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ellenkushner For our adventures in Finland so far, I cannot do better than to refer you to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
deliasherman 's gorgeous narratives (as Huck said, "She told the truth, mainly" -- and when she didn't, I gently correct her in Comments). - meanwhile, found this over in Justine Larbalestier's blog in the Comments section of her post on her RSI, and offer it to all:
Just to clarify, in case this will be helpful to anybody reading this who has RSI that is not responding well to physical therapy…
The reason PT did not work for me is that while it was my wrists and forearms that were sore, the real problem was in my shoulders. My physical therapists did all kinds of work on my wrists and hands. It accomplished nothing. Then I went to a massage therapist who found significant tightness in my lats, pecs, triceps, deltoids, and the rotator cuff (especially subscapularis). Once those muscles were released, my wrist pain, which had been unrelenting for years, disappeared.
I’ve heard that the reason it works this way is that tight muscles in the upper body restrict circulation to the extremities. With impeded circulation, your body is not able to do the microrepair it needs to do on the small muscles and tendons of the forearm as you type. I’m not a doctor and I have no idea if that’s actually true. But I do know that if I keep my shoulder muscles stretched and loose, I do not have wrist pain.
If you go to a massage therapist, make sure it’s the right kind. “Feel good” massage will do nothing–you need therapeutic, deep-tissue massage. It is extremely painful. Whenever the therapist finds a tight spot, ask him/her which muscle it is. Then go home and google stretches for that muscle, so you can put together an at-home stretching program that targets your trouble spots. Pecs seem to be particularly important. I know one woman with chronic, severe RSI whose problems were almost entirely resolved just by doing pec stretches several times a day. For me, subscapularis is the biggest trouble-maker (in part because it is difficult to stretch), but I stretch everything to cover my bases.
It was not written by Justine, but by a Gentle Reader - and there are a few other comments there along these lines, as well.
deliasherman 's gorgeous narratives (as Huck said, "She told the truth, mainly" -- and when she didn't, I gently correct her in Comments). - meanwhile, found this over in Justine Larbalestier's blog in the Comments section of her post on her RSI, and offer it to all:Just to clarify, in case this will be helpful to anybody reading this who has RSI that is not responding well to physical therapy…
The reason PT did not work for me is that while it was my wrists and forearms that were sore, the real problem was in my shoulders. My physical therapists did all kinds of work on my wrists and hands. It accomplished nothing. Then I went to a massage therapist who found significant tightness in my lats, pecs, triceps, deltoids, and the rotator cuff (especially subscapularis). Once those muscles were released, my wrist pain, which had been unrelenting for years, disappeared.
I’ve heard that the reason it works this way is that tight muscles in the upper body restrict circulation to the extremities. With impeded circulation, your body is not able to do the microrepair it needs to do on the small muscles and tendons of the forearm as you type. I’m not a doctor and I have no idea if that’s actually true. But I do know that if I keep my shoulder muscles stretched and loose, I do not have wrist pain.
If you go to a massage therapist, make sure it’s the right kind. “Feel good” massage will do nothing–you need therapeutic, deep-tissue massage. It is extremely painful. Whenever the therapist finds a tight spot, ask him/her which muscle it is. Then go home and google stretches for that muscle, so you can put together an at-home stretching program that targets your trouble spots. Pecs seem to be particularly important. I know one woman with chronic, severe RSI whose problems were almost entirely resolved just by doing pec stretches several times a day. For me, subscapularis is the biggest trouble-maker (in part because it is difficult to stretch), but I stretch everything to cover my bases.
It was not written by Justine, but by a Gentle Reader - and there are a few other comments there along these lines, as well.