Wrist Tendonitis and Carpal Tunnel from video games

by James
(Indiana)

I am 21 years old and have been dealing with wrist tendonitis for almost 2 years. Ever since i was a kid i've been a HUGE gamer. I used to play all day, from when I got home from school till when i went to bed.


Games have never been a problem for me until June of 2009. That is when the pain started. The first day i felt pain i thought i just stressed my hand out and figured it would go away in a few days, so i pretty much ignored it. The next day my hand was fine so i assumed my pain was over. However, the day after that the pain came back.

At first it was just a mild burning sensation on my left hand's wrist. I started taking ibuprofen (i think 600 mg) which helped for a while.

After about a week i went to the doctor and he told me it was early signs of carpal tunnel and gave me a brace for my left hand and said i can only play games for 1 hour. The brace helped a little but i was still in pain. I also began to rub my wrist and forearm with ice to ease the pain.

The ice also seemed to help. Eventually my right hand's wrist and forearm began to get a burning sensation similar to my left hand but not quite as bad.

About a month later i saw a hand specialist about my problem. He said he couldn't see anything wrong with me and sent me on my way. I continued to use my left brace and use ice on both my hands. Around October 2009, for some reason my hand significantly started to get better. The weird thing is i got a new game and started playing it all day for several days and that was when the pain went away.

Then I went back to playing video games regularly (about 4 to 7 hours a day). My hands remained fine until june of 2010. I got a new game i really got into and played it almost all day for a few weeks. Then the pain slowly started to come back. I started taking ibuprofen again and it helped a little.

I went to the doctor again and he told me it was carpal tunnel. I then decided to play games for a maximum of 4 hours with 2 hour breaks in between. This plan worked for a while but eventually the pain started to get worse.

Then i went to another hand specialist. He said he didn't see anything serioulsy wrong with me and didn't think i had carpal tunnel. He then prescribed naproxen for me to deal with the inflamation. The naproxen helps a little but didn't get rid of all the pain.

Soon after I developed a mild tight feeling in my hands. The tightness only showed up when i played games. Then i went back to the hand specialist and had a carpal tunnel test. The test said i had mild carpal tunnel and he gave me a brace for my right hand
and told me to use my left handed brace as well. Then the specialist set me up an appointment with a doctor of physical medicine. (not really certain what kind of doctor that is).

The physical medicine doctor said i had tendonitis and told me to give my hand rest and said i could only play games for an hour. i played games for only an hour for about a week and my hands still continued to get worse. The next day I decided to play no games at all and it seemed to help. I continued to not play games for 4 days. My hands got better with each day, however on the 5th day the pain came back. Since then my hands have continued to get worse to this very day.

At the moment i can avoid pain by rarely using my hands but i can't seem to shake the tight/numb feeling no matter what i do. I can get temporary relief from the tightness by ice dipping but only for about 5 minutes. I don't know what to do and I'm losing hope.

PLEASE if there's any suggestions you can give me to help me get better i would be eternally thankful. (sorry for this long story, but you asked for details so i had to make it long).

List of my symptoms (as of today)
Pain in the wrist and hands
1 hotspot on each hand (between ring finger and pinky)
Tightness/numbness primarily in left hand
inflamation



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Joshua Answers:

Hi James.

Ahh, to be young with so much free time again! The good old days....

So.

1. It's safe to say you're majorly Vitamin D deficient. Guess what some of the symptoms of
Vit D deficiency are?


2. Same goes for Magnesium for Tendonitis.


3. You describe perfectly, the Pain Causing Dynamic, the progressive, predictable, hurts for a while better for a while now it's bad pattern.


4. For sure you have a Tendonitis dynamic. Probably no actual damage, but definitely lots of irritation and structural negative factors of tightness, constriction, inflammation, etc.

See: What Is Tendonitis?


5. Make sure you understand the Process of Inflammation and how to dial it down.


6. If you have some numbness and/or tingling, then that does technically move you towards a Carpal Tunnel Diagnosis.

Maybe it's from the wrist, and there's certainly a lot of forearm and wrist involvement from so much video gaming, but I bet you it's mostly from up at the front of the neck and chest/shoulder.


And yes, absolutely, thanks for all the details. Details, and lots of them, are good.



Are you gaming on keyboard and mouse, or console?


More questions, more answers.



----------------------
Please reply using the comment link below. Do not submit a new submission to answer/reply, it's too hard for me to find where it's supposed to go.

And, comments have a 3,000 character limit so you may have to comment twice.
-----------------------



Joshua Tucker, B.A., C.M.T.
The Tendonitis Expert
www.TendonitisExpert.com






Reversing Wrist Tendonitis ebook cover


Reversing DeQuervain’s ebook cover


Carpal Tunnel Treatment That Works Dvd cover

Reversing Guitar Tendonitis ebook cover







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Dec 14, 2011
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		I'm 16 with wrist tendonitis from MMORPG video games
by: Tony

My mom and my doctor both say that I'm too young to have wrist tendonitis.

I read this thread and most of the links you pointed to. Makes sense. My doctor just shrugged and told me to quit playing video games for a while.

I asked if there was anything else I could do (because I totally love World of Warcraft and don't want to stop). He told mom to give me Ibuprofen and he'd put me in an immobalizing wrist splint if she wanted.

I've tried to play in different positions like you said on the ergonomics page. And I'm eating more chicken. But right now no matter what I do my wrist kills me, even when I'm just laying there trying to go to sleep.

I'm going to start ice dipping like crazy when I get home from school, I'll let you know how it goes.

Oh, and I'll play through the pain to level up! Ha.
Dec 15, 2011
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		WOW priest can't heal carpal tunnel
by: little d

i'm a level 40 priest on world of warcraft and all i got was this lousy carpal tunnel

i spend hours and hours in front of computer for school and for gaming my hands are constantly moving i have been getting numbness and tingling in my thumb and pointer finger on the hand i mouse with the last month i thought it would go away but obviously it hasn't or i wouldn't be writing this

is this permanent won't it heal on it's own?

how can i make the numbness go away it's really slowing me down and i'm starting to get worried and i have to keep putting the time in on my computer to get my grind on


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Joshua Comments:

Hi Little D.

As they say...you play, you pay.

It's not a mystery, really. It's as simple a mechanism as the Pain Causing Dynamic.

That's the sole cause of Tendonitis and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

Nutritional aspects play a role too.

For instance, when was the last time your skin saw the light of day?

Get your Vitamin D level checked. Then when you find out how Vitamin D deficient you are, get your level up to between 50-80 ng/ml ASAP.

Magnesium is a huge player too.

And Carpal Tunnel and Vitamin B6 Deficiency.

Your symptoms are totally reversible. It will take some time and effort.

You might have to put a 5 gallon bucket of ice water by your chair and take quick breaks to ice dip. See: How To Reduce Inflammation.

Get to work.
Jul 05, 2012
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Acids Sugars Controller Movement
by: TH3Gene

Main degradation sources: Acids intake/ Acidity level(s), Sugar, eating the same repeated pattern of nutrition including especially greenless appetites, & last (but not least,) Range Of Movement-- CHUCK THE MOUSE & HomeRow..

Prefably try Green controller of old xbox, &use a USB adapter to make it work on ur PC.
(PS I'm not a fanboy; if anything--PS3.)

Unrelated sidenote: If PS3 came w mic & crossgame/voicemail, then xbox would cease completely.
Graphics..same. Ps3 quieter. MS thinks they only hav2 buy exclusivity &make gamevalue drop. Rushout a space heater instead of inventing a processor, a FPShootr motion controller ("Sharpshooter"), a split-free screen (SimulView).

I hope BlackOps--hate iW's MW#'s--does SimulView; then it'd be worth the tv.
Aug 19, 2012
Rating
starstarstarstar 		sounds just like my problem
by: silvesteriv

This article describes my symptoms almost perfectly. I had played mouse-and-keyboard PC games for hours almost every day since I was a teenager and never had any problems. I would sometimes experience the usual hand cramps after using the mouse for several hours straight but never had any real problems until I took up weight lifting.

A noticeable bump developed into a ganglion cyst and within a matter of days I started to experience numbness, tingling and burning in my hand, along with a weak grip. When I saw a physician about the cyst I was advised to just leave it alone and that my symptoms were more likely due to carpal tunnel than anything else - the doctor asked what hurt and when I wiggled my thumb, index and middle fingers he immediately said 'carpal tunnel'.

In the 3 years since, I have not been able to play games that involve gripping the mouse for more than about 10 minutes straight, which pretty much eliminates first person shooter games. I find that stretching, icing my wrist and taking naproxen helps alleviate the pain, but the problem shows no sign of going away.

If I avoid activities that require a strong grip (keyboard, pullups, long drives) I don't notice anything at all. Also, I still have the ganglion cyst.


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Joshua Comments:

Hi Silversteriv.

Yep. The body shapes itself to the forces placed upon it.

Teenagers aren't designed to sit and do the whole computer game things for years and decades.

Icing helps, but isn't a cure.

See: How To Reduce Inflammation

See: Ganglion Cyst

You need to reverse the tendonitis dynamic in the forearm(s) if you want the pain to go away.

See: Pain Causing Dynamic
Oct 28, 2012
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Pain from playing video games for hours every day.
by: D Love

Not sure what my issue it's but I played games for about an entire day a week ago and my hand was so stiff afterwards. I have played few hours a day since then. All of a sudden my right wrist started to hurt yesterday.

The next day my thumb, index, and middle finger started to make my wrist hurt when i moved them. The pain is in my right wrist closest to the hand on the right side right under my palm.

I can not sleep at night because the pain is so bad.

Please help me and tell me what I should do.


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Joshua Comments:

Hi D.

I suggest that you start doing some self care to make that pain go away and to make your body and arms/hands healthy again.

Playing video games doesn't cause wrist pain. Not being physically healthy enough to handle playing video games, does.

You're short on nutrition, and your body isn't able to handle the hours and hours of repetitive motion. Muscle is too tight, connective tissue getting too tight, etc.

That's what causes Symptoms of Tendonitis.

There Are Two Types Of Tendonitis, with actual injury and without.

It's unlikely that you have actual 'injury'. But you do have a VERY active Pain Causing Dynamic and Process of Inflammation.

Better start reversing those mechanics.

Read through the pages linked to above, and learn How To Reduce Inflammation.
Jan 25, 2013
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Tendonitis
by: Anonymous

Well I'm 14 and I got tendonitis for playing video games I stopped playing and began to use my left hand less it stared to heal slowly . Until my hand was ok again.i started playing again and it came back I too got the stress in my wrist .
Sep 10, 2014
Rating
starstarstarstar 		stuff
by: pickledwhaleskin

I am in my 30s and have been an avid gamer since I was 5 and received the original super mario bros.

I've noticed the wrist splints only help me at night (to keep them immobilized while I sleep) and if I wear them during the day it is counter productive (particularly if I use the computer and they put extra pressure on my wrists.

the only thing that works for me is a long break. sometimes a few days cuts it, other times it takes a few weeks or a month. there's no getting around it, and you have to stop when the symptoms start because if you play through the pain even for a few days it will very quickly exponentially increase the time you have to cooldown on your gaming.


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Joshua Comments:

If Rest is the only tool you have at your disposal, you should definitely use it.
Oct 30, 2014
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		39 year old gamer and office worker with major problems
by: Jaguar

I have had hand/wrist problems for about 11 years.

I have been playing computer games since seventh grade or so, but I did not have hand problems until I started at my job after law school.

I had done a fair amount of weight lifting in college and law school, but I always had to wear wrist wraps because my wrists were otherwise too weak.

The constant computer use at both work and home after law school suddenly caused a lot of pain in the back of my hands.

The first doctor I saw gave me some hard splints and told me to wear splints at work. I've never associated the pain with wrist tendonitis, since I only feel the pain in the back of my hands rather than the wrist itself, but I have always been told that that is what I have. I tested negative for rheumatoid arthritis.

I went on like that for many years. Eventually after four or five years the hard splints broke and I went to wearing nothing at night.

I continued to have the pain, but it was manageable with the wrists splints at home and work whenever I used the computer. In 2011, the pain started increasing greatly, even with the splints.

In retrospect, I wonder if it was because I took up playing a racquet sport frequently that might have been putting more pressure on my wrist.

I saw a hand specialist who prescribed ultrasound therapy, tight wrist wraps all day instead of hand splints, a cortisone injection and PRP injection.

Nothing helped, and he said I could either have surgery or just take Advil for the pain. I chose the latter, but I am now at the end of 2014, and the pain is bad. I have stopped all video gaming for almost 2 months, and I use Dragon Naturally Speaking for both work and home computer use.

I use the InfernoWrap that is supposed to heal my wrists when I can, and I do stretching exercises and hand exercises with weights.

Even so, I can't really use a TV remote without pain unless I have my wrist wraps on. I started taking magnesium about three weeks ago, but I'm not noticing improvement.


In 2011, my hand doctor had said he could do surgery to expand the tendons and that that MIGHT relieve the pain.I don't want to risk it, but I can't go on like this forever. I am desperate for a solution. What can I do? Thanks for any help you can provide.


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Joshua Comments:

1. PRP only had a chance of helping if you had rip or tear or damage to a tendon.


2. Before you have any surgery, Quiz Your Doctor

What exactly would they do surgery on? Why would that help? If they can't identify the cause of your pain now, how in heck would surgery help?


3. You read Magnesium For Tendonitis and Magnesium Dosage?


4. Wrist splints and braces don't fix anything. At best they do what they did: extend and slow the progression of pain and problem. Which isn't a bad thing, it's just not and was never going to be a fix.


5. Quitting gaming is a good idea ONLY because it is reducing new irritation to an already irritated dynamic. Along those lines, Rest doesn't fix anything.


6. You've got a tendonitis dynamic, which is a Pain Causing Dynamic consisting of various predictible factors, all conspiring together to create pain and problem. Reverse the dynamic, and the pain goes away.
Nov 26, 2014
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Very similar hand pain from playing video games from atari to ps4
by: OldSkoolRaver

Im in my 30s and have been gaming since i was about 5yrs old starting out on Nintendo game and watch lcd games and whilst growing up up i have owned, Atari, spectrum,commodore64, Amiga 500, Nes,various gameboys,master system ,megadrive ,snes,saturn,ps1, dreamcast,ps2,gamecube,ps3,pc and now ps4 systems.

You could say my hands/wrist have taken some considerabe punishment over the years and to be honest ive not really had any problems till about 2013 a couple of years after i started to play more than usual because of online play .

Onps3 and predominantly racers or shooters. Using left trigger mainly and a shedload of L3 clicking has done some rea damage to my left thumb and wrist. This is what causes the pain and has now in late 2014 my left thumb feels weaker than ever. So much so that im rather worried.

I do rest theese days and have seen my doctor many times. The wrist brace , naproxen, abstinence or any other treatment provided hasent helped.

Any suggestions peeps as this thumb and wrist weakness and pain is starting to feel permenent and more painfull.

Would taking vitamin D really help?

How can i strengthen my thumb tendons back to shape.

Feeling pretty desperate now.

Its only because ps4 lets me type by using the controler like a magic wand that i could even type this out.

Thanx in advance peeps


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Joshua Comments:

The good news is, the gaming isn't the problem.

The problem is, your body isn't healthy enough to keep up with the required activity and resulting recovery levels.

I use the word 'healthy' loosely here. I don't mean you're sick, I mean that your body doesn't have the wherewithal to funciton optimally.

Nutrition is the easiest place to start looking.

Can Vitamin D help? That all depends on your vitamin D level. Which is almost certainly low.

Rest won't help (and it's no fun).


1. Go get your Vitamin D level tested asap. It's about $60. Then let me know your ng/ml number.

2. See: Magnesium For Tendonitis

3. Get and start working with Reversing Wrist Tendonitis ebook. Sure I'm biased towards that, but it's the information you need all in one place, a complete plan of attack, and it's what I work with/have people work with to go from, for instance, where you're at to pain free/use your hands as much as you want again.
Mar 21, 2015
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		console - PS4 hurts when trying to sleep
by: SweetMarie420

Its been 3 weeks now since my incident while gaming on my console and it does frustrate me because being in my late 30s and have lots of free time on my hands to game all night feels great but at a big cost of being tired and sore but for some reason it occurred while not intentionally leaning on my right side during game play is part culprit of why my right arm and wrist are sore.

Now I have had testing done and been placed on meds but they give no relief. I hurt when trying to sleep. Heck it hurts to even be typing this.



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Joshua Comments:

Meds for what, exactly?

I haven't played video games for decades (totally addicted, and I'm really bad at them) but I played Diablo 3 for....uhhh....many many hours over two days at a friends's house while visiting.

My hands and fingers were sore and aching. Seriously.

I didn't worry about it because I drove away and wasn't going to play anymore. Hands feel fine now.

But if I were to keep playing, I'd -need- to do self care to keep my structures happy and functional.

A good place to start is to learn How To Reduce Inflammation.

And yeah, don't lean on your arm for hours at a time.
Mar 23, 2015
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		SweetMarie420 replies
by: SweetMarie420

Meds are naproxin and I was given it for pain....


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Joshua Comments:

Ok, that makes sense.

Have you Ice Dipped yet?
Feb 29, 2016
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Broken wrist & gamer. Could I have tendinitis?
by: Keith

Hi.

I'm 26 and 5-6 years ago I had broke off a triangle size portion of the top of my radius connecting to my left wrist.

I followed the exercise instructions throughout the healing process, using bands and play dough. The wrist never really bothered me for about 4 years.

Within the past year I've picked up a game which requires the left hand to frequently press the 1, 2, 3, 4 and space-bar keys. I play this game maybe 3-4 times a week, but rarely every day and on the weekdays it is only one hour at most. Sunday can sometimes be 3-4 hours.

In addition I work a desk job where my hands are constantly resting on the keyboard. Other than that, I can't think of any other hobbies or tasks I perform which cause repetitive motion.

I'm not certain what is going on in my wrist but just this week I started experiencing a sore forearm. If i press on the palm side tendons they feel much more sore than pressing on the right forearm. I can't remember having experienced any tingling and I'm not experiencing any sharp pains.

I do experience a dull soreness and I think there is a loss of strength in the left hand. If I put both wrists together I can feel that the left one is more warm than the right.

It does not appear look to be swollen, but I'm suspicious if it is. I'm right hand dominate, if that makes a difference.

My worries are that my injury several years ago has permanently affected my future to use my left hand. I wish I knew what was likely going on in my wrist so I could take steps in order to prevent it from developing into a worse problem.


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Joshua Comments:

Hi Keith.

Did they remove the bone or did it heal back down?

Basically, you have a wrist tendonitis dynamic.

Read this entire thread and follow the link in it/read those pages too.

I wouldn't worry about permanent damage, but I would worry about the progressive pain dynamic progressing. Meaning, learn how to reverse it, and keep it reversed.
Mar 03, 2016
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Response to previous entry
by: Keith

They left the bone to heal itself. They gave me a brace, some Oxycontin and sent me on my way. I wore that for the majority of the first semester and into the next only to take if off to perform the wrist exercises.

Thank you for your time. I will continue reviewing more of the information available on this site.
Jun 28, 2016
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		scaphoid fracture + gamer
by: Anonymous

I fractured my scaphoid in 2 places playing sport, on my mouse hand, 2 months ago. I had it put in a cast and just recently upgraded to a splint for a couple more months. I'm a gamer at night and work at a computer in the day, and also a guitarist.

Since getting the splint on, I feel like I can use a mouse again but definitely notice some soreness after an hour or so, and am wondering if I'll be doing damage by playing.

Thanks,


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Joshua Comments:

Hi Anonymous.

Activity like that shouldn't/wont injure the fracture. Bone will just heal up.

If it's a complete break that's one thing...but a fracture is mostly just a pain thing.

And you've been immobilized so probably it's healed by now.

Now you're dealing with the chronic inflammation process and extra tightness from the immobilization of being in a cast.


Aug 10, 2016
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		I'm 32 with wrist tendinitis, is it possible ?
by: Steff

Hello
I just recently went to the hospital, because of horrible pain in my wrist. I couldn't really move my fingers, pick up a pen to write, or shift my car with out crying in pain.

The only heavy strain of work I did was on Wednesday at my job, I was using a metal hammer about 10lbs to pry apart a motor. I work 8 hrs a day, but I understand is how that can cause this.

My wrist even has a lump on it and it's all red a puffy. My boss think I'm lying because of my age. Is he wrong for thinking that? What's the possibility and the outcome of this?

Also I have carpel tunnel in the same wrist as well, so does this mean my wrist is really messed up now? :/ please help


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Joshua Comments:

Hi Steff.

So...you already had carpal tunnel symptoms in the left wrist, and now you have really bad symptoms, and a lump?

What kind of/how big a lump?


And age-wise, any age can get carpal tunnel or other tendonitis related problems.
Jan 08, 2018
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Wrist Tendonitis or Carpal Tunnel from video games?
by: Robert G

Hello. About 7 weeks ago, my right wrist started to burn after playing videogames. I didn't think much of it so I keep playing through the burning. About 3 days later my left wrist started to burn as well. No numbness no loss of motion or grip, just both wrists starting to burn.

They only burn when I play videogames or when I am on the computer editing or browsing the web.

My posture isn't terrible but could be better, and the games I play are on the xbox so I play with a controller.

I've been playing games for over 10 years but recently I have been playing way more than usual. I went to 3 different doctors and they all said it was wrist tendonitis and one of them proscribed me diclofenac sodium.

I tried taking 2 weeks off from gaming, but It didn't heal and if any thing it felt worse. Gaming is my passion and I need my hands for future stuff I want to learn like piano and other things.

My mom went through carpol tunnel and I guess after seeing what she went through, it creates fear in me that that's what I have even though the doctors said I don't.

To be fair I haven't had any tests done, they just looked at my wrists and hands. 1 primary doctor and 2 orthapedics. But just yesterday I gamed way longer than I should have and pushed through the pain. The wrist burning pain went away and feels just stiff but... Both my hands started tingling.

The next morning it comes and goes, both hands tingling feeling, please tell me that this is normal with wrist tendonitits? Is it possible that I iced too long the night prior and hurt a nerve? I did try ice dipping, maybe that was too much?

Should I stop playing games for a month and see if that fixes it? I stretch every day, eat healthy and take my meds but it still isn't healed... I need advice bad.

Maybe just play one or two games a day? Im lost...


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Joshua Comments:

Hi Robert.

You didn't leave your email nor click the notifications box, so I'm going to keep my answer short since you're not likely to see this.

1. Nutrition. All things considered, including your mother suffering from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, points to that a huge factor in your symptomology is lack of nutrition.

YOur body can't work correctly when it doesn't have what it needs.

2. Along those lines, rest isn't going to fix anything. It doesn't anyway, but it can't even a little when your body is low on necessary nutrition.


3. No you didn't damage a nerve by icing.
Jan 13, 2018
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Told I have tendinitis, but minimal improvement so far
by: Allen

I'm nearing 50 and have worked on computers all my life. I've also gamed off-and-on throughout my life and rarely had any problems with RSI symptoms. But it finally caught up to me last summer after putting in a lot of extra project hours plus more heavy gaming than normal.

It started with mildly sore hands and tight, localized surface pain across the back of my fingers between the proximal and distal knuckles when I first woke up in the morning. It didn't impact my ability to type or mouse because it went away quickly, so work went along normally, but I tried to lay off of games for a month or two to ease it up.

The rest didn't really work, so I got a few weeks of PT and that actually resolved the problem. Unfortunately instead of moving on to address the occasional, diffuse hand pain I went back to a lot of gaming in October and November.

Several things then happened in rapid succession between late November and December.

* I tried wearing a wrist brace at night and somehow it wreaked havoc on my left thumb. The pain subsided after a day or two but it's felt "different" from the base to the tip when I move it ever since.

* The occasional hand pain turned into recurrent hand pain whenever I had to grip a mouse, even a vertical one.

* I developed another type of diffuse hand pain where the backs of both hands ached constantly for several days at a time.

* I tried on many occasions to use ibuprofen to help with the pain and it never seemed to help so I gave up on that.

I went to an orthopedic hand doctor and was told I had mild carpal tunnel along with tendinitis. PT and cortisone was her recommendation. I didn't want the shot but gave in on my last visit two days ago, so had it done to my thumb. Still waiting to see if it makes a difference.

PT has been around 6-7 sessions with a dedicated hand therapist. Mostly it's been ultrasound in the place where it hurts du jour, teaching me nerve glides, and once or twice did a paraffin bath on both hands.

At work I switched to a split keyboard (which I've used before), and did the same at home.

And yet, I can't seem to get on top of this. Rest from virtually all computer use over the Christmas holiday was great but the problems resumed the moment I was back at work.

Most of the problem with pain across the back of my hands still continues to affect my mousing hand the worst.

One interesting bit of good news, I've done weight training for over 20 years and none of this affected my ability to work out. In fact, if my hands are hurting, a weight training session usually brings temporary relief and makes radial nerve glides virtually pain free for awhile.

I'm looking for better progress though. The PT doesn't seem to be cutting it this time.


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Joshua Comments:

Hi Allen.

21, or 50, it's the same dynamic. Progressive muscle and connective tissue tightness, chronic inflammation, and nutritional insufficiency.

Rest won't fix it (you'll notice that it hasn't). Corticosteroids can't fix it. PT, well, PT doesn't fix any of the people I work with (which is why I work with them...because after months of PT they go looking for something that will work).


""And yet, I can't seem to get on top of this."

Excuse the bluntness, but you haven't been able to get on top of it because nothing you've done had a chance of getting on top of it.


Let's call what you have a 'Tendonitis Dynamic'. Yes that includes carpal tunnel syndrome, because that's caused by the multiple factors of the tendonitis dynamic too.

Rest ignores all the factors. Injections ignore two of the three, and ignores the causes of the inflammation it's trying to 'treat'.

PT, well, ultrasound, nerve glides, and an occasional hot wax dip, etc have zero chance of correcting the causes of your symptoms.

Welcome to 'Standard Of Care' medical treatment. Meaning, you get the approved treatments whether they work or not, and when they don't work, surgery is the 'last resort'...and surgery ignores all the causes of your symptoms too.



Read this entire thread. Follow the links and read those pages too.

Come back with questions.
Jan 26, 2018
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Too Much Gaming
by: AKSharps

Hello - okay, first off, you're 21 (at the time of writing this). I'm 42 and t in 1-3 hours of gaming a day. When Halo3 came out, I ended up in the emergency room. Games can be brutal on your thumb joints and up into your wrist. I broke my wrist skateboarding long ago and already have some issues there with calcification and arthritis, and that definitely makes me more susceptible to wrist pain from gaming. But, when I got it in the other wrist, I knew it was serious.

Solution, take a break, like 2-3 weeks. Exercise regularly and play some less intense games. For me, the FPS games, especially online, really get me going. I can sometimes feel a twang of the tendon and it shocks me to the point I have to end my session or switch to a much more mildy game. The good news is, rest is typically a cure.


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Joshua Comments:

Nope. Rest is never a cure.

Otherwise, you'd never have to rest more than once.

Pain etc develops for particular reasons. Rest doesn't fix any of them.

Instead of stopping playing games, I'd fix the problem.

Protip: Gaming isn't the problem.

See: Rest
Jun 21, 2018
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Just pain
by: Patrick

Last year I switched to a lower sensitivity and played badminton with a tennis racket and apples at work at the same time. This lead to pain in my left wrist and arm. My hands would cramp up and my arm would ache.

I went to a doctor who said I shouldn't use my right arm for a while. So that's what I did. Then my left arm started to ache almost synchronously to the right one. The only exception was that I had no stiffness in the thumb on the left while I had on the right (and still do after a year).

The pain didn't go so I went to the doctor again and again. She was annoyed with me, since I should just take rest and stop gaming. Gaming is bad so no wonder I was in pain.

I didn't believe that so I went to a PT. He massaged my arms and the pain went away for a week. We started to look for a root cause; I had breathing therapy, dry needling, manual therapy (that actually worked for 3 months) and neck therapy.

We came to the conclusion that the pain originates from the shoulders and even though I feel a burning sensation on my upper underarm (the muscle fires a lot when clicking the mouse) I should be able to play games as much as I want. Just take breaks.

This, and drinking more milk and protein drinks, helped a LOT. Untill it didn't. After 2 weeks of heavy duty gaming (got a little carried away) I got the synchronous pain in both arms again. I just went to work and played a bit less and did some stretches recommended by Dr Levi and 1HP.

The left arm cured within two days. The right arm (my dominant one) is still hurting. The pain travels from Palm to arm to shoulder to fingers. It's quite mild but still annoying. It's not weird that the right one hurts for longer since I use the phone a lot.

I read here that magnesium can help so I will try supplements for a while. Maybe I'll get it tested as well since it's covered by the healthcare in the Netherlands.

I will check this page occasionally for more information. I can't find out where to leave my email address, maybe because I'm visiting from mobile.


Sep 11, 2018
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Wrist pain on & off from video games
by: Sanela

I've been having wrist pain on and off for a few years now (15 f). It used to be once a couple months, then once a month then it became more frequent. It hurts moving my hand up and down. If i leave my hand straight I don't really notice.

My problem wrist is definitely noticeably stiffer than my other wrist. I just noticed a large hard bump a little higher than where the pain usually is. I only notice it when i move my hand down. I'd like to note I didn't feel/ see this until today.

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