Tips for Avoiding Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is a relatively recent problem for workers and PC users. It first started occurring frequently when the Industrial Revolution started in England and later came to America. Workers who repeatedly used their hands, and especially fingers, for delicate tasks, started feeling numbness and pain in their hands and arms.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome occurs because of internal swelling of the nerves in your wrist, or carpal tunnel. It can lead to intense pain, numbness, and even weakness of your hands. If untreated, it can lead to more serious problems such as inability to hold items properly or to have a strong grip.

Typing itself is an unnatural movement of the fingers. In our natural state we shouldn't need to repeatedly punch buttons for hours on end.

There are a number of ways to reduce the risk of getting Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Most of them are very easy to apply and will help right away.

Use Proper Ergonomics

Your seating and your arm position make a big difference in the level of comfort and stress you feel. You should hold your arms up so that your wrists are floating and level with your knuckles. You shouldn't have to press hard on the buttons, but rather a light touch should suffice. You may want to consider getting a keyboard with more sensitive buttons so that you can press more easily.

Take Frequent Breaks

You should aim to take a break from typing every half-hour, especially if your job requires a lot of typing. It's good to give your eyes a break from staring at the screen. Drink some water or take a small stroll around your vicinity.

Avoid Long Typing Sprees

Certain online activities, especially chatting, encourage you to type a lot and very quickly. Avoid chatting with multiple people at one time, if you do need to chat. Better yet, try to minimize chatting online. Talking with people in real life, face to face, is more communicative anyway. Another option for online communication is email or Voice over IP programs like Skype.

Listen to your body

Sometimes after typing for a while, you begin to notice some tingling or numbness in your hands. Don't ignore that internal message. You should try to reduce unnecessary typing and manual activities and let your hands rest for a while. Consider purchasing voice recognition software if you can afford it, such as Dragon NaturallySpeaking Speech Recognition Software.