Repetitive Wrist Action...
polycounter lvl 18
No...not that repetitive wrist based activity... 
I've recently gotten an internship pushing polys with a medical visualization company here in NYC. The current project I'm working on is reconstructing a broken ankle from CAT scan data, and due to its deadline and nature of how the model is being constructed, has me performing a lot of repetitive wrist motions for about 10+ hours a day. This is leading to my wrist becoming tired/painful. I've tried switching between using my wacom tablet, and using my mouse, to change up the motions during the day, but that only relieves it for a little while. Any suggestions on how to keep the wrist from burning out during those long work days?
I've recently gotten an internship pushing polys with a medical visualization company here in NYC. The current project I'm working on is reconstructing a broken ankle from CAT scan data, and due to its deadline and nature of how the model is being constructed, has me performing a lot of repetitive wrist motions for about 10+ hours a day. This is leading to my wrist becoming tired/painful. I've tried switching between using my wacom tablet, and using my mouse, to change up the motions during the day, but that only relieves it for a little while. Any suggestions on how to keep the wrist from burning out during those long work days?
Replies
For your goals, you need something quick and fast you can do at your desk. Start with wrist stretches. Check out the last images in the beginner and intermediate sections here
http://www.frixo.com/sites/fitness/stretches.html
You'll see some nice wrist stretches. That said, I suggest hitting the rest of the stretches too.
From there, try push-ups or at least push-up holds (where you just hold your body in the top position). This is an effective stretch on the wrist. If you feel comfortable doing it try holding pushups with palms up (back of hands on the ground). This will stretch the wrists in the opposite direction. Finally, push-ups on fists for wrist stability. As you advance, you'll be able to "jump" between these three positions, but don't try that until you're comfortable with these positions.
Finally, here's an 8 minute video of grip training you can perform anywhere. This gets fairly advanced, but starts off easy enough.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=HTc-VRRbl0E
Ideally, stronger, more developed your hands and wrists are, the less chance of pain and greater prevention of injury. I strongly suggest getting up A LEAST once and hour and perform some of these stretches and exercises.
If you catch it early enough, you can get some cortico-steroid shots in the inflamed area - usually heads the problem off. If you're past that point, there's always release surgery (not a good time). Release surgery can take several weeks to recover from.
Extend your arms straight out from your sides at shoulder height and face your palms outward and fingers upward. Do some shoulder rolls along with this one as well.
Get on your knees with arms straight hands flat on the floor facing forward. Turn the right hand 90 degrees clockwise and then 180 degrees and hold for a few seconds. Repeat for the left arm counter clockwise.
Every 30 minutes or so stand up and stretch your arms skyward like a cat.
Don't neglect your other areas either. Many times stress can build up in places other then your wrists and cause tension. I'm lucky in this area. My wife is a massage therapist
Maybe look into some videos on stretching or start a yoga class. My wife and I do stretching vids together in the evenings.
that being said, i only wear a glove when the temperatures are very high and the forearm/palm would otherwise get sweaty and rub too much against the table. frequent switches from wacom to mouse do it for me otherwise. taking regular breaks and doing sports makes a big difference, too. i'm into cycling/mtb and the very different handpose seems to help bigtime for operating a mouse during the rest of the day. had hardly any pain since i got back into doing that.
check your posture, the angle of your forearm/wrist, maybe try a trackball or a mouse that fits better? some mice are really small and don't fit big hands very well, for example. the mighty mouse with it's squeeze function seems pretty bad as well. some of my coworkers have some kind of pad to rest the forearm onto.
in any case, watch it. i know several people who had to give up careers in CG very early because of this.
If you drink lots of caffeinated beverages be sure to drink enough water. Your hydration effects the elasticity of your tendons.
Don't waste money on expensive metal ones, though. Pointless way to gauge people out of cash.
Don't waste money on expensive metal ones, though. Pointless way to gauge people out of cash.
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.. but...but ...it's pretty.
Look it's got a little box and everything...