The Hazards of Writing in the 21st Century

Writing on a keyboard can be very hazardous to your health these days, given how much time we tend to spend on the computer throughout the day. And if you’re an office worker, then forget it! Your wrists and arms and shoulders are probably in some rough shape with all the typing and  mousing around. I’ve been suffering with mild repetitive strain syndrome in my wrists for the last 10 years or so; it comes and goes depending on how much typing I do. In particular it’s my left wrist that suffers when I do a lot of copying + pasting and/or tabbing around the keyboard. I’ve already got everything set up ergonomically, and I do stretching exercises both before, during and after work, as well as doing different motions with my hands and wrists in order to loosen things up. But you know that if you spend 8 hours a day or more using a keyboard, no amount of preparation or prevention can help the inevitable strain and pain.

This week’s been particularly bad as I’m tackling that wiki reorganization, however a trip to the chiropractor seems to help me out. “The chiropractor? ” you’re thinking. “Isn’t that just for your back and neck?” For the most part, yes, going to a chiropractor helps the back and neck (as well as other body parts, but I’m not a true believer of all the ‘hocus pocus’ most chiropractors talk about.) but it can also help out the wrists too. My chiropractor manipulates my hands and arms in such a way to move around all the bones inside the wrists, which help alleviate the stress and pain inside. It hurts like a mo’fo while he’s doing it, especially on my left wrist, which tends to get all tight, but in the end it’s worth it. I find getting him to do this manipulation once every three weeks or so (I go every week to see him) is a good preventative measure. And right now that my wrists actually hurt from all the typing and work, I get him to do it each week. Whether or not this can be helpful to anyone suffering from Carpal Tunnel I don’t know, but as someone who doesn’t have that, it definitely helps me with my issues.