No more carpal tunnel for typists?

["Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

Dick Margulis reports: <<Interesting item on the news last night:  A study
(no, I did not write down who did it or where) concluded that some people
are susceptible to various maladies of the wrists, hands, and fingers
brought on by prolonged keyboard use, but that these were conditions _other
than_ carpal tunnel syndrome, which is more associated with heavier work,
such as boning meat.>>

There are many more potential problems than just carpal tunnel; "repetitive
stress injuries" of many sorts existed long before there were keyboards and
computers. Anyone remember "tennis elbow"? "Jogger's knee"? Etc. etc. Any
muscle or joint can be used improperly or overused, leading to problems. In
fact, "overuse injury" is probably a more accessible term for most people
because it speaks more directly to the source of the problem--if you're
doing anything too much, particularly if you're doing it wrong, you'll
suffer for it.

Cases in point: When I started having problems with my right hand, I thought
it might be carpal tunnel. But the location of the pain was wrong. A little
introspection revealed that having my mouse to the right of the numeric
keypad was overextending my shoulder, and that, combined with an old
shoulder separation injury, was the source of the pain. Moving the mouse to
the left side of the keyboard solved the problem. I also get pain in my
hands when I rest my palms too heavily on the keyboard wristrest. The
solution isn't surgery--it's keeping my palms elevated while I type.

<<For those of you with wrist pain, you might want to consult your physician
about a differential diagnosis before you submit to carpal tunnel surgery or
other radical measures that may be inappropriate for your particular
condition.>>

And don't just trust the word of a general practitioner; many (most?) simply
aren't sufficiently expert in this field to provide good advice. Ask for a
referral to a specialist.

--Geoff Hart, geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada
580 boul. St-Jean
Pointe-Claire, Que., H9R 3J9 Canada 

"Wisdom is one of the few things that look bigger the further away it
is."--Terry Pratchett

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