David Kuckhermann
4 HN recommenders · recommended in 4 months, 2009–2018
4:37 · 1.7M views · Jun 13, 2008
A short video of stretching and hand exercises for preventing and easing tendinitis and carpal tunnel syndrome, from a percussion teacher. The exercises were shown to him by a doctor.
Frequently recommended in RSI and wrist pain threads by people who say the stretches relieved their own symptoms.
4 comments from Hacker News
i deal with both carpal tunnel (diagnosed) and tendonitis. an ergonomic keyboard is a must (i use a kinesis freestyle). one of the most important equipment changes for me is to never use an actual mouse, and to never click a trackpad. instead i use a magic trackpad on my desktop mac, built in trackpad on my mbp, and a logitech trackpad on my pc desktops. all are configured with full gesture capability so i can use the tap features instead of clicking. also, no click-drag. instead i use the double tap to lock feature. i also mix it up by using my ipad. for browsing, for short emails, etc. the ipad requires different muscles so changes the patterns of use (a good thing). for exercises, i highly recommend this short youtube video: this video . i think this was perhaps the best thing for me. it got me out of the worst of it, and keeps me from slipping back to my worst. i wear wrist splints in bed. this might not be for everyone, but my doc suggested it. a lot of people bend their wrists at night, stressing the muscles and tendons. i was definitely one who did. it helps. finally, ice. i use ice packs to cool off the arms when i'm hurting. walgreens sells a nice inexpensive pack with a built in cover that works really well. i have 10 of them :) best of luck.
I've been doing these stretches a few times a day for the past several years, since I first felt RSI coming on. It's helped significantly. Whenever I start to feel wrist/hand pain, I know I've been slacking on them. this video
Look into stretching exercises. This video saved me from debilitating hand and wrist pain. I'm sure there are similar exercises you can perform for forearm, elbow, shoulder, etc.. this video
I've found the exercises in this video help me a lot: this video Also, when I was having problems a few years back, I narrowed it down to my laptop. The touchpad style mouse was killing my hands and wrists. It sounds like you're on a desktop, but I thought I'd mention it just in case.