RSI -
Repetitive Strain Injuries -- was: Iaito / Shinken - Lightweight - RSI
(Extracted from Iaido-L)
Hello, Bushi!!!
> Any other tips? (Maybe somebody knows an ergonomic
> mouse substitute?)
I have little advice on the Iaito thing, but I can help with the mouse thing,
for I work with computers all day long and sometimes into the nigth too and I
had the same problem.
First thing, set your mouse button so that the right click falls into the
left side and the left click the other way around. Use the rigth button with
your index finger. Being a mac user all my life till a year ago, I4ve never had
troubles with the mouse, when I started working with PCs it started to ache, so
I found out that your hand stays much more confortable when you use a one button
mouse cause it didn4t have to stay tense in the place to use the two buttons.
Second, use no-finger, imobilizing gloves and some kind of support attached to
it, so it will move with your hand as you use the mouse and keep your hand not
flexed up.
Third, do some hand flexing exercices once each about one hour in front of
computer.
Fourth, find a good Shiatsu or Acupunture massagist and treat with him once a
while.
Hope it4ll help.
Regards,
Leonardo.
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I experienced some bad hand and arm problems after working for an internet
research company for several months. Severe pain in the elbow and would have to
crack my middle finger straight every morning when I woke up. Once I left that
job and bought myself a trackball mouse the problem slowly went away. I have the
left set for single click, the right for the normal right button function and
the middle one for double-click. It's a Logitech Trackman Vista and I find that
it uses the whole hand instead of just one finger
Bill Mears
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I would suggest that you do some weight training on some Nautilus-style
equipment, not free weights. Use the machine that's designed to work the
triceps. Start out with a weight that allows you to do at least 25 to 30 reps.
If that doesn't hurt, add some weight, enough to bring it down to 20 reps. If
possible, do it with your hand in the same position relative to your arm as it
is when you are cutting with a sword. IOW, push the handle of the machine with
the little finger edge of your hand, rather than the palm of your hand. If it
hurts, stop. If it gets worse, stop. If you're lucky, It might help.
Use the bicep machine too, with enough weight to allow you to do the same number
of reps as you are doing on the tricep machine.
When I first got my current iaito, which is quite heavy, I developed tendonitis
from using it. It continued for about a year, but I kept practicing anyway. I
used one of those strap things that you wear on your forearm and that made it
more tolerable, but it never went away.
Then I joined a health club, and when I went in to learn how to use the
equipment, I almost didn't use the tricep/bicep machine because of the
tendonitis in my right forearm. Then I thought I'd try it with some real light
weights just to see how it worked. It didn't hurt, so I used it again the next
time I went in. A couple of days later I noticed that my forearm didn't hurt any
more when I did Iai. The only thing that I can figure is that using that machine
fixed it. The problem has never recurred, and it's been at least 6 or 7 years
since it happened.
I know, it's not very scientific, the chance that it might fix the problem for
someone else is pretty slim. But what the heck, try it, it might save you from
having to buy an iaito that's made for the "French market". :)
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Brian
Having worked with computer graphics for the last 10-odd years, the main
cause of RSI and other related problems, is bad posture. Pretty much everybody
knows how they *should* sit, but noone does, especially as the day drags on. I
just recently myself had problems with my left forearm and I thought it was due
to too much suburi and toned my kendo practice down a notch..it helped a bit,
but didnt solve it. (I'd also been suffering from *very* stiff shoulders, but
partly put that down to deadline stress)
Then I realised that my chair at work had been lowered an inch or two, causing
my arm to rest against the table...I raised the chair back to it's proper height
and the stiffness in the shoulders is gone (so is the deadline) and my arm has
pretty much fully recovered. (There was no soreness after last nights
practice)...and that's within a week.
So:
Make sure you sit straight and got lower back support.
Your thighs should be horizontal and not resting on the edge of the seat. If
they do, get a footrest.
Knees should be bent 90 degrees.
Ideally (this is the hard one), no part of your hands or arms should touch the
desk when you are working. (The best I can do, is to just have the base of my
palm resting lightly on the desk).
Every hour or so, get up and walk around.
Regards
Jakob Schmidt
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Ed Thibedeau
I had severe wrist problems from the computer also. I started by switching to a
marble Logitech roller mouse - both at home and work. It helped quit a bit.
Finally I got an ergonomic computer chair. This allows for proper positioning as
Jakob mentioned. It also solves the issue of the wrist resting on the edge of
the desk- which I think is the biggest culprit. The armrests are short (front to
back), you raise them up a bit more than usual so your forearm is higher than
your wrist.This then allows your arm at about the elbow to rest on the arm rest
while the remainder of the arm and wrist are free, except for where you hand
contacts the mouse. Within 2 weeks all my tingling and pain was gone. That was
after have almost no feeling in the wrist and hand for 2 years. The chairs are
expensive - but cheaper than an operation and the recovery is a lot quicker.
http://www.ArkansasGoshinkan.org
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One exercise that helps with tendonitus/carpal problems is to wrap several
rubber bands around the closed fingers, then slowly open them and hold against
the tension.
Evan Splett
Ottawa
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David Haas
I had been having problems with tennis elbow as well. Went through several
therapies and the rubber band trick really worked well. Just a medium
sized rubber band with your finger in the inside. You then expand them as far
as you can slowly. I was doing reps of 30 about 3 times a day. Really
works well.
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I'm surprised nobody else has mentioned the Aikido wrist stretches. These
always work great for me when I have RSI problems from using a sword, a mouse or
anything else.
-Giancarlo
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Good posture helps a lot, as does mousing with your off hand. Not getting
wound up at work helps, because carpal tunnel syndrome is related the pressure
in the carpal tunnel, which is affected by blood pressure. Less coffee is good
to this end. Bad things to try are regular doses of naproxen or Ibuprofen
(nasty- especially if you drink) which suppress the inflamation in your joints
and the protective reactions of your stomach. If your doctor wants to put you on
something, Vioxx is much better, but it makes your insurance company cringe.
Andy
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Hi all,
I like the elastic band exercise idea. In my recent recovery from tennis elbow,
and in order to work up to using an iaito recently loaned me by a friend, I've
been using the following 5 forearm exercises quite happily:
With dumbbells (sitting, with your forearm supported by your thigh/knee):
1. Wrist curl (palm & inside forearm up, lift weight by bending wrist up)
2. Reverse wrist curl (palm & inside forearm down, lift weight by bending wrist
up)
With a dumbell loaded on one side only (sitting, with your arm supported by your
thigh/knee):
3. Rotation (hold unweighted end [the weighted end will point up], and rotate
the weight 90 degrees to the left and back, then right and back)
Cross-drill a 12-inch piece of 1-inch dowel in the middle, tie one end of a
4-foot cord to the dowel through the hole, and the other end to a weight:
4. Hold the dowel in both hands at shoulder height in front of you. Roll the
weight down and up (or up and down) by rotating the dowel with your wrists.
Don't cheat by letting the dowel slide in your hands.
5. Hand crunches with those hand-squeezing things.
Most of these don't require much weight to be challenging. I do lots of
stretching before, during, and after all of them (especially the dowel-rotating
exercise). There's a great weight-training website at
http://www.exrx.net/Exercise.html
that I've found very useful (as a total newcomer to such things).
Steve
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On Tue, 19 Mar 2002 Kaimon wrote:
>Hello listkas,
>
>I know, I'm a bit late, because last month' threads about buying
>iaito/shinken and about weight causing strain illnesses is almost gone,
>but I would like to ask you for advice. I'm presently not training Iai
>because of some "repetive strain illness" in the forearm (sort of tennis
>elbow) - it's not from iaido, it's from working with the computer mouse,
>but it gets worse when I train. I can't do anything about the
>un-ergonomic computer (we have to buy what MS et al. sell), so I stopped
>training.
Kaimon,
sounds like your scalenes, sternocloidalmastoid(sp), and may biceps are causing
you problems.
Get yourself to a good myothereapist who works on trigger point release. If you
can, order this book, "The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook: Your Self-Treatment
Guide for Pain Relief" by Clair Davies. The stuff in it really works.
You can get it from
http://www.round-earth.com. The book's page is
http://www.round-earth.com/books.html. Send email to Carol there and she'll
give you good advice. And sell you the book.
Also...
amazon usa
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1572242507/qid=1017201650/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_3_1/102-9302428-4216908
aha!!!!!
amazon de
http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/1572242507/qid%3D1017201650/sr%3D8-1/ref%3Dsr%5F8%5F3%5F1/
302-1926298-2811262
Good luck,
Kim
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Kim A. Sommer
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Last updated on 13 Sep 2002