Dealing with Carpal Tunnel, Muscle Cramp and Broad Butt Syndrome
23 01 2008I’ve been freelance writing just long enough to start experiencing some of the health problems unique to writers. Some of these of problems you’d normally expect like muscle cramps and carpal tunnel and others are things they don’t point out in those writers workshops we used to take.
For instance, my butt is changing shape to look like the bottom of my office chair. Was not expecting that. Not only does my tail bone start hurting if I don’t get up and move around every few hours, but my back-end is growing exponentially with the number of hours I spend typing. Oh dear.
The carpal tunnel I’ve managed to handle fairly well. It only comes when, I’m working for long periods of time on projects and not typing properly. I have a terrible habit of letting my wrists sit on the keyboard or desk when I’m typing, which of course leads to wrist pain and carpal tunnel.
Suggestions for Carpal Tunnel and Neck Pain
If you are finding that you develop some carpal tunnel after writing for a few hours or several days, I suggest looking at how you work. Keep those wrists up and straight! I also like to start taking a daily multivitamin when I start noticing the wrist pain and muscle cramps. It really seems to help repair some of the damage from sitting improperly. It also helps to have your keyboard at about lap height and your monitor high enough that you can sit up straight to read without bending forward and getting all crunched up.
That’s another problem, neck pain. If you don’t have your computer monitor at a good height you are going to bend forward at the computer and get your neck all out of alignment. I also find that my jaw tends to tighten up and give me some TMJ problems, even when I’m not sitting at the computer anymore.
You can easily adjust the height of your monitor with a couple of thick books underneath. It’s cheap and it saves lots of money, since no one wants to get enough freelance health insurance just so they can visit the chiropractor!
I have the Butt Syndrome and the Neck Pain — the terrible two-some! Add the development of “cankles” where my ankles are so swollen, they are almost nonexistent and you’ve got Blogger’s Blithe. I’ve gotta get off of this chair….