So yesterday, my wrist started feeling like it was full of rusty hinges, you know? Thumb side, sharp pinching whenever I clicked the mouse. And my elbow? Trying to lift my coffee mug felt like someone had shoved a hot poker right near the bony point. Figured, okay, this typing and clicking all day plus playing games late is catching up big time. Time to actually do something before I can’t even hold a fork.
Facing the Screaming Wrist and Angry Elbow Head-On
First thing this morning, I glared at my stupid computer setup. My chair was practically a dining chair, desk way too high. Grabbed some thick books – my old college textbooks finally useful for something – and stacked them under my monitor. Bam, now the top of the screen was roughly level with my eyeballs. No more craning my neck down like a turkey. Felt weirdly tall.
Then I attacked the keyboard and mouse situation. Shoved the keyboard waaaay back on the desk so my wrists didn’t need to bend upwards just to type. Found an old wrist rest buried in a drawer, dusty but usable, plonked it right in front. Made a mental note to actually clean it later.
The mouse was the real pain factory. I used to have it way over to the side, forcing my elbow to stick out like a chicken wing. Scooted it in closer, right next to the keyboard. Reached for the mouse without twisting my arm all weird. Instant tiny improvement on the elbow rage.
Forcing My Hands and Arms to Take Breaks (They Hated It)
Okay, so the setup was less terrible now. But I remembered reading something about taking breaks. Who has time for breaks? Apparently, my screaming tendons do.
Set a dumb timer on my phone for every 30 minutes. Annoying as heck when it went off mid-thought. But every time it beeped, I made myself:
- Stand up, stretch arms overhead like I was grabbing something off a high shelf.
- Open and close my fists real slow, like squishing stress balls (didn’t have any, just air).
- Shake out my hands and wrists like I’d just washed them and had no towel.
Felt ridiculous the first few times, honestly. Stretching? In the middle of writing an email? But after a couple of cycles, seriously, the constant ache started to… fade? No kidding.
Finding Stretches That Didn’t Feel Like Torture
Later, digging deeper online (avoiding scary medical sites!), I found two stretches that actually felt kinda good:
- Wrist Flexor Stretch: Stuck my arm straight out, palm down. Used my other hand to gently pull the fingers back towards my arm. Held it. Felt a solid pull up the forearm. Did this a bunch during the day.
- Elbow Tendon Glide: Held my arm out, made a fist, then slowly bent my elbow like doing a bicep curl, but kept my hand stiff the whole way. Weird feeling, but seemed to loosen things up around that angry bone point.
Started doing these stretches during my now “mandatory” breaks. Annoying routine slowly turning into habit.
Where Things Stand Now
Okay, it’s been a solid day of forcing these changes. Is it magically fixed? Hell no. Still a bit stiff.
But the constant pinching in the wrist? Muted. That hot poker feeling in the elbow? Way less intense, more like a dull reminder. Actually managed to game for an hour tonight without wanting to cut my arm off. Real talk: forcing breaks and fixing how I sit and clicking stupidly simple stretches actually made a dent. Who knew? Sticking with it, because typing without wincing is surprisingly motivating.