Carpal Tunnel - any of you suffer from it?
polycounter lvl 19
I started developing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, when I was working at a glass factory in Minnesota. The way we had to work in the cutting department was rough, to say the least.
Anyways though, I wanted to know if any of you suffer from this, or if you've had surgery to correct it. Mine has been particularly painfull lately, and I'm considering an operation to remedy it.
I'd like to know what the general price range is for such an operation.
Anyways though, I wanted to know if any of you suffer from this, or if you've had surgery to correct it. Mine has been particularly painfull lately, and I'm considering an operation to remedy it.
I'd like to know what the general price range is for such an operation.
Replies
Go to the doctor straight away and see if you can get away with the steroid injection treatment.
I had full carpal tunnel release surgery on both hands/wrists. It cost about $3k per hand.
The operation is near painless apart from the injections into the palm to numb you initially; it takes 20 mins.
The first 2weeks is spent in a cast that reduces your hands to a paw like lump. Once the cast is removed you are looking at 2months of therapy then a further 6 months of recovery time where you are not meant to push your hand or hands too much because the nerves takes a long time to grow back.
It's an ordeal, its expensive but depending on how far along you are, it IS worth it. I was lucky enough to have almost full coverage with my medical plan but it took a chunk out of my life and i wasn't in an ideal recovery situation in that i had to go into crunch mode at work too soon and i am back to being borderline carpal tunnel again.
So bear all this in mind.
r.
I guess maybe I should talk to my doctor about it next time I'm in for something.
Symptoms include aching, tingling, pins and needles, burning, numbness or pain in the hand and in the digits served by the median nerve the thumb, the index and middle fingers, and part of the ring finger (see diagram, above). In time, symptoms can spread to the arm and shoulder.
These symptoms tend to be worse at night or first thing in the morning and are often made worse by strenuous wrist movements.
Carpal tunnel syndrome can affect one or both hands, and the severity of the symptoms can vary. The symptoms may be mild or only occur from time to time. As the condition worsens, symptoms may become constant. The hand muscles may become weakened, making it difficult to grip objects, and there may be permanent loss of feeling. Fine finger movements, such as writing, may become more difficult.
there's more info on this site, i recommend anyone who works at a computer for long periods of time read up on this stuff you make a living with your hands...treat them with care
http://hcd2.bupa.co.uk/fact_sheets/html/carpal_tunnel.html
At my last job there was an older lady 57-ish who let it go for so long when she did do something about it, the surgery helped but didn't do enough. Her recovery time was roughly 2 years and she ended up having many more surgeries, her Dr said any more would be pointless. Her hands where pretty much useless by the time I met her, which was 3 years after her last surgery. She never complained much but I could see it had to be hell.
I never want to see anyone else that bad, ever, espeically me. Which is the road I am sure I would have gone down after hammering the crap out of my wrists then taking computer jobs, IF I had not done something about it.
Was your symptoms worse in your mouse hand Ror and those who had it from working in 3d? Did you try alternate input methods like those 3d pucks? Did you use a wrist pad?
What I try to do is use chairs with really high arms that make the angle between my hands and desktop less. I also when I feel my mouse hand become tired, use a alternate track ball in my lefty.
Thx guys for the info, I´m getting myself a wristpad for my mouse
The equipment I was using was alot wrose than a rumble pack going off. So don't think that just because you touched a rumble pack you need injections. We where using the weight of our bodies on our wrists to force screws and metal inserts into heavy pastic, thick rubber and allumimum. Using 1,500rpm screw guns, they where freakin fast. Screw depth was controlled by the gears inside the gun and where set to slip once it hits a certain level of restistance. It would ratchet not allowing you to over sink the screw. We where told to not clench our teeth or get a mouth guard after one of the old timers shattered a tooth. I blamed bad oral higiene but he got a settlement ouf of the company... I used my tounge (went numb all the time) or ate sunflower seeds.
We looked like this guy minus the long shaft and we worked at mid thigh height at a bench. Its not like my case is unique just about anyone that uses air tools for prolonged periods of time faces the same thing. We did that 40-60hrs a week depending on what orders had to be filled and what season it was. I never turned down overtime and I dept hopped all the time to help where I could. It was amazing amounts of money for my first job.
It has been my experience, might not be true for everyone, but wrist guards and braces did provide relief but if i relied on them too much it would weaken my wrist too much and it felt like it was doing more harm than good or making it hard to work without the brace.
-R
I hate typing since it requires you to hold your hands in mid hair without a base to rely upon, as opposed to natural writing that allows you to fully pose your hands. But I hold pens and styluses rather tight hence I still need to practice at beeing more loose and relaxed ! Or maybe I'm doing something silly? It has always seemed weird and unnatural to me. I can't type for a long period of time, and I must relax every 10 mins when I write
The scary thing is the multiple factors that can cause CT. Mouse, keyboard, desk edge...
I've always been wondering if the different mouse actions are involved too. Like, is 'drag, hold and drop' worse than 'click to drag, release to move, click again to drop' ?
I personnaly feel like applicaitons such as Max are somehow wrong from the ergonomic POV since you have to hold down mousebuttons for everything, causing tension in the hand.
While a programm like Wings3D which fully relies on "free" mouse moves (click to enter mouse mode, click again to exit) feel MUCH more light and natural to me. I wish one could setup all that freely in every programm requiring heavy mouse input. Any thoughts on this?
Desk setup seems crucial too. Recently bought some rough wooden deskfeet I can saw down to my likins in order to get the right height out of them. It's a bit gross on the looks but if it helps, it helps
I've heard that using a tennisman wrist things can help too. Like, they provide a constant "higher" wrist position similar to what gelpads offer, but it follows you everywhere you go on the desk.
A cool tip is to use a kitchen timer while working. This way you won't forget when you are supposed to stop and relax for a while.
I hope the best recovery to everyone suffering from this sucker.
I also prefer middle-mouse scrolling in text to the mousewheel, it's much smoother but sadly I can't use it as much as I'd like anymore because my Logitech mouse tends to move the cursor to the edge of the screen sometimes, causing extremely fast scrolling.
..to try and exercise as I work. A programmer colleague says it's helped him a lot. Using my tablet pen more - for general work - is helping too. I feel for people like Ror though, I can only imagine how crippling this could be.
I've heard talk of a pistol grip typedmouse that allows your hand to remain in a vertical position rtaher than the normal, RSI inducing horizontal style. Has anyone tried these out. are they worth it?
While a programm like Wings3D which fully relies on "free" mouse moves (click to enter mouse mode, click again to exit) feel MUCH more light and natural to me. I wish one could setup all that freely in every programm requiring heavy mouse input. Any thoughts on this?
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I second that.