Many of you know that I suffer from severe CTS - carpal tunnel syndrome. Truth is that most of you who work online full-time like I do, you either already have wrist pain or probably will someday. I was reading a post about CTS over at ThreadWatch today and was amazed at how many people responded - even Matt Cutts from Google weighed in about the special mouse he uses to try to combat CTS pain. So I ended up writing a book over there, sharing all the things I have tried that have helped relieve my carpal tunnel. I’m posting the info I wrote over there on the 5 Star blog here too, in hopes that it could help some of our readers.

I have CTS REALLY bad and was afraid I would have to use a foot mouse or get out of the biz. Came close to surgery but for many people it really does not help, so decided I would try everything possible 1st. Here are some things that have helped a ton! If I’m careful and stick to the things that work, I have much less pain. 1st let’s talk mice!

For me mousing is the culprit, not typing. Clicking the mouse is really what does it. So I use my keyboard to click and scroll and only use mouse for positioning pointer. Sometimes I use an old one button mouse on the floor and click with my foot. I’m also trying to switch hands.

Here are my favorite carpal tunnel mice. UPDATE: I changed the order of my favs.

#1 Evoluent VerticalMouse. This is my most recent ergo mouse and I think the one that Matt Cutts said he prefers. I didn’t think I’d like it as much as the others but right now it helps me the most, although I still frequently switch it up to change position.

#2 Whale mouse is my #1 fav because you move your whole hand, not your wrist, so the bigger muscles in your arm do all the work. (Wish this was an affiliate link. I could sell lots of these.) :-)

#3 & 4 TIED: These each have their pluses. Quill Mouse. (Similar to the Evoluent VerticalMouse in that your hand is vertical, but it has a tray for your whole hand to rest in so your whole hand just glides. Perfit Contour Mouse.

I use them all and switch off because they each use slightly different muscles and I still get pain if I use any one of them exclusively.

GELATIN - Yep plain old Knox gelatin. Don’t pay for the combo that has glucosamine or get the one for nails. Just the plain gelatin. Get it in a big box that has the individual packets. Take one pack a day - stir in water or juice and drink down fast before it gels. Totally tasteless. GUARANTEED that in a week or less your pain will be better. A client told me about it and made me the guarantee above. I was considering surgery and this stuff saved me. If I stop taking it the pain comes back. Start taking again and in about 2 days the pain is almost completely gone, so I know its the Knox and not something else.

MSM - it helps with any type of pain and helps Carpal a lot.

Carpal problems really originate in the neck and shoulders, so watch your posture and do frequent neck and shoulder stretches. We tend to hunch over to type, so grip hands behind back and pull shoulders backwards several times a day.

Last but not least - chiropractic helps! As I said, carpal problems really start in your neck, so having a properly aligned spine can work wonders. Also sometimes when the pain gets really bad I use the soft tissue laser at my chiropractor’s office. He says for many patients one treatment totally cures them. I find that after I use the laser on my wrist for about 1/2 an hour it helps for 2-4 weeks, then if I overdo it, I need to go use the laser again.

Go read the advice and solutions all the ThreadWatch readers, including Matt Cutts shared. Carpal Tunnel: How Do You Combat It? | Threadwatch.org

Do you hurt??? Do you use a special mouse or keyboard? Which one? What have you tried that helps? Come and talk about it in the 5 Star forum in the carpal tunnel pain discussion thread I started for our readers.