A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

please share tips on preventing wrist/hand pain - radn

Posted: Feb 16, 2010

Hello Friends,

If you could kindly share your tips on what you do to keep your wrists going for some more years. Do you type with a brace, frequent breaks, hand exercises? Any ideas please?

Ergonomics - Long-Time MT

[ In Reply To ..]
I've been doing this full time for 15 years and have very few problems. Ergonmics is important for all of your body. Before I start with general rules, the keyboard should be in line with your hips--with the letter H in the middle of your body, at the belly button. You are not supposed to be reaching, up, down, or over to type. This is where tray tables come in handy.

1) For general safe comfort and health: Sit straight, but not stiff, feet flat on the floor, elbows at sides. Do NOT wing out elbows when you type and conversely, do not hug them tight to the body.

2) For wrist, hand, and arm health: If you are touch-typing, hands at home-base keys at all times. Only the fingers reach for the letters. No moving the arms and/or hands to reach for letters. Wrists low, but NO wrinkles in the wrists. That means no bends or twists in the wrists anywhere. (This is the number one cause of CTS, yet the hardest to control.) One continuous line from pinky to elbow on each extremity. One continuous line from thumb to crook of elbow on each extremity. One continus line from middle finger to crook. If there's an angle on the way up, you're crooked. NO WRINKLES ALLOWED UNLESS THEY ARE AGE WRINKLES. Look down now and then to check. You don't have to stop typing.

3) For overall body health: Keep a light touch as much as possible. The harder you pound, the more stress on all of the body.

4) For neck and upper back health: Don't jut neck forward. This is a stress habit that can cause a multitude of neck and upper back problems. No twisting movements or far-reaching movements to get to books, etc. Monitor should be in line with eyes, perhaps even looking slightly down at it, if anything. If your neck is in any way looking up at it, your neck is going to suffer. Adjust the monitor stand, saw it off, whatever, if you have to!

5) For eye health: Monitor should be approximately one arm's length away from eyes. Look away now and then for a second, out a window, at the floor, anything.

Keep a check on your body relaxation! The more tense you are, the more problems you'll have.

Thanks for your tips - radn

[ In Reply To ..]
Thank you so very much. I will try to adopt these.

Oops, forgot one - Long-Time MT

[ In Reply To ..]
I forgot one very important thing! A decent chair that you can adjust up or down and that swivels.

Very good suggestions I don't have a lot to add. - CrankyOldBroadOnTheBeach

[ In Reply To ..]
Ditto to everything Long Time MT said. I can elaborate and clarify just a bit on the wrist issue.

I have a slightly curved keyboard (the Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000, it's cheap and I'm on my second or third one) and a beanbag wrist rest in front of it. The beanbag conforms to the shape of the keyboard.

This arrangement allows me to keep my wrists in absolutely neutral position--no wrinkles, no bends either up or down, or from side to side.

I've been at this for 38 years, and I've worked on some of the worst ergonomic nightmares you could imagine (typewriters being a major culprit). Back in 1980 I developed tendinitis in both wrists as well as a (thank heaven) fairly mild case of DeQuervain's on the right. (You haven't lived until you've experienced a positive Finkelstein's test. I don't recommend it.) I was still young enough back then to think that life should be pain-free, so I whined a lot, but whining didn't pay the bills, so I eventually sucked it up and worked through the pain. One of the best days of my life was when they took ibuprofen off prescription. Interestingly, I had more hand problems back then than I do now, 30 years older (yikes).

And I have been lucky enough to never, EVER have had symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome. Of course, every OTHER thing I own hurts most of the time..... :)

Oh, and because I started my career on typewriters, I still tend to be rather hard on keyboards, which is why I like the Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000, which costs under $20, so when I inevitably beat one to death, it doesn't break the bank to replace it.

not much help, but you can read anyway - cadbury

[ In Reply To ..]
I used to wear braces at night when I slept. Then, during the day, I would take ibuprofen 400 mg at the start of my shift.

Sometimes I would rest my wrist on a gel ice pack to type and other times I would wrap the gel ice pack on top of the wrists.

I only got that wrist pain for about the first 6 months of typing as I was not used to that. Now, I work 12 hour days and no pain.

You might want to see a doctor as you could have carpal tunnel or something.

Hsnd psin - Liz

[ In Reply To ..]
I had to have CT surgery about 2 years after I started transcribing and 31 years later still no problems. However, I have developed ulnar nerve palsy in my left hand. It is horrible, try transcring when there is no feeling in your ring and little finger. I am completely unable to get my little finger and ring finger to come together. To add insult to inury, I am left-handed and there is almost no strength in my left hand anymore. Good luck to you. Surgery is what helped my CT, absolutely.

wrist/hand pain - transnutty

[ In Reply To ..]
I swear by my ergonomic keyboard. I also use slightly compressive tennis wrist bands.

Similar Messages:

Nov 18, 2009

I am a new MT and have only been working a couple of weeks but loving it! I was just wondering if any of you seasoned MTs out there remembered having hand and wrist pain when you first started? With the increased amount of typing that I have been doing all day long every day, I find that my hands and wrists hurt when I am doing other things. I am not talking about being sore, which I expected until I get use to all the typing, but actual stabs of pain when I move them certain w ...

May 03, 2012

would it be right hand to wrist pain or right hand-to-wrist pain? ...

Nov 29, 2012

Has anyone else noticed extreme pain pop up since SR became the norm? I used to get tired fingers, but nothing like has come on the last few years. I'm on the verge of surgery from tennis elbow on both sides, CT on both sides, can't move my hands for a half hour after I wake up in the morning, etc. All the years of typing didn't bring this on, but 3 years of SR has. Seems obvious to me! ...

Jan 15, 2010

My thumb is killing me!! Any personal tips for dealing with pain while trying to work? ...

Nov 20, 2012

Pt is status post radius and wrist fractures. No Tinels, Finkelsteins, Phalens, or s/l donnatells of the wrist. ...

Nov 17, 2010

Would those of you who do acute care work and average 2000 lpd share a few pointers with us on how you do this? I've been in this business for many years but struggle to do 1200 lpd with about 40% ESL dictators in my account pool. Also, there's very little repetition in the dictation narratives. I understand about refining your macros, which I do, but other than that I just can't seem to get my speed up. Thanks for any help that you're willing to give. ...

Jun 20, 2012

My left wrist is killing me. I have been doing ASR for years but lately my wrist hurts much worse. There is probably going to be a syndrome named for this. MModal wrist syndrome or something. I have also had 3 carpal tunnel surgeries. It's ridiculous to be killing our health for peanuts. ...

Mar 12, 2015

Patient has undergone previous fractures and underwent distal ulnar excision ____ procedure with pinning of the distal ulna to the radius. ...

Feb 17, 2010

A patient who has a rotator cuff repair on the right and then started having pain to the left wrist after surgery. The pain was 10/10 but recently has been helped by "brafyvac" or "brafyfac" therapy? Anybody know what that is? Thanks. ...

Aug 12, 2013

Nm ...

Sep 24, 2010

I have never done a QCare incident before and it will not accept the incident, syaing that my ADP # is missing, but there is no place for this be put in. Anyone know what the heck the problem is? ...

Nov 08, 2010

I'm going completely blank on this one. The patient entered the hospital for chest pain. The doc states: (blank sounds like gel, or jail) He denies any current discomfort but states when it is present it is usually a mild to moderate degree of pressure about the chest. He denies any radiation to the _____, arms, or back. ...

Jan 08, 2010

He is referring to premenstrual pain?? ...

Jun 05, 2011

Transcribing rheumatology - s/l closterpedic pain, posturopedic pain. Any ideas? Patient recently had shingles, if that helps. ...

Nov 18, 2014

nm ...

Feb 22, 2012

There is ____________of the scaphoid at the attachment of the scapholunate ligament with a subtle tear not being able to be excluded. There is mild dorsal __________ of the lunate. There is irregularity of the triangular fiber cartilage without frank tear and _________. MRI demonstrated degenerative changes at the 1st carpometacarpal and scaphotrapezial joint. She has cystic changes versus fluid in the scapholunate interval. There is s/l ***in-stig-nus**** of the scaphoid a ...

May 16, 2012

The wrist has marrow edema, joint effusion and an intra-articular body. Differential considerations include RA and s/l "indurin" infection. ...

Oct 18, 2009

The patient is still having significant problems with regard to her left wrist. A [cockupwrist] was applied for such. He might be saying .. 'dressing' where I think I hear wrist.. and its a K sound (or c) at the beginning, but I've gone through my list of dressings and nothing seems to fit. any ideas? tia :) ...

Mar 01, 2010

X-ray findings were obtained and reviewed today. These demonstrate a solid fusion of his distal radius with excellent consolidation of all his carpal bones. His pisiform is in excellent conjunction with the radius itself; the "dairy J"? appears to be well-preserved. There is callus formation over the radius. Please HELP!!!! "Dairy J" ...

Oct 16, 2011

She has a negative Finkelstein's test and negative s/l Baylor's grind test. Thanks!! ...

Jun 20, 2012

First dorsal compartment of the wrist or 1st dorsal compartment of the wrist? Also, when did intra-articular change to intraarticular? ...

Apr 28, 2010

s/l janel or genel test. I cannot find this kind of test in my word books. Any help is greatly appreciated. ...

May 01, 2010

Plan: We have recommended occupational therapy for modality treatments, s/l BTE strengthening for pronation and supination. ...

Jun 09, 2011

He is not tender along the s/l "course of his plate", especially anterior, posterior, medial, lateral. Thanks. ...

Jul 07, 2011

The patient has a painful wrist and the doc says what sounds like "balar" joint. I've never heard of it and looked up joints and bones and just cannot find this. Sentence is: She is tender along the _____ joint on the left wrist. ...

Jul 20, 2011

I cannot type without a wrist rest for my keyboard. I had a good one and cannot replace it as they no longer make it. Can anyone suggest a good one? My old one was 19" long and about 2" deep. Thanks so much! ...

Mar 31, 2012

doc says: He does describe some discomfort over the intersections. On the pressure or palpation over this does not seem to accentuate this. I am assuming it is intersections and not inner sections. Also, he says this like it is one big sentence, but doesn't make sense to me that way. Your opinion on the sentence structure. Thanks! ...

May 01, 2012

Looking to purchase a wrist rest for a Toshiba Satellite laptop. Suggestions would be appreciated. ...

Apr 04, 2014

need some advice on what the best wrist support braces are as i am starting to have some problems with my right upper wrist and lower forearm, like something is pulling or twisting if I put weight on my hand like to life myself up. don't want it to get any worse, but there's a lot of wrist splints out there. Would like to know what you all use and when you use it. ...

Jun 02, 2010

Patient had a carpal tunnel relase and doc dictates post-op instruction and then dictates the following: He is to call us in the fall to have his s/l PRC performed on the right wrist. Any clue what PRC could be? He pretty clearly dictates PRC but I can't figure it out in regards to the rest of the sentence. THANKS!!! ...