Wed 8th Feb, 2006 - Why Carpal Tunnel Sucks
A few weeks back, I remember waking up one day and feeling my right hand completely numb. It was my whole hand, palm and fingers, were numb. I thought that maybe I had slept with my hand in the wrong position all night and that it would go away in a few minutes, it didn’t. I spent almost the whole day with this numbness in my hand, by this point it had become an annoyance.
My Numb Hand
So I consulted with one of my colleagues and he told me it was probably carpal tunnel (Josue…thanks for the diagnostic). It made sense since I presented the typical numbness distribution and I spent most of the day before playing with my DS (hence the repetitive strain). At this point I got a brace for my hand and I let it rest for a few days till it healed.
My Hand On Carpal Tunnel
Last Thursday I decided to play a little Halo 2 on Live, my hand got sore as hell once again.
Culprit #1
On Friday, my hand was still messed up and I had to help the American Heart Association with blood pressure taking at a local mall. 50 blood pressures later, my hand was so badly damaged, it was just pure agony at this point.
Culprit #2
Today the brace doesn’t work; my hand feels like if someone was cutting the nerves inside with a scalpel, I can’t play Halo 2 (even though I recently renewed my Live subscription) and I almost couldn’t finish this blog post. I will probably have to operate my hand or get some steroid injections to reduce the inflammation. This is why carpal tunnel sucks, and if I had known my hand was going to this fucked up, I would’ve taken much better care of it. So to my fellow gamers, office workers, computer programmers, etc. here are a few guidelines to follow so you don’t end up like me:
1. Take breaks!!!! Don’t go playing on Live or typing for hours on end without a break.
2. Do hand exercises.
3. Maintain good posture, it helps a lot.
4. If you think you have carpal tunnel, visit a doctor before it gets worse, you can lose your finger mobility for good.