carpal tunnel

Don't let hand weakness stop you from living your life or doing the things you love.  There are products specifically designed to allow you to get the job done even if you have a limited hand function - from gardening and golfing to cooking, playing cards or using scissors.  

A few years ago I started waking up in the middle of the night with a numb thumb and index finger.  I thought I'd slept on my hand or something.  A few days later, I started feeling pain in my fingers during the day and my wrist ached most of the time.   We sell a lot of wrist wraps for carpal tunnel so I knew a little bit about it, but I wasn't 100% sure that was what it was.   I did some research and what confirmed it was the fact that my little finger was never numb when I woke up, but my thumb and two of my fingers were.  That's one of the characteristics of the symptoms, because the nerve that is pinched doesn't extend into your pinkie finger.   Luckily the pain went away completely when I wore a specially designed wrist support for a few nights, and for a couple days while I was typing.  Now I just wear it when I start getting achy wrists, but it is very rare.

I think I finally have my computing area set up so I can avoid the worst of the computer-related injuries even though I spend most of my life in front of a computer.  It's all about the right chair, the perfect desk height, a curvy ergonomic keboard, a cushy wrist rest, etc. 

People have a real knack for improvising when it comes to getting things done.   Even when we're weak or disabled we tend to figure out a way to get those cans open, or cut that piece of meat, or finagle those blasted peas into our mouths, even if it means having someone do it for us.  We forget though, or maybe don't even consider, that there are products designed to do nothing more than make you more independent and make your life easier.