on the keyboard. Also if you go to google and search wrist excersises there are a couple of good websites you can find, or so I've heard. Also, when typing at a desk 'proper keyboard etiuquite' dictates that you hold your hands above the leyboard with elbows tucked into your side. (I've taken keyboarding classes, that's how I know) I jsut automaticaly do this, so I don't know how hard it is to change from one of typign to another mid novel, but it keeps the pressure off your wrists, the onyl thing ever touching the keyboard are your finger tips. XD Hope tihs helps.

Invest in playdoh. It may seem silly, but doing something with your hands other than typing can help ease the soreness or pain. It helped me during the first week of Nanowrimo when my arms and fingers were screaming at me for typing so much. Also, the cold resistance of playdoh can help ease the aches.

That's about all I found to help me. That, and short breaks every little while. If you must, take a day off of writing--that helped me the most--and I don't have any chronic pain in my hands/wrists/joints. The pain eased after the week passed, and now I type without pain. Although, now my wrists crack and pop when I rotate the joint.

Good luck, I hope your novel's going well. XD

Screnzy 2009 -- Untitled
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Screnzy 2007 -- JailBirds (Won)
NaNo 2006 -- Untitled (53,000/50,000)

I've got tendonitis and I avoided NaNo for 2 years. I'm not having too much trouble this year, though. Here's what I suggest:

- get wrist-rests for the keyboard and mousepad; set your keyboard and monitor to the right heights, get a chair that works for you (I own 2 office chairs and an exercise ball, and I actually use a $20 folding chair -- whatever works)
- don't type too long on the laptop, those things aren't ergonomic
- if you use Write or Die, set the time for 10 minutes and stretch your hands/wrists and back before you begin again. You get used to the short interruptions and you can use them to think about what you'll write next. If you don't use Write or Die, download something like Work Rave (I find this also keeps me on track and away from the internet, because I take a longer break every 45 minutes so I tend to think "I'll just wait until the big break to check my e-mail")
- touch-type properly and don't slam the keys

Things I've considered trying but haven't yet:

- speech recogniton software
- those glove things that keep your wrists rigid

I don't really use painkillers or sports rubs or ice. If I feel pain, that's my body saying "for God's sake stop abusing me!" and I'd rather lose NaNo than my hands. Almost everything I do requires healthy hands and wrists. Do I *really* want 50 years of not being able to write or draw because I just HAD to write that 2500th word today? I don't think so.

Yeah, I encourage anyone reading this to keep your wrists up. That's how you avoid carpal tunnel; they told me so in keyboarding class. :P Pianists keep their wrists up, too, and this is why. I know when you're really tired, it's easy to let those wrists sag, but fight it! Fight it for all you're worth! The future of your wrists -- and, more importantly, your novel -- may depend on it!