Wrist tendonitis: painful scourge of the computer age

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Wrist tendonitis: painful scourge of the computer age

Tuesday, March 6th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

How’s your wrist? If you wrist is sore and the pain keeps you awake at night, you may have wrist tendonitis.

What is the Most Effective Wrist Tendonitis Treatment?

As computers become ever more important elements of the work place and everyday life, incidents of wrist tendonitis are on the rise.

This form of tendonitis, which involves the inflammation of tendons around the wrist, is also referred to by doctors as tenosynovitis and involves swelling and pain around the joints.

Tendonitis of the wrist is very common in all adult age groups and there are numerous wrist tendonitis treatment options to choose from, depending on the symptoms and the severity of the pain. The most basic form of treatment can be to simply apply ice to the wrist. This not only decreases swelling, but can also help increase blood flow to the muscles and tissues. One of the most common forms of treatment includes preventing movement of the wrist by placing it in a cast or a splint. This type of wrist tendonitis treatment is based on the notion that the inflamed tendons are overused and will best heal if allowed to rest by immobilization.

Treatments for wrist tendonitis

Many patients will use both over the counter and prescription anti-inflammatory drugs in conjunction with other forms of wrist tendonitis treatment, in order to help reduce the swelling and to better manage the pain. In more painful and severe cases, cortisone injections, administered by health care professionals, can also help reduce the symptoms of tendonitis. Nevertheless, it is important to limit this form of wrist tendonitis treatment and resort to it as infrequently as possible, as overuse may damage and weaken the tendons. If all other options have failed, or have not provided adequate relief, surgery may also be considered and this may involve the removal of damaged tissue.

Essential oils for wrist tendonitis

Last thing at night, try rubbing your hands and forearms with a few drops of chamomile essential oil mixed with a tablespoon of olive oil (or any other common oil). The chamomile relieves pain and heat in wrist tendonitis. You can also drink chamomile tea - it’s soothing, and will help you to sleep, as well as relieving the pain.

How to Prevent Wrist Tendonitis

As with so many other conditions, the best form of wrist tendonitis treatment is to take simple preventative measures. It is often wise to set up your computer work station in such a way as to minimize the strain placed on your wrist when typing. This includes ensuring that you are sitting at a good height and that your hands are in a natural position when typing. Purchasing a specially-designed keyboard or one with a simple wrist pad can help alleviate any strain placed on the wrist when typing. Although your hands should not rest on these pads while typing, it is a good idea to take periodic breaks and rest them on the pad during this time. Ideally, both the keyboard and the mouse should be below the user’s elbow and it is better not to raise the back of the keyboard when typing.

Hand and wrist exercises for wrist tendonitis

Once the attack of wrist tendonitis is over, it will tend to recur. You can lessen the severity of further attacks by doing hand, arm and shoulder exercises.

[tags]tendonitis, wrist tendonitis, pain inflammation, treatments[/tags]