Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

[Dartful Dodger]

I've been programming for over a decade, two decades if you count the time with my TI in grade/high school.  I've never had anything more than a tingle which would go away after a weekend.  For six months we've been working on this intense project done in Flash.  Flash's keyboard short cuts are all in the F-Keys.  After six months on this project my elbow(not my wrist) started giving me shooting pains.  I've stopped using the keyboard short cuts, started wearing an elbow brace and I'm limiting the use of the left hand.  The pain has gone from my elbow, but it scared the crud out of me, I was thinking That's it, no more programming, then I started thinking no more left hand, which means no more anything.

I'm wearing a wrist brace and that's made a world of difference to me.  I've been taking a lot more breaks, and I've been trying to limit my BYOAC time.

I don't want to lose my arm for this job, so this wrist brace is going to be part of my programming uniform.

I know a lot of you guys work on computers so I figured this would be a place to ask:

What, if anything you guys are doing to protect yourselves?

[ChadTower]

Play the piano.  Proper fingering will save your wrists.

I have never had CTS issues but I do have neck issues from sitting in a chair all day after so many years of contact sports.

[TOK]

I'm like you, I've been using computers forever. No programming, but I'm embarrassed to admit that I've been playing computer games since the Atari 800 days, along with being an arcade freak. I also rode and raced dirt bikes for years, which is an incredible amount of hand/wrist movement compounded by the pounding of bumps and jumps.

I make a conscious effort to keep my wrists straight while typing but thats about it. I've often wondered if its a ticking time bomb, or the fact that I don't actually work 40 hours per week behind a keyboard has kept me from having problems.

[CCM]

Proper fingering

 

[jbox]

When was the last time you heard of a programmer actually getting CTS surgery?

date=1185929982 + 3 months? 

[Havok]

You should try one of those gel keyboard wrist rests, I think they help quite a bit.

[shardian]

During normal work, I've never had a problem. Back in college, I played ALOT of half-life/Team Fortress and having I tended to cock my left wrist funny while playing to hit all the keys. I had to quite playing because it got pretty bad. After a while, it went away.

[ChadTower]

I haven't seen it in quite a while but man, when I was in college in the mid 90s, it was everywhere.  People would show up to class with wrist braces that looked like they just had surgery.

[Chris G]

Like most people on here, I've been staring at screens and using computer/gaming controls ever since I could sit upright.  I feel extremely fortunate to still have perfect vision and no wrist problems.  I will say that for the past 7 years or so, I have used gel keyboard and mouse wrist pads at work, as a precaution.  I think they help a lot.  Good luck!

[Dartful Dodger]

Hopefully I'm worrying over nothing.  Since the pain was in my elbow I figure it was tendentious or some muscle thing from hovering over the F5 and F6 keys for the last 6 months.

The whole thing just got me thinking of Carpals as a job hazzard and not being able to play guitar, catch or just enjoy life with two hands again.

Thanks for your input.

[Kaytrim]

This is not carpal tunnel syndrome.  The carpal tunnel is in the wrist not the elbow.  The syndrome is irritation of the nerve that is inside that tunnel.  This causes the nerve to swell and of course is irritated more from contact of the sides of the tunnel.  Since the problem is in your elbow it could be tendinitis or bursitis. 

I've had bursitis in my right elbow and it is not a fun thing.  Had to wear an ace wrap for weeks to protect it.  Just touching the elbow would shoot pain up my arm.

TTFN and get feeling better,
Kaytrim

[ChadTower]

I used to get tennis elbow from time to time in high school (from tennis).  Not fun.

[zaphod]

We've had three people at my company get CTS surgery in the last twelve months alone.  They use a PC and keyboard eight hours a day, so it is very possible to get it from a keyboard and mouse.
I've programmed for 20+ years and have the same symptoms as you a couple years ago.  I don't know if it was the start of CTS or not, but it scared me a bit.  I bought the gel keyboard and mouse pads, paid a little more attention to how I sit, and the pain went away in no time.