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Ask HN: How do you manage forearm/wrist pain?

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Ask HN: How do you manage forearm/wrist pain?

#1
Today is the first day that I had to admit to myself that I'm not capable of finishing any work, because of my forearm pain.

I'm glad to be at a point where I realise that it's only that - for about two years I thought i began to hate coding and any computer related work. Looking back i now realise that was me rationalizing my forearm pain.

I have a difficult time accepting that this will be like this forever. I'm optimistic that there's a way to significantly reduce the pain, without surgery.

What is your experience?

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage forearm/wrist pain?

#3
At the first sign of any pain I try to identify the cause. It's almost always ergonomic related.

The most useful stretch/exercise I do is pushing my hands together, palms flat against each other, in front of my sternum with my fingers pointing up, out, and down for ~30 seconds in each position, once or twice a day.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage forearm/wrist pain?

#4

At the first sign of any pain I try to identify the cause. It's almost always ergonomic related. The most useful stretch/exercise I do is pushing my hands together, palms flat against each other, in front of my sternum with my fingers pointing up, out, and down for ~30 seconds in each position, once or twice a day.

It’s vital to address ergonomic issues as soon as possible. Try a variety of keyboard and mouse positions, types, elevations to find something that works. There are general recommendations online but they don’t work for everyone.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage forearm/wrist pain?

#6
I have similar issues, that continue to develop as I get older, and it's been a significant journey to mitigate!

- I used that Microsoft ergonomic keyboard that was ubiquitous, the name of which I can't remember, for years, but eventually the floaty keys bugged me. I have a recently-acquired ZSA Moonlander mk I [1] now, which I'm finally mounting the learning curve of. This helps //a lot//, along with:

- Proper desk/surface height. I chronically let either my forearms rest on the edge of the desk, or my wrists sit on the keyboard/laptop, and this has a measurable effect on my wrist and hand strain. It's been difficult to adopt the muscle tone for letting my hands 'float' over the keyboard after so many years, but not having that strain on my muscles/nerves from the constant pressure on my forearms makes a huge difference; likewise, not having my wrists resting on the desk/wrist pad lets my fingers travel more naturally.

- I do a lot of stretching and exercising to help strengthen my wrists and I check, a lot, that their natural position is one of alignment with between my hands and forearms. Minimizing left-and-right pivoting especially has helped a lot; most of my strain from laptop keyboards tends to be when I carelessly let pinkies dictate how my hand moves when I need to hit Return, or whatever. I still need to zero in on the best desk hit to facilitate this, but being conscious of it is a start.

- A coworker recommended an RPM Power Powerball[2]; I haven't used it extensively, but it is //immediately// a pretty clear and major wrist workout, so I can very much see how it would have a positive impact. Anecdotally, he said all of his forearm and wrist issues subside when he's good about using it for ten or fifteen minutes a day.

1. https://www.zsa.io/moonlander/ 2. https://rpmpower.com/product/nsd-powerball-autostart-pro-fus...

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage forearm/wrist pain?

#7
I use a CBD + THC cream called "momma canna cream" (You can find it online and easily see what's in it and how to acquire something similar, the only thing I don't know is what strand they are using in this cream specifically, but I suspect it's a indica dominant plant) - I cannot stress enough how much of a life saver this has been for me, seriously. I used to be super skeptical of topical CBD, especially without some THC in it, but this stuff has totally changed my wrist pain situation. Every time I get a sore wrist (rarely these days) I put a healthy slathering of it on, rub it in like crazy, and then do hand stretching for 3-5 minutes. I know it sounds snake-oil-esq, but I swear it's been huge for me. If you wanna email me an address, I don't mind shipping you a jar.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage forearm/wrist pain?

#8
Arnica montana is the only thing that soothed a pulled and cramping set of muscle and tendons in my leg. It does something to capillaries to increase blood flow like a deep tissue massage, and it's long-known for healing bruises.

Topical CBD compliments it well if needed. I didn't like the dulling effect on my leg after it had healed to a certain point.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage forearm/wrist pain?

#10
post #7

I use a CBD + THC cream called "momma canna cream" (You can find it online and easily see what's in it and how to acquire something similar, the only thing I don't know is what strand they are using in this cream specifically, but I suspect it's a indica dominant plant) - I cannot stress enough how much of a life saver this has been for me, seriously. I used to be super skeptical of topical CBD, especially without so…

Thanks. Does this not feel like a "band-aid"? Do you notice your pain getting progressively worse with time?
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