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.
You must use your left hand more often(you Know)..switch
Before steroids or surgery look into therapies. Seriously, dude. If you can’t play on Live you’re no good to me.
Get well soon so you don’t loose your blog fans, your fellow competitors, your friends, your patience :-/!