Dealing with Wrist Pain

As an active programmer and bass player, I used to suffer cramps and wrist pain after extended hours. After a friend suggested it I bought a metal NSD powerball to train the micro-muscles in my hands. I spend about 20 minutes a day training it and after about 3 months the pain stopped and went away - I still regularly use it in 3 minute on, one minute rest intervals.

I also use regular keyboards.

The best-selling books on Amazon on RSI both recommend getting deep tissue massages. I've gotten a bunch, and they seem to help more than anything else I've tried, but I've still been unable to type for more than an hour without getting symptoms for the past eight months.

This has completely ruined my life, so I recommend taking wrist pain seriously. Preventative measures are probably best. Here is a nifty sit/stand keyboard tray that will significantly improve the ergonomics of your desk and also allow you to stand to work whenever you want to:

http://www.amazon.com/Waterloo-Keyboard-Featuring-Lift-N-Loc...

I graduated college with some debilitating wrist tendinitis setting in. By the time I got a few months into my first full-time programming job, I could barely shift my car going home, I was despairing and depressed.

I got into physical therapy. They taught me stretches and strengthening exercises that made an enormous difference. They got me into some heavy duty wrist braces (neoprene with a metal bar for support and velcro to get a good, snug fit), which I wore for about a year. They also tried various sorts of heat application and friction massage which had varied results. Certainly, bracing, stretching (all through the day at regular intervals), and strengthening were the key.

For keyboards, I first tried the Kinesis Maxim, which splits down the middle and can be adjusted to different angles. It was a night and day difference versus the old Microsoft "Natural", which, in retrospect, is the most unnatural, horrible keyboard I've ever used. Later, I jumped into the Kinesis Classic (as shown in the blog post) and haven't looked back. I now have a collection of three, accumulated from jobs over the years.

I also switched to left-hand mousing, which helped tremendously with my more-damaged right wrist. Finally, I switched to Dvorak which helped, but not nearly as much as the previously listed factors. Incidentally, I'm entirely capable of switching between Dvorak and Qwerty (touch typing) with little hesitation and only a few initial errors. Later, taking up rock climbing strengthened my wrists such that I had zero further wrist issues, and didn't need to do my focused wrist strengthening exercises.

Of course, your mileage may vary. My problem was tendinitis, not the seemingly more common carpal tunnel syndrome.

I too have wrist pain some time back.

To my understanding this kind of pain will come due to stiffness in the muscles in hands,shoulders,neck.This stiffness radiates the pain to wrist.After some months of pain i visited a famous doctor (http://www.deepaksharan.com/ (india)) he asked to take 6-7 session of Myotherapy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myotherapy) and also suggested few exercises , good posture which has removed the pain from my wrist and hands.

If you want i can send you scanned copy of those exercise posters.(rama.vadakattu at gmail dot com)

I feel you should also consult a professional and get rid of that pain by myotherapy ,regular exercises and good posture.

It is defintely curable (although they may be few exceptions).

I occasionally get wrist pain. I have found that a lot of changes are not necessarily the ones the ergonomics experts sell. YMMV but these work for me:

1) If I need to, I take a break and soak my hands in hot water.

2) I program in Perl and tend to find that my hands shift positions. In particular my right hand tends to shift at least one place over compared to typing prose. I find standard keyboards, not ergonomic ones, accommodate this best. But the keyboard needs to be at a low, relaxes angle (on one's lap is best) and ideally a wristpad helps.

3) Mice are the root of most wrist pain! Ditch the mouse and get a trackball. This one really is close to universal. I know a number of others who have found this to be true.

4) Pay attention to your body.... If your wrists are bothering you stop and relax them before proceeding. Also pay attention to your arms and make sure they are relaxed. This should be common sense but....

5) If your wrists hurt for more than a little bit, prompt medical attention is a good thing. Chances are if you catch things quickly a wrist brace may even allow you to keep working or at least it did me when I started to develop carpal tunnel briefly. Early attention is very important.

I have tried ergonomic keyboards and found they did more harm than good. I also found that wrist pads did more good than harm at least for me. YMMV which is why I keep coming back to listen to your body.....