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Left arm pain
For the last 2 weeks I have had ALOT of pain in my left wrist and especially my elbow. I play MMO's up to 12 hours a day and have done so for nearly 16 years. This is my movement hand on my keyboard. My Dr. has diagnosed it as Carpal tunnel syndrome and tennis elbow. Medications, 2 shots, heat pads, pain creams, ice packs, repositioning, splints and yes *gasp* 4 days off from playing. Playing increases the pain quickly. Did I mention PAIN? I am Looking into support type items that work well for the gaming community and hopefully will work for me.
Please add either a website or a general description for me please.
Thanks
Comments
Uhmm 12 hour days ? Presumably for like 7 days a week ? This don't happen to be your job would it ? If so, then I can guess what a few posters will be writing about in here soon considering there's only 1 type of player I know of who works via playing mmos.
So just to be a nice guy - quit playing man. No game is worth your health. Find another job if at all possible.
if it's carpal tunnel syndrome you will probably require surgery, my mrs did on both wrists.
I have the same issue GlueGun, it feels like your stamina for gaming has gone from tons to almost none, You can type and game for 30 min and start feeling strain in your wrists and hands, mostly back of the hand as if you've been working hard with you're hands all day and they're sore and tired.
I'm currently seeking physical therapy for this very reason, the PT is looking into potential issues. First assess your home play environment and try and keep your arms down and bent 90 degrees without weird angles or having to raise them very much. Also if your arms are at the edge of your desk, the edge might be putting pressure on your median nerve which runs up your forearm though your carpel tunnel at the wrist. (Just a ring of cartalage around your nerves/veins).
So far the best thing has been to lower my desk to elbow height, and get a desk with a curve in it so I can lean on the desk and have full support for my arms. This avoids pressure on my nerves and does away with the odd fatigue. I can go for hours at work without issue.
Another thing I use right now for gaming is these dinky gloves I got from Office Depot which look like grey cotton gloves with no fingers that have a built in bean-bag under the bottom of the hand so my wrists don't need to bend as much to grasp my keyboard or mouse, they rest on the built in beanbags which keeps them level and has been a big help for hand stamina. I can game for hours before I feel any strain or fatigue in my arms/wrists/hands thanks to them.
Hope this info helps, I had to do some detective work and see several doctors to help track it down.
Arioc Murkwood
Environment Artist
Sad but true.
I'm not trying to be mean, but what the hell do you do for a living? 12 hours a day for 2 weeks?! Sorry but I think that gaming for 2 weeks straight will... well hurt you? Sorry for the pain but seriously you shouldn't be playing games that much.
Well I dunno what he does, but I'm a game developer. I work on the PC making the MMO's you play for 8 hours, then come home and want to use the PC for a bit of fun so that's 4 hours of home PC play and there's yer 12 hours a day (not every day but 8-12 a day). Have some consideration for people, even if he has no job and just games 12 hours a day he's asking for help not for someone to be condisending. I'm sure he and I both know that 12 hours is allot but just because I work for 8 hours a day dosen't mean I shouldn't be able to game when I get home.
Arioc Murkwood
Environment Artist
Sad but true.
Sounds like AIDS, I'd get myself tested.
Seriously, see a doctor, you know, someone that actually knows what they are talking about, instead of pitching your personal health question to the peanut gallery here.
Yeah. Left elbow pain and somtimes numbness. Too much time at the keyboard. Between work and gaming i have that problem sometimes.
Well, I"m sure your doctor has told you that you are getting older and that your body "might" not be able to do some of the things it used to for the streches of time you are used to.
Try getting a good chair, becoming aware of how you use your body.
You might also try acupuncture. Some people swear by it and I've seen some amazing things because of it. However, in the end, if you are using your body in a way it doesn't like then no amount of fixes are going to work until you assess how you are using your body.
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i started getting severe hand pains from also gaming plus coding and buying/selling on ebay as a job. was afraid i was gonna need surgery.
i had always wanted one of those Kinesis "Contoured" (it has to say "contoured" cuz they sell other "ergonomic" keyboards that are trash like virtually all "ergonomic" keyboards are) keyboards, and not so much thinking it would help with the pain that much but just because it looked like it made so much sense and gave me comfortable access to alot more keys within easy reach, so it would be great for gaming. and it was. i will NEVER go back to using anything remotely like a normal keyboard again. despite them costing around $150 USED on ebay (the ones that have hardware remapping, which i recommend), it was by far the best computer hardware purchase of my life and it has dramatically improved my computing time in many diff ways. only took a few hours of adjustment with the thumb buttons. and it felt comfortable to me immediately. don't make the mistake most people do of thinking it requires you to go thru a long learning process. it uses a typical qwerty positions, just in much more natural/sensible patterns that are designed around the way your fingers move. not around the way ancient typewriters mechanical typeheads were arranged. lol
did i mention that i've never had carpal tunnel problems since?
only time i ever get pain in my hands and wrist anymore is if i'm doing something away from the computer, every now and then i'll twist my wrist or hit it. even then i USUALLY don't have any abnormal pain.
these would be worth $500-$1000 to me. the most expensive one, NEW, is around $300 tho.
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Corpus Callosum
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Foot peddles are great, and game controllers help. More broadly, physical rehab can help you reverse the problem, I find licensed rehab specialists to be much more effective then general practitioners and hand specialists who prescribe shots, creams, and worst of all surgeries. That stuff should only be a last resort if you cannot complete rehab.
Cryptic is trying a Customer Development approach to MMO creation.
-No offence m8 but 12/7 for 16 years? good things your arms can move still :P oh and here is a site you can find some help <_<
www.TryRealLife.com
A company I worked for got one of those for me at my request because the poor workstation I had helped give me tendonitis back in the early 90's. When the company was bought out and every one was laid off my boss gave the keyboard and the chair they got me for the same reason to me. It's an excellent keyboard for data entry but i don't recommend it for gaming. I still use the chair and still have the keyboard. My data entry required a lot of similar phrases so I used the macro capability of the keyboard as a quick copy and paste. The one I have is a first generation keyboard and cost $575.00 if I remember correctly.
This is the current version of the one I've got. Now you've got me curious about their VerticalMouse.
www.kinesis-ergo.com/
My father developed Carpel Tunnel Syndrome a few years back. He's been working with computers for the better part of 23 years doing web development and computer repair along side his full time job as a marketing manager where he still uses a computer almost all day.
He ended up downloading Dragon Natural Speaking and used it while recovering from surgery and physical therapy. Be bought a curved keyboard and his physical therapist showed him how to properly angle his elbows when typing. (Don't type with your forearms parallel to each other. Angle them so that you almost make a diamond shape. Upper arm goes out, and your forearms direct back in.)
But he doesn't play video games. My suggested is to go out and buy a speech recognition software and play around with it. Chances are you could probably dictate what you want your character to do and they'll do it pretty well. You move him or her around and call out spells or skills or whatever. I can't count the number of e-mails my dad dictated and functions he performed through dictation. "Open Outlook" "Save Document" "Close Program" "Switch Program" "Open Word" "Open Explorer" "doubleyew doubleyew doubleyew dot google dot com" You'd be surprised at how advanced the technology is.
Also, I wonder why your mouse hand didn't go bad first. For most computer people it's the first to go out.
well, i am inclined to completely flame you with multiple ideas that i have running around in my head but i guess ill actually take the high road. basically youre going to need to see an occupational therapist and more than likely do some rehab. carpel tunnel isnt a joke and is very debilitating to some people. the therapist is probably going to give you some exercises and stretches to do for your forearm and elbow (wrist stretches for the forearm and wrist curls to strengthen the forearm muscles). basically for the stretches you will want to keep your fingers straight and bend the hand back until you feel a slight stretch and hold for about 30 seconds. then you probably will do wrist curls with dumbbells and probably pronating and supinating as well with the dumbbell and they probably will start you out squeezing some sort of foam ball. this may or may not help and may require surgery. good luck to you.
OP whatever you do don't hold anything for 30 seconds. As someone who has worked out quite seriously for over 13 years, this can lead to further injury. Trust me you don't want that. Im just getting over 2 blood clots I received at the end of the summer from being too immobilized for too long due to a relatively minor heel injury I sustained.
Don't take the advice you receive on this forum too seriously. I wouldn't.
Hope your back on your toes....I mean fingers in no time.
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OP whatever you do don't hold anything for 30 seconds. As someone who has worked out quite seriously for over 13 years, this can lead to further injury. Trust me you don't want that. Im just getting over 2 blood clots I received at the end of the summer from being too immobilized for too long due to a relatively minor heel injury I sustained.
Don't take the advice you receive on this forum too seriously. I wouldn't.
Hope your back on your toes....I mean fingers in no time.
this is the standard amount of time you hold for any stretch and for someone who has claimed to have worked out for 13 years, you should know this.
the above is good advice. Although they also have mouse pads that have a gel wrist rest which is what i use. It definetly helps, since whenever i try using a regular mouse pad i get some pain in my wrist. I went to the doctor once cause i was feeling pressure and sometimes pain in my wrist and he told me pretty much what has been said in the thread. Get those gloves, or a mouse pad with a wrist rest, and do those wrist strectches mentioned a couple posts above mine. Although you seem to have a pretty bad case of carpel tunnel, so you will unfortunetly need more then what other advice we can offer here.
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your gona have to change your keyboard at least.i recomend whole heartly
http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Natural-Ergo-Keyboard-4000/dp/B000A6PPOK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1261763304&sr=8-1-spell
you can remove the front raiser if it bothers you at 1st.but it helps alot.only down side to this keyboard is your gona have to be very careful drinking around it theirs no rubber undr the keys ( tho they are quite for the most part) spills = new keyboard..do not do the keyboard dishwasher cleaning trick with this keyboard either.
it will take a bit for you to get comfortable with it but you can adust it with the rise to help alive some pain.been usen this type of keyboard for years i dont get wrist pain an put in about same time as you do in games an comp stuff.
mouse if your not getn any hand cramps or pain try sticking with that type or shape.but something like this might help pain in your left by useing button on the mouse ,,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826153054
you might end up with a better combo that way as well.personaly atm i use
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826104079
its got difrent shells for better comfort.an logitechs been stelar on warnties.the g5x is the newest version but keeps the same shape. its tween a palm mouse an a claw grip you can use either way.
keyboard tho is gona help a bit to alot.with the riser it puts your hands in a downward natural positon .that keybards just shaped right .but going from a standard format keybard to a ergo is not that hard an your wrists be a bit better.hope this helps ya.
"Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing." Robert E. Howard, The Tower of the Elephant (1933)
I spent a couple of years playing 16 hours a day (before the flamefest, I have severe clinical depression, severe anxiety disorders and social phobias among other things, and MMOs were/are most of my social contacts due to not living in the same country as my family, and they suck anyway). Prior to that my job for the last 10 years has been typing 10 hours a day, so, all in all, not great for your wrists.
I found that I had a few problems once in a while with my right hand, but thats mostly from the mouse, bit of "electric shock" feeling, and my little finger went numb a lot cos it is just sticking out at the side when I am using the keyboard.
Wierd (and cheap solution) I found is to put a pillow under my arm, or move the keyboard further back on the desk. I found changing the angle of my arm helped greatly
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