dealing with carpal tunnel

[Officer Crayon]

Pretty simple, how do you pc gamers deal with this? ways to prevent it is needed.
im pretty new to pc gaming, and this will be invaluable.

 

[Kelz0r]

Good posture. That's all I've ever done to combat it and it's never been an issue. Basically, keep your wrist straight when you're using the keyboard and mouse. Your hands should not be angled, but straight and level with your forearm.

 

[TehCookie]

Get a wrist brace if you need one, and there is always the option of taking a break.

 

[chaosbedlam]

my personal opinion would be to just say fit and healthy, i have never had carpal tunnel in my mear 27 years of gaming. i guess if you are going to play for long stints just make sure to take a break every couple of hours and stretch out your wrist and legs etc.

 

[Blue Hero]

I look forward to carpal tunnel. After a while, it starts feeling good. I just wish there was an easier way to get carpal tunnel.

 

[RanD00M]

Well I've only had to deal with it once, and when I did have it I just powered through. 3 weeks of immense pain, but totally awesome.

 

[Lilani]

Just keep your posture right. Get an ergonomically designed keyboard and mouse, or a wrist brace if those aren't preventing pain. You want to have a neutral position for your wrist, not tilting or twisting dramatically in any direction. Also, be sure to make sure you're relaxing your muscles from time to time (since you're new to PC gaming, you'll have to consciously watch this at first to make sure you're doing it. After a while it should become a habit.). There are also little exercises you can look up to do after a long session, if you feel it's necessary.

 

[AD-Stu]

Regular breaks are the most important thing. You don't want to "deal" with carparal tunnel so much as you want to avoid getting it in the first place, and you avoid getting it by avoiding performing repetitive small movements for hours on end.

A vertical mouse can help too if you're PC gaming - it'll take a bit of getting used to at first, but it's a better posture for your wrist.

 

[WolfThomas]

Everything mentioned here is smart advice, regular breaks, exercise, healthy posture, braces if you need them.

That said most people who say they have Carpal Tunnel just have regular muscle cramps from overuse, genuine median nerve impingement has a very particular distribution.

 

[Valiance]

Try to keep yourself level with your keyboard and mouse. Earlier in my life I had a desk and chair that were at a bad level so I just kept the keyboard on my lap and stacked my mouse up on a couple of textbooks to raise the height to be even with my arm.

 

[Ghengis John]

I got carpal tunnel once. I stopped playing for three weeks. It went away and never came back. My advice, let it go away and then moderate your computer usage, look into more ergonomic ways to game like a game pad and try to avoid long runs without a break of some kind.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

It's never been a problem for me, and I have terrible posture.

 

[Worgen]

I have rather bad gaming posture but oddly enough I don't think I've ever had carpal tunnel, I've had some slight pain before but it always passes after a day and its pretty rare. Mostly I just try and take breaks after playing for awhile, just cause I don't think I've had it doesn't mean I ever want to get it.