(no subject)

[desperance]

Oh, hey - hurty hands! Welcome home, it's been a while...

I've had RSI since, oh, 1985 or thereabouts, when I got my first computer. At the time I was writing short stories for a living, and writing my first novel evenings and weekends. Mucho mucho typing, and it took me about three months to foul my hands up. My doctor at the time nodded wisely, said I had tenosynovitis (see, it's that long ago, we didn't even call it RSI) and told me he'd had it himself in his ankles, from cycling too hard, and there wasn't any cure but to walk around flatfooted for a while. So I tried that, but it didn't help...

I lived with it, then, entirely untreated till about five years ago, when I started getting serious neural symptoms on top of the pain. Since then I've had heavyweight physio, mostly on the neck and spine, plus acupuncture, and I've not really had significant pain for a while now. Plenty of other symptoms abide - it would take a lifetime to sort me out properly, and my physio-of-choice is conspicuously not volunteering - but the pain has pretty much been away.

It's back. The word 'vengeance' occurs. The irony, of course, is that I can still type. When it's at its worst I can't carry books or turn a door handle - but I can always type. Which is good. Twenty pages to go, more or less. I have a gig in Middlesbrough tomorrow evening, which is inconvenient, and I really had hoped to be finished by now; end of the week, though. Surely, end of the week...

Comments

[fjm.livejournal.com]

Ok, I know the pain is in your hands, and it is RSI. Not disputing that. But are you doing rotator cuff exercises? They can seriously improve the muscle lift in the shoulders and take pressure off the nerves. My hands have been much better since I started.

Also, can you budget a rest period for your hands after this book? I took a month of typing last August and it really helped.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Nope, not doing exercises; willing to try anything (tho' bad at exercise, at anything that is repetitive, physical and dull); where do I find instruction?

(In her ongoing attempts to improve my appalling posture, my blessed physio - whose business is the Sports Injury Clinic, I love that - wanted me to exercise a particular muscle that lurks somewhere below the shoulder-blade, or ought to. She looked, she poked; eventually she summoned in my acupuncturist, so's the two of them could stand behind me and agree in loud voices that this particular portion of my anatomy was so underdeveloped it was functionally non-existent. She tried to set me exercises to develop one, but I never understood 'em.)

And no, no rest period: I have to do immediate rewrites (the book is borderline late already - scheduled for April, and they really need a working draft this month, rather than the inchoate mess of undiscriminated words we have at present), and then write a play and another book. I was hoping to fit in a novella and some short stories too, but...

[fjm.livejournal.com]

Ok, lets see if I can describe this. It doesn't need a gym but you might want to pop into Argos and buy a set of light weights (they come in pink!).


Hold your hands up so you have your palms facing forward. Your elbows should form a right angle and your upper arms should come more or less straight out of your shoulder.

Rotating mostly from the elbow, bring the palms down like a windscreen wiper, but only about a third of the way you'd have to, to bring them level with your upper arm.

Bring them back to upright.

Repeat five times.

Try to do four sets.


When you can do five, four times, work it up to four sets of eight. Then begin to use light weights.

This was a new exercise for me when I told my trainer about the hand and shoulder pain I get while writing. I only started it a couple of months ago and it's really had an effect.

--

Re that muscle in the back.

Also at Argos, by an exercise band (long stretchy elastic). Sit on the floor, with legs outstretched. Thread the band behind your feet and take an end in each hand. Pretend you are rowing. Each time you pull back try to pinch your shoulder blades together.

Again, start with four sets of five. Increase the number in each set gradually.

This lot will take you ten minutes.

[fjm.livejournal.com]

ps. if you have any friends who are singers or actors, ask them to show you breathing exercises. These are brilliant for the core muscles around the rib cage, and are why I managed excellent posture despite years of back injury. You might find them better for you at this stage than actual physical exercise, because it sounds as if you are too vulnerable in that area and might damage yourself.

[autopope.livejournal.com]

I've had RSI intermittently since 1990.

In my case, there are two actual causes that I've been able to do something about: (a) a dodgy chair, or (b) a dodgy desk. In both cases, the cause is diagnosed by removing it; if the RSI goes away, I've found the trigger.

The dodgy chair syndrome is cured by looking at one's chair, realizing the bloody thing's falling apart, and buying a new one. I'm currently on a horribly expensive Herman Miller Aeron, which I'd rate as a B+, but with the advantage that it's got a design life of >10 years. I believe the serious chair shops will let you borrow one to try at home for a month -- that'd be enough time to figure out if it's useful -- and you can pick up good second-hand one's on eBay for about half price (hint).

Unfortunately I think my current mild-to-medium RSI is desk-induced, which is going to be harder. I really need to move somewhere bigger and do a massive de-clutter at the same time; there's no room to cram an extra desk into my office for a while. Moreover, the current desk is one I don't want to ditch, even if I have to get something else for typing on -- it's a cute folding Scandinavian-style bureau from the 1960s or 1970s, with lots of niches for paperwork and stuff. It may be at the wrong height for a laptop, but it's perfect for handwriting.

(fjm's exercises sound interesting. I'm going to try 'em.)