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Old 04-15-2015, 12:07 PM #1
JuggalinJuggalo JuggalinJuggalo is offline
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JuggalinJuggalo JuggalinJuggalo is offline
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Cool Tennis & Golfers Elbow, CTS, UTS etc...PLEASE READ

To all reading this,

I apologize for making the title look like a used car salesman. I'm just an average person who has been suffering almost 5 months with RSI, both in the feet, and in the hands and wrists.

As a Generalized Anxiety sufferer, I understand how frustrating and scary RSIs can be. I have an important position at work which puts me under a ton of stress....no lie; my anxiety is proof, what with the facial twitching, breathing sensations, heart palpitations, you name it.

My most recent episode of crazy things happened since the birth of my son. I was a relatively healthy guy who just started doing the new, BIG job of his life in Europe...finally, I've made it, but...

For the past 5 months I've either been limping on one or two feet, or having my arms flipping freeze up and squeeze me to death, keeping me from typing and mousing; my life is on a computer, and in Europe I have to either walk to a bus and/or type all day long.

Funny thing is, neither my client nor my employer know that I've been suffering from this disorder; that's what I'll call it. I've been cleverly hiding my anxiety and RSI from everyone by trying to detach myself from the pain. Trust me, I know it's almost impossible to do. I've done the whole cyberchondria thing. Searching relentlessly for a cure on the internet and finding that I'm suffering from about 10 different ailments....stop doing this **** to yourself, I would tell myself. As an anxiety sufferer, obsessiveness is a pill best swallowed with alcohol, but that's just me.

Self-medication aside, I have had a recent bout with RSI; no lie. I could barely walk, and once I was cured from that I could barely type, which is what I do for a living basically.

I had the stiff forearms, especially in the thumb and index finger extensors. I had the numbness, the tingling, the pins & needles, the frustration that comes with a typing type RSI. And I literally couldn't focus for **** on my job.....LITERALLY. No lie, when I had the keyboard attack, things were so hectic that something just exploded in my head. My right hand went numb, and my forearm was so tight that I thought it was going to explode.

I still complain to my wife daily about my job, and well, life in general. Thankfully, my wife understands me and supports me every step of the way.

And finally................the RSI cure....at least for mine.

I've spent the last 4 months in physical therapy for both my feet/ankles and my hands/wrists; my hands the most recent 2 months. My physical therapist is not only an MD, but he's a Human Movement Scientist; that basically means he writes medical studies about modalities that help patients. He has access to volumes of data on issues like RSIs.

After months of rehab, mind you nothing that was labor intensive nor involved a GP, we determined where my typing RSI derived from.

Before I go any further, I'm not going to go crazy with the whole TMS, Dr. Sarno stuff. I respect Sarno, and his books have certainly helped distract me from a lot of the anxiety symptoms, but this post is about true physical causes too. These physical causes may or may not be by-products of stress.....................I had a tight right shoulder.

That's right, a tight group of muscles had briefly pinched my nerves around the neck and cause a boatload of nerve impingement. Thankfully it was brief. However, the pain wasn't brief. It took almost two months to figure this problem out. I beat my self to death, figuratively, searching for a cure. What my physical therapist and I both determined was that the problem came from the spine region, more specifically the neck.

Pull up a color-coded diagram of the nerves that branch out from the neck. This diagram will tell you exactly where you're TIGHT. That's right, TIGHT. Tight muscle may very well be the cause of your RSI. As a small, undetermined, test press your index finger into the elbow where you would typically experience golfers elbow; right over the nerve. If you compress the nerve and can move your fingers and hands without pain or numbness or tingling, chances are you problem is in you neck, not your wrist. You're effectively blocking the nerve to see if the block if further down the arm.

If this is the case, and unless a GP has noted an extra rib that could be causing TOS, the issue could very well be in your shoulder muscles. Lets be honest, if you sit at a computer all day, you're going to get neck and back issues. I've had twinging pain in my back for years because of typing all day; it's very difficult to resolve, and I spend more time managing it.

The CURE

Stop icing and elevating and all of the other ********* you find on the internet. STRETCH. Now when I say stretch, I'm not talking about pull and hold for 30 seconds. That is a poor solution to the problem and could cause damage to the muscles if done improperly. Just give your shoulders a little TLC.

I'm not going to go into the whole "do this many reps, this many times a day," routine. Do some gentle yet somewhat forced active stretches. Let me be real here, I'm basically saying don't stretch; do range of motion exercises. Gently attempt(not do) to try to touch your ear to your shoulder....only go to a tiny fraction of a stretch. Then go to your other side for a complete range of motion; keep going left and right to get the muscle moving and until you feel the strain has abated.

Keep moving left and right until the stiffness subsides. Then you can do mini shoulder rotations(love these). Just do tiny circles forward and backwards and you'll feel the relaxation sensation in your shoulders and back. These are basic ROM exercises you learned as a kid. Now I don't know if it promotes blood flow or what, but it feels good. And please, don't get all crazy with stretches and stuff. The internet has all kinds of crazy things that offer temporary cures. Your body needs to be in motion to remain calm and relaxed. This is why you need to push your butt away from the computer every 15 minutes or so and go outside for a nice walk for one minute. It's not a mind-body thing, it's a get-off-you-*** thing....and this works for mousing problems too because the nerves run from the neck to the fingers.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm tired of typing even though my RSI is all but gone. I've had one too many bourbons, the chicken wings are ready and I just don't want to go into the whole information overload thing you find on the internet. Take breaks, do gentle neck rotations (be it back and forth, side to side, left and right, up and down...I don't care, plus, rotate the shoulders-don't shoulder shrug like a maniac or pump iron like a 'roid freak you OSDers) and the problem will gently resolve itself, almost like fabric softener....you won't even notice until you notice.

Oh, and by the way, good posture sucks. Lean your chair back and let yourself relax. Prop your elbows up on the arm rest and do a neutral position, but don't go into gamer mode and crank your wrist with the mouse, use your elbow to move your hand. Take a chill pill, and stopping thinking about all of life's responsibilities all the time. And don't try to find this information anywhere else on the internet......it doesn't exist. Thank you all and feel free to comment; I will respond.

Sincerely, and in less pain,

Me

DISCLAIMER, get yourself checked by a GP, and don't be all hardcore like me, because while I'm a sufferer like everyone else, I'm not a licensed medical practitioner, and my problem is not your problem thusly I cannot be held accountable.
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Old 04-03-2018, 05:58 PM #2
Metroid202 Metroid202 is offline
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How did you and your PT figure out the problem was tight muscles in your neck and shoulder? what were the exercises that you did for your neck and shoulders and how long did it take before you saw improvement?
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Old 04-03-2018, 07:53 PM #3
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Hi Metroid,
Some of what JuggalinJuggalo describes- gentle ROM stretching , sounds very much like Sharon Butlers RSI info..
Repetitive Strain Injury

For much more info on TOS, RSI and chronic RSI see out TOS forum sticky threads , or use the site search tool for specific keywords or symptoms..
https://www.neurotalk.org/search.php

https://www.neurotalk.org/forum24/

I had very good help from a very good "hands" on chiropractor that also did soft tissue therapy. Plus a low level ( soft/cold) laser & IF stim..
Trigger points - overworked muscles - work postures , forward head, hunched/rolled forward shoulders -all factors.
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