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what the...?

hernameisrio

hernameisrio

Guest
Sep 27, 2011
1,202
250
Berkeley, CA
#1
Okay, so I've been working pretty heavy hours at a temp data entry job trying to make enough money to possibly upgrade my bass, I mean, pay off my student loans and not end up homeless. :/ Read: lots of typing all day. AND I've been playing bass a lot when I'm not at work, especially slap. Well, between one thing and another, recently, my right thumb has started twitching! It's really, really annoying. Obviously I need to either take a break, scroll the mouse with my left hand for a week, or do something different, at any rate. My real question is, has this ever happened to anyone else? It's so weird!!!
 
#3
Ha! Go figure I quit the film industry almost 3 years ago because of too much heavy lifting, and I manage to get hurt sitting at a desk. If you knew me, you'd laugh... oh well. Guess I'll rearrange the furniture a bit tomorrow and see if that helps. I've never believed that humans are designed to sit at a desk hunched over a computer for 8 hours a day anyway!
 
#4
I solved my computer input arm/wrist/hand problems with three items:

1) Logitech Trackman Marble Trackball Mouse limited wrist movement and programmable:
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2) Microsoft Natural Keyboard to create a wrist position that uses less movement to hit the Enter key and to reach the shift keys for capital letters. Less turning of the wrist means to me 100% reduction of RSI
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3) Wrist rest like this (about 18" long x 4" wide-note: the trackball mouse is about 3.5" wide) only not for my wrist. I place it vertically along side of my keyboard with the mouse at far end. I then use it to put my arm on it while using the track ball mouse. No wrist movement. No arm movement. Support for the total arm. Note: the one I have is not gel material.
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Hope you feel better. :)

Edit: Read that it's a temp job. I suggest you stop playing bass at work to rest your hands/wrists/arms. See how that goes. Otherwise the only thing that solves/reduces RSI problems is to stop the motion that causes the problems.
 
#5
I think the studio has an extra trackball mouse, maybe I'll borrow it...didn't even think of that, but it does help, since this seems to be a scrolling...injury...god, that sounds so ridiculous. Yes, I hurt myself scrolling a mouse. You can all laugh at my misfortune now.
 
#6
hernameisrio said:
Okay, so I've been working pretty heavy hours at a temp data entry job
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I apologize in advance for hijacking your thread, but it's only for a little while... What sort of job is a "data entry job"? I think I'm kinda looking for different types of clerical jobs (it's a clerical job, right?) I might get into because they often entail little interaction with people, especially "customers and clients", or so I think. That's why I ask.

Thanks, and once you answer, I swear I'll stop hijacking your thread.
 
#7
Hey Carl. Hijack away. Mine is kinda cool because I'm basically helping to develop a piece of software for smartphones. So I'm kinda beta-testing it and I'm also inputting the actual data for the search engine and the database. The pay is not great, but it adds up all right because it's cash and I work a lot. So you just have to type fast and know your way around computers and spreadsheets (most of them use Google Docs these days anyway, although it doesn't hurt to know Excel). I just fell into it, to be honest...things have been slow at the studio and I needed money, and here we are now! I just wish my thumb would go back to normal!
 
#8
hernameisrio said:
Hey Carl. Hijack away. Mine is kinda cool because I'm basically helping to develop a piece of software for smartphones. So I'm kinda beta-testing it and I'm also inputting the actual data for the search engine and the database. The pay is not great, but it adds up all right because it's cash and I work a lot. So you just have to type fast and know your way around computers and spreadsheets (most of them use Google Docs these days anyway, although it doesn't hurt to know Excel). I just fell into it, to be honest...things have been slow at the studio and I needed money, and here we are now! I just wish my thumb would go back to normal!
Click to expand...

It sounds like something I could do. Money is not a huge issue to me as long as it lets me live, say, comfortably enough. And maybe have some extra cash to save for more bass gear/ music gear/ lessons of course.

Thanks for answering the question. Hijack is over :D

I hope your thumb gets better soon! For your passion and for your temp job, it must suck that it's twitching! I wish I could be of more help in this regard, but I can't think of anything else aside of what other posters said. Have you consulted a doctor?
 
#10
hernameisrio said:
Update...I don't have insurance, so I went not to my doctor but to, well, my bass teacher! He said to support my wrist better in order to put less stress on the thumb. :shrug:
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There are a lot of good articles around on ergonomics, if you ever sense a problem stop and learn what you might be doing wrong from them in your every day world and change it asap.

I got a weird shoulder thing from playing video games with a mouse on my easy-chair armrest, it is a good idea to pay attention to the angles of your wrists and arms when doing anything repetitive like that.

Supporting your wrists might help keep them straight, probably good advice but look at everything in your work environment and make it right, seat height, wrist placement, posture, all of it.

Otherwise you will be working for something you will never be able to use... :(
 
#11
I think the main thing is the chair. I'm skinny and not so large, so a lot of those super nerd office chairs tend to be kinda big for me and thus, they don't really "fit" right...I end up having to push it way in towards the desk and then I can never get my arms at a decent angle for typing because I'm on top of the computer...on my computer at home, things seem better, but then again I don't sit there for longer than an hour or two. See, human beings are just not designed to sit down for 8 hours a day! We might as well go back to swinging from trees, there was probably less risk for carpal tunnel syndrome!
 
#13
Rio, sorry to read about this. I had something similar happen to me a few years ago and thankfully I responded well to treatment.

Comfortable chair, proper posture, better mouse, etc. are all a great start.

Lots of water, stretching, rest/breaks and some acupuncture sessions helped me as well. Good luck to you.
 

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