Wrist pain from typing

Last Updated on February 23, 2022 by Dave Farquhar

I’ve had a long history with wrist pain from typing, brought on by carpal tunnel syndrome or repetitive stress injury. People sometimes as me to elaborate, so I’ll elaborate on beating carpal tunnel. I was able to beat it without surgery, and you may be able to as well.

It’s something I struggled with off and on for a good 10 years. Mostly off, in recent years, which is good. At one point, it was so bad I wasn’t able to unload my dishwasher, because I couldn’t grip the plates long enough. It was career threatening too. I remember when my church moved to a new building in 2000. We started the service in the old building, then marched half a mile south to the new building. My job was to start at the back of the line, snap pictures, run up to the middle, turn around, snap pictures, then run up to the front, snap some pictures, then race as fast as I could to the church, dash up into the loft, load the pics into the computer, load that into a Powerpoint presentation showing the history of the church, and then project it, so that at the beginning of the service, they’d be able to see the entire history of the church–up to and including what had happened five minutes before. Copying that half-dozen pictures and getting them into Powerpoint hurt a lot more than that half-mile run did.

But for the most part, a lot of really repetitive spreadsheet work has been the only thing that’s caused it to get bad for the last five years or so.

Treating wrist pain from typing with vitamins

If you feel it coming on–and by “it,” I mean tingling or pain in your wrists–don’t mess around. There are several things you can get over the counter that help. I tried everything; what worked best was a combination of flax seed oil (1000 mg), vitamin b6 (200 mg), b complex (amount doesn’t matter) and an alfalfa tablet. Start out taking it twice a day, at lunch and dinner, then back off to once a day once the condition improves. The flax oil and b6 give the body what it needs to help nerve damage; the b complex just makes the b6 work better, and the alfalfa is a good all-around source of nutrients.

This regimen got me functioning again. The longer you wait, the longer it takes to work. I take some at the first sign of discomfort, these days. Some people may try to sell you premium vitamins but the stuff from the pharmacy aisle at Target worked fine for me.

Today, on a good week I might only take the vitamins once a week. During a bad week, I may have to take them twice a day to manage the pain. But bad weeks are relatively rare.

Fix your work area to reduce wrist pain from typing

The other thing to check is your work area. If your arms and legs don’t form a right angle when you sit down to type, your keyboard is too high. Get that keyboard lower, whether it means using a keyboard drawer or lowering the desk or building your own desk. I’ve never worked anywhere that had the desk surface low enough, though most computer desks for home use that I’ve seen are at least close.

Use an adjustable chair and adjust the height so your legs can sit at a right angle. An adjustable used Steelcase or similar commercial-grade office chair costs around $300 and is an outstanding investment.

I get flak for saying this, but cheap keyboards and mice contribute to wrist pain from typing. Get a comfortable keyboard and mouse. The difference between a $5 mouse or keyboard and a model that costs $25 is tremendous. Lately I’ve been using a tenkeyless mechanical keyboard with brown switches, and it helps.

Massage works surprisingly well on wrist pain from typing

But the knockout blow for me was a professional therapeutic massage at a chiropractor’s office. The therapist found a number of knots in my shoulders. She attacked them, literally, and got them to loosen up. I felt like I’d had the snot beat out of me for a couple of days, but my arm felt 20 years younger. Seriously. I felt like I could play softball again, and I’m at the age where professional baseball players have to start thinking about hanging it up.

Not every chiropractor offers therapeutic massage, so make a few phone calls, or get a referral from a doctor. “Massage” can be a euphemism for services of questionable legality, so staying near the doctor is a way to stay out of trouble.

The last resort: surgery

I always take flak for this, but surgery shouldn’t be the first course of action. The surgery is non-reversible and can only be done once, so if it flares up again–and I’ve seen it happen to people–you’re limited to this course of action. So you might as well take the less-invasive approach first.

I’m not a doctor, but my father and grandfather were, and that was their philosophy. Sadly, it was controversial even in the 1970s when my grandfather was winding down his practice and Dad was starting his.