A couple of weeks ago, I went to bed one night with severe pain in my wrists and arms. I knew it was a repetitive strain injury from working on the computer, i.e., typing and working the mouse. It really surprised me because I hadn’t experienced that in a long time.

I have been a freelance writer, self employed and working out of my home, for just over three years now. Back when I first started, I started getting severe pain in my wrists and arms on almost a daily basis. The pain was concentrated in my wrists, but often traveled all the way up my arm into my shoulder. My pain management system consisted of Motrin and heating pads kept on the most painful areas as often as possible, day and night.

Luckily the problem went away after a while. Maybe my muscles got used to the minute movements of typing and directing a mouse, or maybe I just got better at unconsciously preventing RSI. In any case, I’m sure eventually it will resurface on more of a regular basis again, and at that point I will need to look into effective chronic pain management. There are a lot of natural and noninvasive treatments available now — which is good, because I would rather deal with chronic pain that undergo an invasive procedure for carpal tunnel treatment!

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