New member with computer over use warning
 

Hi. I have just joined the community as I would like to find people with similar problems and treatments, mainly to help me get it all into perspective.

My problem is osteoarthritis in the neck, which results in the C5-6-7 facet joints causing nerve irritation. This causes pain which spreads from the lower neck, across the shoulders and into the arms. if I have really overdone it, there is severe pain up the left side of the neck, and especially on the lower skull bump.
There are also mood changes, brain fog, and stay-in-bed all day times.

I believe that this can all be attributed to my nearly 40 years of intense office work, and in particular the use of computers and the dreaded mouse.
When I retired a few years ago it was so bad that after only an hour or so I was too sore to work, and was able to do anything useful for only 2 days out of five. Not helpful when most of the work was PC focussed.

When I was submitting my welfare claims I would chat to the officers about my condition, and then ask them how they themselves were coping with their non-stop computer entries. Without fail, they all reported similar problems to mine, and so i would then warn them how they would end up if they didn't take action.

I had noticed in this forum some comments about similar work related problems, so thought it might help some if I did a post about it.

The main problems with extended PC use are neck craning and tension, the poor ergonomic set-up, the mouse which keeps the arm, hand and fingers under constant muscle tension, and the lack of posture changes. Sitting at a PC for long times and especially with a mouse is very likely to cause you all sorts of over-use problems, and you may well be unable to work, as the main treatment, initially, is complete rest. After that, arthritis will set in and that will be that.
I hope this message gets through to those who are susceptible.

Hi Peter.
Another overuse condition is called Thoracic Outlet syndrome TOS.
It can be caused by other injuries also.
I was wondering if you had heard about it, we have a TOS forum here if you would like to read about it.

TOS forum- main- http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum24.html

useful TOS info thread- http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread84.html

Peter,

Hello and welcome to NeuroTalk. Great to see you have come to be with us. I see Jo has given you some links to check out. Let us know if you need any help around here.

Again welcome, looking forward to seeing you around.

Darlene:hug:

Hi jo55, thanks for that. I had seen TOS mentioned and thought I must look it up.
Have had a look at a few of the sites. Some of the symptoms seem to match, but I don't really have the arm problems that seem to be the main aspect.
I have facet joint injections which so far have worked well, and in between take Tramadol and panadeine analgesics. So I'm doing OK. Just don't think about the future......

Thanks Darlene, I appreciate yours and other offers to help. Sometimes it is best just to ask than spend hours looking for answers in the threads, at the risk of going over old ground.
I'm sure others will understand.