My hands and wrists go numb when I type - could I be getting carpal tunnel already?

I worked in small parts assembly for 25 years so I have some experience with repetitive motion injuries. Sounds to me like you may have carpal tunnel as well as "tennis elbow" (Or badminton elbow, in your case! ).

The typing and the badminton practice are probably both responsible. While carpal tunnel and other such injuries aren't as common in younger folks, it still happens. Part of it has to do with a person's physique, some folks get it rather easily while some don't.

There are things you can do to relieve your symptoms; I published an article on AC and will leave a link below, but here is a brief overview: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: "The classic symptoms include numbness or tingling in the thumb, index, and middle finger, and an aching in the forearm which may radiate to the shoulder. The sufferer may have a weak or clumsy grip. CTS is often the result of repeatedly twisting your wrist, holding your wrists in awkward positions, and/or gripping an object for long periods of time.It can also be an after-effect of accidental wrist injuries.

" Ulnar Tunnel Syndrome: "While the symptoms may resemble those of CTS or tendinits, ulnar tunnel syndrome (UTS) affects a different set of nerves in the hands and arms. The ulnar nerve runs along the pinky side of your hand, around the back of your elbow, and over the shoulder into the spine. The ulnar nerve is the one that gives you that tingly feeling when you hit your "funny bone.

" Typical symptoms of UTS include pain, burning, or numbness in the pinky and/or third finger, and a stiff, painful elbow. You may also experience pain just below the shoulder blade on the affected side. You may be awakened at night with extreme pain and stiffness in the affected elbow.

Sleeping on the side of the affected elbow can increase the amount of pain and potential nerve damage. Sleep on your back with your arms straight at your sides, instead of sleeping on your side, to avoid compressing the nerve." Tendinitis (tennis elbow): "Tendinitis is an inflammation of the tendons in any part of the body, but the pain, tenderness, and inflammation of "tennis elbow" will occur in the forearm.

Twisting the forearm or gripping an object will aggravate the pain. Rotator cuff tendinitis occurs when the tendons in the shoulder become inflamed." Bursitis: "Bursa are small fluid-filled sacs that cushion your tendons and muscles near your joints.

When these small sacs become inflamed they create a dull ache or stiffness near the affected joint, and pressure on the joint may also cause discomfort. The area may feel warm or swollen, and there may be some skin redness over the affected area (more common in the arms and shoulders than in other parts of the body)." The article also give tips and exercises for treating the pain and avoiding further injury which I think you will find helpful.

It's possible that you have a combination of these conditions. If self-care tips don't help, be sure to see a doctor. Not treating the conditions can cause permanent damage.

Even though I don't work in the factory anymore, I still occasionally have flare-ups that hinder my ability to do housework and heavy lifting. You're still young, so don't take any chances! Your doctor may recommend that you wear a wrist splint, but in our occupational injuries workshop we were told that it's best not to wear one while you're actually working.

When the wrist is held in an inflexible position, we'll compensate by making wider motions with our elbows and shoulders which can lead to problems in those joints as well. Wear one when you're sleeping and whenever you're not actively using your hands and that may help. If you're having elbow pain, you can also wear an elbow support; some have a little ice pack to help relieve pain as well.

You can get two types of wrist splints, one wraps around your thumb to totally immobilize your wrist, and one does not go around the thumb and gives you just a bit of wrist movement. I'd recommend the first one for when you're sleeping and the other, if you simply can't use your hands without too much pain when typing~it will give you a bit of wrist support without putting too much stress on the rest of your arm.

It sounds like a mild form of Carpel tunnel or a mild form of aggregated tendons caused from excessive rapid finger and hand movement. You need to see a specialist to confirm these opinions. The pain could be caused from nerves, stress, muscle tension, etc.Proper posture may reduce the levels of pain.

Doctors have a series of questions they will ask and based on your response will decide if your a candidate for carpal tunnel. My guess, have already assumed a mild case. Have you tried voice recognition software to reduce your typing?

Voice recognition has improved in accuracy. The software breaks sounds into parts and uses probability algorithms to decide the phonic match.In time, semantic networks will analyze the word in relationship to other words in the sentence and use probability for selection of words that sound the same. Intel unveiled lip-reading software.

Computers with webcams will start to read lips for words improving accuracy.(goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-2802316...) Language translators listen to one language and translate the words into another, for example English to Arabic translators. Nec has built a Japanese to Chinese translator (http://www.nec.co.jp/press/en/0601/0401.html). Dr. Chalapathy Neti is doing research with speech recognition, speaker recognition, and multimedia content analysis (http://www.research.ibm.com/AVSTG/cneti.html).

As far as I know, carpal tunnel has to do with activity and not age. I think I got it when I was your age; and I've had it off and on ever since. Two good things to do are: 1.

Take one hand and throughly massage the other arm from the elbow to the wrist in downward movements. Really just moving your hand down your arm while applying pressure and then massaging the muscles and tendons in that whole section of the arm (clogged energies is what causes the carpal tunnel in the wrists); 2. Do the cheerleader exercises with your arms.

You know, the ones where your arms are extended out horizontal and then they move in circular motions, then reverse direction. Then move them up to meet hands above your head. Repeat these many times.It increases circulation, which is what you need.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.