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Comment by swader999 | Hacker News Reader

My solution was a Theragun, trackball mouse and a Truly Ergonomic keyboard.

I keep getting advertised Theraguns and similar things almost non-stop on Instagram. Are they worth the expense? And how/where are you using it to improve carpal tunnel?

No do some boulders, best training for your hole body and you don't even feel it (mainly because you don't want to fall down), BUT start slow and easy for the first 3 month, your ligaments need much MUCH longer to grow strong than your muscles.

Silly question but how do you start bouldering with CTS? I tried it (and weight training) but grabing any heavy weight seems very painful

1. Supplementing helped me with grip. Specifically D3 and magnesium supplements.

2. Practice hanging from a pull-up bar. Calisthenics routines often include "passive and active hangs" and doing these for long holds is a good grip trainer.

Not a silly question, you just make routes where your body-weight is 80% on your feet (but that's always the goal), warmup your hands before 5min under really warm water. If it still hurts too much stabilize your hands looks like that:

https://frictionlabs.com/blog/taping-fingers-in-rock-climbin...

But ask your doctor how to stabilize your hand optimally.

And again start slow no weight on the hands, it's about moving them, not overload them (at least in the first 3 month..or more)

Oh and Gyroscopes are extremely good for warmup and for breaks at work.

And no painkillers when you do climbing/boulders.

This is the first time i have heard about stabilising the hands. I can't make the connection, what would that do if you have CTS? if the muscle starts swelling it will compress the nerve and the nerve is already compressed due to the bone structure.

Gyroscopes are just straight up torture devices for me, as in, 10 seconds and i am out ;)

I get some wild forearm pain if I work too long on a laptop (coffee shop, on couch with dog), or if I hold my phone too long (Pokémon Go, there are literally dozens of us.) In particular, it really seems to be in my brachioradialis muscles.

I tried out one of those generic massage guns at a friend’s place. I had scoffed at the infinite variations I saw advertised on Instagram, but I tried it on those small muscles and: wow. It helps me a lot. I can really massage out my forearms. There’s no way it's strong enough to work on knots in big muscles like quads, but for those little extensor muscles? Seems to help me.

I’ve also been helped by what are called, broadly, “tennis elbow compression pads”. (Linked to Amazon below—not recommending this particular brand, it’s just what I have.). I wear theses at night if I’m having pain, and it seems to help.

Now, the actual solution to my problem boils down to “use a full keyboard and mouse, and don’t bend your arms like a t-rex”, but, well, Pokémon.

(https://www.amazon.com/Tomight-Elbow-Brace-Tennis-Compressio...)

I think you would get a lot of benefit out of learning more about trigger points not only in your arms but all over your upper body that can help with carpal tunnel.

The Theragun can do my quads well if I hit the trigger zones. I used to be a national ranked mogul skier so these aren't ordinary quads lol.

Yeah they are! With a bit of research you can find cheaper knock offs too. For carpal tunnel I hit the forearm, bicep, chest, neck. The scalenes in the neck seem to offer the most reward. A book on trigger points and a theragun are very good imo.

Is Theragun noticeably better than, say a plastic roller?

Yes. It's so much faster and easier to target. I've foam rolled for years and have every gizmo massage tool out there.

I'd say foam rolling, active pressure release, deep tissue massage, dry needling, trigger point release, acupuncture, acupuncture with tens are all very similar. But percussive therapy with a theragun is easier and something you can do on yourself in ten minutes.

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