Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: How have you cured your RSI?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 123 posts

Re: Ask HN: How have you cured your RSI?

#21

Post by whitepoplar »

codingdave wrote: post #19

Have you talked to a hand surgeon? I did, after going through the months of therapy and various treatments. He told me that he sees this all the time - that some people (~10%) just have variations in how their tendon sheaths form in their wrists. For most people, it never matters. For people who use their hands a lot, it does. If you hit that Venn diagram of being in the 10% of the population with this problem and al…

I saw three hand surgeons, all extremely well-regarded, but who ultimately didn't know what was going on with my hands. It's been super frustrating for me because they're loathe to even acknowledge the problem. It's either "all looks to be okay structurally" or "I'm stumped". That being said, even though these were extremely well-regarded surgeons, I didn't feel much confidence during the visits. I didn't get the sense that they really wanted to get to the bottom of it and help me, and the visits felt rushed. I have an appointment scheduled with a physiatrist in a few weeks--a hand therapist recommended that I get my upper spine/neck checked out in case the pain I'm feeling is referred nerve pain that originates in the spine/neck somehow. Crossing my fingers that I can come to some resolution with this--I just want my life back.

Re: Ask HN: How have you cured your RSI?

#22

Post by whitepoplar »

cultofmetatron wrote: post #17

I started regularly lifting weights a few years ago. After a few weeks, all the muscle and joint pain in my body disappeared completely.

I keep hearing this! Can you recommend some weight lifting exercises that you think may have helped most?

Re: Ask HN: How have you cured your RSI?

#23

Post by randomsearch »

cultofmetatron wrote: post #17

I started regularly lifting weights a few years ago. After a few weeks, all the muscle and joint pain in my body disappeared completely.

Same. I heard a famous entrepreneur say on a podcast recently that every time he felt a bit of pain he knew it'd been because he hadn't hit the gym for a few days... 100%. I get back in the workout routine and it's all good.

On a positive note it's just insanely effective at getting me to exercise. I just have _no choice_ so I know I'll be regularly exercising so long as I'm still using computers.

Re: Ask HN: How have you cured your RSI?

#24

Post by randomsearch »

whitepoplar wrote: post #22
cultofmetatron wrote: post #17

I started regularly lifting weights a few years ago. After a few weeks, all the muscle and joint pain in my body disappeared completely.

I keep hearing this! Can you recommend some weight lifting exercises that you think may have helped most?

Upper body and core. At home, pull ups and chin ups and sit ups are the best. At the gym, weight machines isolating key muscles.

It's not rocket science - if your back is stuff and hurts, generally working out your back would have been a good preventative measure (but obv be careful with injuries etc!)

Re: Ask HN: How have you cured your RSI?

#25

Post by ElijahLynn »

I interviewed someone with crazy RSI and debilitating hand issues (they had to use voice control software). They cured their RSI and you can listen to the interview here and also read their success story.

"I had 10 years of 24 hour a day, 7 days a week chronic pain in my fingers, wrists, forearms, arms, elbows from typing, mousing, and using a computer up until 12/12/2008 as a computer science student and as a software engineer."

source: http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5301 (interview is at bottom, soundcloud)

================================

Also see the "Seattle Repetitive Injury Support Team" site > http://www.satori.org/rist/, who claim:

"After many years of meeting to discuss treatment and coping approaches, share stories and ideas, listen to invited speakers and discuss good ergonomics, we are excited to announce that we think we have finally found a cure for most RSI cases! We know that sounds too good to be true, but please read on."

================================

Lastly, read these RSI success stories on the same technique: https://www.tmswiki.org/ppd/Repetitive_Strain_Injuries_-_RSI

This is a crazy journey, and it is worth knowing about.

Lastly, if you end up going this route, a podcast called "Tell Me About Your Pain" by pain psychologist Alan Gordon and neuroscientist Alon Ziv is a solid entry point on what to do next. It is an educational mini-series that explain what is going on in a build-up kinda way.

Re: Ask HN: How have you cured your RSI?

#26

Post by whitepoplar »

ElijahLynn wrote: post #25

I interviewed someone with crazy RSI and debilitating hand issues (they had to use voice control software). They cured their RSI and you can listen to the interview here and also read their success story. "I had 10 years of 24 hour a day, 7 days a week chronic pain in my fingers, wrists, forearms, arms, elbows from typing, mousing, and using a computer up until 12/12/2008 as a computer science student and as a softwa…

I've looked into TMS and read all of Sarno's books. I believe in it. I believe it's real. I believe all the stories and 5-star reviews. I want this to be the answer, but sadly it hasn't worked for me. :(

Re: Ask HN: How have you cured your RSI?

#28

Post by robscallsign »

I've got nearly identical symptoms, and while it does come back now and then, I feel like I'm finally on top of it. I spent about a year trying various things, including exercise ( which actually only seemed to aggravate the symptoms rather than helping), various targeted stretches, physiotherapy, rest, ice, compression, wrist support braces, various ergonomic keyboards

What ultimately worked for me was a combination of massage therapy and self-massage.

I found that I had a large number of muscle knots/myofascial trigger points in my hands, forearms, tricep/biceps, shoulder, and back. Working with the massage therapist we slowly worked them out. In particular I found targeting the teres minor, which is a small muscle below the shoulder almost in the armpit, to be one of the breakthrough moments. Normally I have no back or shoulder pain, but when you find these knots and you start poking at them it can be incredibly painful.

I now have a home self-massage routine that I do regularly, especially if the tingling or any pain comes back, and it really helps. I use a combination of tools, including a lacrosse ball which I use against a wall on my forearms, back, and shoulders, and teres minor area, a Theracane massage stick, and a forearm massage tool from Armaid.com. The combination of the Armaid and Lacrosse ball really helped work the knots out of my forearms, and I highly recommend both of them.

A book I found useful was "The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook" by Claire Davies. I coupled this with a muscle anatomy book to help name/identify muscles to search in the Trigger Point book. The location of trigger points and symptoms as described in the Trigger Point book were uncannily accurate, it was literally spot on.

There are some good youtube videos, blogs, and websites of course. A few I found particularly helpful were the "Doug and Brad physiotherapy channel" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzVO9DU-bog), and the Painotopia youtube channel and corresponding website: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCwTpwn8lWZQ_lXfUPL1JZg/fea... https://www.muscle-joint-pain.com/ the Painotopia website is full of info, but I did find that I had to search around to find a bit.

Anyway, that's what worked and is working for me. I believe that stress, posture, and computer use, all contributed to developing these muscle knots, many of them near the ulnar nerve.

Everyone's pain, symptoms, and causes are different. Good luck! If you have any questions or want more info send a comment and you can drop me an email: my HN username @ gmail.com

Re: Ask HN: How have you cured your RSI?

#29

Post by Decker87 »

whitepoplar wrote: post #21
codingdave wrote: post #19

Have you talked to a hand surgeon? I did, after going through the months of therapy and various treatments. He told me that he sees this all the time - that some people (~10%) just have variations in how their tendon sheaths form in their wrists. For most people, it never matters. For people who use their hands a lot, it does. If you hit that Venn diagram of being in the 10% of the population with this problem and al…

I saw three hand surgeons, all extremely well-regarded, but who ultimately didn't know what was going on with my hands. It's been super frustrating for me because they're loathe to even acknowledge the problem. It's either "all looks to be okay structurally" or "I'm stumped". That being said, even though these were extremely well-regarded surgeons, I didn't feel much confidence during the visits. I didn't get the sen…

I had a similar experience. Surgeons can be excellent at performing surgeries but very poor at diagnosing our understanding the myriad issues with ergonomics.

Re: Ask HN: How have you cured your RSI?

#30

Post by whitepoplar »

robscallsign wrote: post #28

I've got nearly identical symptoms, and while it does come back now and then, I feel like I'm finally on top of it. I spent about a year trying various things, including exercise ( which actually only seemed to aggravate the symptoms rather than helping), various targeted stretches, physiotherapy, rest, ice, compression, wrist support braces, various ergonomic keyboards What ultimately worked for me was a combination…

Thank you so much for this thorough response! I have the Armaid and use it regularly, though I haven't done any focused massage therapy. Can I ask how you found your massage therapist?
Post reply on HN