This is by far the lamest reason I’ve ever posted on T-mag, but a nugget of insight is worth the ridicule. Anyone experience tingling or pinching feeling in their dominant wrist due to excessive computer mouse use? I work on a PC all day so I know this is the cause. I’m going to see a doc about it, but was wondering if any lifters have remedies for a carpal tunnel type repetitive stress injury? Better mouse, wrist pads, whatever. On back day, it’s really been a b*tch and I don’t want some wussy job-related injury keeping me from rowing 225. Thanks for any advice.
Go to the FAQ section and look up “The Real Miracle Worker” interview with ART innovator Dr. Mike Leahy. He mentions carpal tunnel not requiring surgery
Ditto to the previous post. Call 719-473-7000.
definitely see a good chiropractor for that one… a few sessions of ART will take care of that for sure
See if you are mousing with a flexed wrist. In other words, you want to have a relatively neutral position, with your wrist, knuckles and fingers all roughly lined up with your forearm.
I use a computer frequently at work and at home. Although I am right-handed, at work I mouse with my left hand because of the way my desk and credenza are laid out. An “L” configuration is ideal. My computer is set up on the credenza, which is on the right side of my desk. My chair faces the credenza, with my desk on my left. The chair and desk height are adjusted such that I simply lay my arm on the desk with the weight of my arm fully supported along my forearm. I operate the conventional mouse with little or no backward wrist flexion. I frequently perform CAD work (which is very mouse intensive) for hours when I have a tooling job and have never had a problem.
At home, however, I mouse with my right hand. I started getting those funny twinges in the back of my right hand and some weakness in my grip. The problem was that my mouse height at home was lower than my elbow height and I was bending my wrist backwards (knuckles upward) while mousing. I was putting the weight of my arm on the heel of my palm, and mousing with my fingers, which were all flexed upward at the wrist.
I switched to a trackball and placed rubber pads under it so that I could work it with a neutral, non-flexed wrist. I added a tall pad to support my wrist and arm weight. I even added a horizontal tilt to the trackball (lower on the right side). Its position almost exactly matches the angle my palm makes naturally when I lay my arm on the pad. The problem soon cleared right up.
Take a look at your ergonomics and see if you can rearrange things to eliminate wrist flexion, especially backward flexion that raises your knuckles.
Good luck - Nylo
Thanks Nylo, that’s some good stuff. I’m working on rearranging things as we speak.
G.W., I had the same problem as you did, but as soon as I took weight off the heel of my hand by using a wrist pad, my wrist pain went away.