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Ask HN: Tingling in my wrist. Carpal tunnel? What did you do that helped?

by lemonberry on 2/7/25, 5:28 PM with 13 comments

• by throwup238 on 2/7/25, 6:07 PM

  https://exrx.net/Lists/ExList/ForeArmWt#WristFlexors

  Start with the stretches and move up into the dumbbell exercises, starting with 2.5 or 5 pound dumbbells (which should only cost a few tens of dollars at most). Do it daily, 5 sets of 12-30 reps each set, whatever you can handle without intense pain. Wrist curls are the primary exercise but the other exercises on that page are also helpful since wrist muscles do tend to recruit the whole forearm.

  It only took a few months for my wrists to get strong enough before I stopped, and I haven’t had any more problems in the five years since. YMMV but I have found that most muscle and joint pain short of serious injury is easily corrected with some targeted weight training. If you don’t have access to a physical therapist (specializing in sports, preferably), you can use ExRx or a (paid) app like iMuscle 2 to target specific muscle groups with increasingly intense exercises.

• by zwayhowder on 2/7/25, 6:12 PM

  I switched to vertical typing. It was a challenge at first, but now I can type almost as well vertically as I can on a normal horizontal keyboard with significantly less pain in my arms and shoulders.

  I already owned a Moonlander keyboard with the tripod mounts, so a little playing around with Small Rig mount and I have my vertical keyboard, affectionately known as the Type Fighter.

  To get to vertical I started with desk mounts that I could adjust and progressively increased the angle of the tilt. Eventually I joined the two halves with a 300mm straight rod. But I don't have the photos of that handy.

  Also in the picture, my left handed trackball (Elecom) and my Logitech MX Vertical. I alternate the mousing hand regularly. (Trackball for big movements, mouse for fine detail and gaming).

  https://imgur.com/a/TdV502g

• by idermoth on 2/10/25, 3:10 PM

  So, maybe 10 years ago, I wrecked my hand so bad that I switched to my non-dominate hand for mouse use for about 3 years. Even trying to go back to my dominate hand after a year, I could only use it for 10 or 20 minutes before it flared up again.

  Switching took a little practice, obviously, but it worked wonders. All my roles have involved intense deadlines, and I was still able to perform.

  After that time period, I was able to switch back to my dominate, which I tend to use 95% of the time now. However, I made a lot of changes to my workflow to avoid the issue ever happening again. There's lots of good ideas here, but I also switched in my personal life to make it more analog, which helps.

• by jonahbenton on 2/7/25, 5:59 PM

  IMAK Smart Glove (just to be specific, but there are many products like this) was super helpful for reducing small tissue strain during typing, and a timer on a per hour basis to remind me to literally let my hands fall to my side for 5 minutes and "listen" for the tingling and allow that strain to subside. Small changes but made a huge difference. Ergonomics themselves did not have much impact for me.

• by nprateem on 2/7/25, 5:49 PM

  Lots of rest. By the time it starts to hurt its too late. Take lots of rest.

  By that I mean take a week or two off work. No devices at all, no similar movements.

  You can either nip it in the bud or you'll just end up having to do this anyway if it gets bad.

  If I could go back and tell myself not to have ignored it and played on my ps4 I'd be much better off.

• by geophile on 2/7/25, 5:59 PM

  Minor tweaks in ergonomics, both times.

  1) Using a laptop at a desk with no peripherals. Fix was to raise the screen, sit up straight, and get an external keyboard and mouse.

  2) Stopped using one of the sleek Apple mice from years ago, the one that looks like a bar of soap. My wrist was in very bad pain, and switching mice fixed it immediately.

• by dulakian on 2/8/25, 2:09 AM

  The only thing that worked for me was switching to dvorak. Too many clicking only video games (diablo), and too much typing for my day job really did a number on me. None of the stretches or exercises did much for me. It was very hard, but ultimately worth it. I have been typing with no issues for 20 years now. I do the stretches and some exercises, but it was the reduced finger movement of dvorak that made it so I could continue as a systems engineer and programmer. I still type most of the day, and really feel it again when I am forced to use qwerty. I think dvorak saved my wrists, and my career.

• by cempaka on 2/7/25, 6:23 PM

  Seems like maybe this isn't relevant if your left hand is your non mouse hand, but I've used a trackball for years ever since having issues with the mouse and it completely resolved them.

• by active_caramel on 2/8/25, 2:47 AM

  Your leaving out info on when this occurs, what your doing when tinge happens.

  But for me I changed the way I mounted plates on a cylinder, arms over head ,instead of pulling with my fingers, I pushed with my knuckles and thumb. Thereby keeping my wrist straight. No wrist pain/tingle since.

• by mmarian on 2/7/25, 8:14 PM

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSD35Q15rm8 I do this 10-minute stretching exercise 3 times a week since my wrists and fingers started becoming more sensitive. It's been amazing.

• by pelagic_sky on 2/7/25, 6:12 PM

  Wrist support for both keyboard and mouse is the most basic thing you can do along with proper posture and ergonomics of your working situation. You can try combining this with wrist exercises, but I would strongly suggest you seek doctor or PT instruction before doing anything too intense.

• by pestatije on 2/7/25, 6:24 PM

  change your habits: use the right hand only, single-finger type, instead of wrist rest do edge-of-hand rest, change the keyboard tilt, swap the mouse hand, move closer/farther to the desk, use a stand-up desk, ... so many things, you have to experiment with what works for you

• by p_ing on 2/7/25, 5:32 PM

  Doctor + PT + brace.

  Those are the things you'll need to start solving this before it gets worse.