Arm pain (revisited)

Special thanks to everyone for their generous advice and concern and for saving the career I love so much.

I cannot figure out how to reply to the original thread but in June I posted this:

"Hi,
I get a burning, stinging, tingling, numb sensation in the lower part of my right arm, my mouse are, after working more than say twelve or fifteen hours. As I get older I get less able to sleep this off. Does anyone have any suggestions for how to avoid doing long term damage? I
can handle the discomfort but if I continue to do nothing it could become a real, and by real I mean expensive, problem. I put a cushion under my arm, which helped a lot, but I wish there was something else I could do.
Thanks,
Ron "
There were lots of nice and concerned replies.
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.graphics.apps.photoshop/ browse_frm/thread/62d59b0dc69aa839/54bb3bb8a1d03968?lnk=gst& amp;q=arm+pain#54bb3bb8a1d03968

I wanted to follow up on this earlier thread because the change since the original posting has been so dramatic. To be honest the pain was worse than I described because my armpit was killing me – I didn’t even know armpits could hurt. Anyway as per Mike’s and others suggestion I switched to a tablet. It took about five months but the pain has decreased to zero in both arms and I still work at session equally as long. It wasn’t until I started holding the tablet directly in front of me with both hands, left hand on the buttons right hand with the stylus, that it really started making a difference. If I had continued to ignore this problem I am confident that it would have eventually cost me a ton on money and time and potentially ruined my career opportunities.
After the three or so months of adjusting to the tablet there has been no workflow downside to making the change and my ability for creative expression has increased. I still keep the mouse on the left side but there is only a single time, in a non-Photoshop application, I ever have to touch it. There is a fixed cost with the tablets because every couple of months little holes start to form in the surface, which wears out the nibs, and it has to be replaced. For me it translates into about $6/month – well worth it in my opinion.

You can see the evolution of the tablet position change here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ronviers/Workspace

Special thanks to everyone for their generous advice and concern and for saving the career I love so much.

Ron

wrote in message

I cannot figure out how to reply to the original thread but in June I posted this:

"Hi,
I get a burning, stinging, tingling, numb sensation in the lower part of my right arm, my mouse are, after working more than say twelve or fifteen hours. As I get older I get less able to sleep this off. Does anyone have any suggestions for how to avoid doing long term damage? I
can handle the discomfort but if I continue to do nothing it could become a real, and by real I mean expensive, problem. I put a cushion under my arm, which helped a lot, but I wish there was something else I could do.
Thanks,
Ron "
There were lots of nice and concerned replies.
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.graphics.apps.photoshop/ browse_fr…

I wanted to follow up on this earlier thread because the change since the original posting has been so dramatic. To be honest the pain was worse than I described because my armpit was killing me – I didn’t even know armpits could hurt. Anyway as per Mike’s and others suggestion I switched to a tablet. It took about five months but the pain has decreased to zero in both arms and I still work at session equally as long. It wasn’t until I started holding the tablet directly in front of me with both hands, left hand on the buttons right hand with the stylus, that it really started making a difference. If I had continued to ignore this problem I am confident that it would have eventually cost me a ton on money and time and potentially ruined my career opportunities.
After the three or so months of adjusting to the tablet there has been no workflow downside to making the change and my ability for creative expression has increased. I still keep the mouse on the left side but there is only a single time, in a non-Photoshop application, I ever have to touch it. There is a fixed cost with the tablets because every couple of months little holes start to form in the surface, which wears out the nibs, and it has to be replaced. For me it translates into about $6/month – well worth it in my opinion.

You can see the evolution of the tablet position change here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/ronviers/Workspace

Special thanks to everyone for their generous advice and concern and for saving the career I love so much.

Ron

very good news RON for the new year

I see one BIG problemo

NO ARM RESTS on your chair

to anyone with shoulder pain I recommend this, removes a lot of stress in the shoulder to neck area

I always buy a chair with adjustable armrest heights, then set chair to keep arms at elbow same height as desk top
and I have pads on those too RON, LOL, I rubbed my elbow skin off!
I cured my own back pains I thought were from too much computer gaming and PS
got a new mattress and no more aches
used to have a knife like pain under shoulder blades and constant soreness between neck and shoulder
had to use aspirin for it

tempurpedic worth every cent