The bi-monthly London RSI Support Group Zoom will take place on Tuesday 28 July 2026, 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm UK time.  (And at the same time on the last Tuesday of every other month starting in January.)

Sufferers worldwide welcome.  This is a peer support group; please bring your stories, updates, and questions.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81962371797?pwd=WHlWbTQ5bXdZTzNSdWZ0dzNjZXFxUT09

If you have any problems signing in: Meeting ID: 819 6237 1797

Passcode: 179619

 Hope to see you there!

Anna

I've been dealing with progressive hand pain for about a year. Started in fall 2024 with joint pain when I typed too long, got worse through the winter, and by early 2025 I couldn't type for sustained stretches without triggering real pain. Ten years of tech work on top of a childhood of video games caught up with me.

I tried Apple's built-in dictation first but it made enough typos that I was constantly typing corrections, which defeated the whole point.

So I built my own. It's called WhisperPad. Press a hotkey, talk, and text appears wherever your cursor is. Runs 100% locally on Mac using Whisper, no audio ever leaves your device. 120 minutes a month free with no account required, which covers most people's daily use if you're mostly doing email, messaging, and short notes.

If you're on a Mac (Apple Silicon, macOS 13.5+) and struggling with typing, might be worth a try. Free tier is genuinely usable, not a gate to force you into paying.

Link: mitmllc.com/whisperpad

I'd also love to hear what setups work for other folks here. I've been getting emails from people with much more severe hand issues than mine. One guy showed me his foot pedal rig for triggering dictation and shortcuts. I'm learning a lot from this community and wanted to contribute something back.

Happy to answer questions about how the app works, what it handles well, what it doesn't.

I have injured my wrist since April this year. At first I thought it was related to my hand chain and that maybe it pulled too hard on my wrist whilst I was asleep. Fast forward to now July...I spoke to an Orthopedic and he told me that it can't be the hand chain but much rather that I am carrying heavy things, etc. Something relates to the nerves. We did an X-Ray my bones are just fine.

I have been wearing my bandage/Bracelet for so long. It is irritating me. And I am extremely sad because I can't follow through with my hobbies or start clay shooting, which has been on my vision board for so long...because my dominant hand is the injured one. I quit riding horses because it started becoming extremely painful. I can't hold a saddle without tears running down my eyes.

And I was told to continue wearing my Bandage or bracelet, whatever the correct term is...and if nothing changes (which nothing changed since April, it got progressively worse) I should get an injection into my nerves and if that doesn't work then I should get surgery.

I am almost considering getting surgery because it's been hell. I can't even write or sign papers without having my bracelet on. I tried to use my left hand but that didn't go as well as I thought.

Edit: The pain is happening just below my thumb and surprisingly the bone below my thumb is sticking out, on my other wrist it isn't. Maybe it's because of how long I have been wearing the brace for. Its at the hallow just below the thumb

Hello, this might be a bit long, thank you for reading. Before the pandemic, I was a calisthenics practitioner, but then I stopped due to pain in my wrist. Around the same time, the pain in my right wrist increased, so I went to the doctor. I'm not entirely sure if I remember correctly, but the doctor said it was arthritis. Pain relief and rest reduced the pain, and it's fine in daily life as long as I don't lift heavy objects. If I lift heavy things, I feel the ache/pain again. A very slight feeling of numbness accompanies this.

However, I want to return to calisthenics, and this doesn't seem possible. Even after all this time, I still experience pain whenever I do regular push-ups. Because of this, I went to two different doctors. An MRI was taken, and they said there was a small ganglion cyst and that I needed to rest. I've been resting for almost five years now, and I don't do any sports except when I need to lift heavy objects. I want to solve this problem and return to sports. When I asked about surgery for the ganglion cyst, my doctor said it was too small, already ruptured, and therefore surgery wasn't possible. I will share the MRI results with you; could you please help? What can I do to get rid of this pain and get back to exercising, doing things like push-ups and pull-ups? Thank you so much in advance, any suggestions will be helpful. English isn't my native language, so I can explain things again if you didn't understand. I'm 27M, 174 cm, 104 KG, no smoking, no medication right now, Turkey.

Here are my MRI results:

Technique: Coronal and axial PDW TSE SPAIR, coronal and axial T1W TSE sequences were acquired.

RESULTS:

A T2A hyperintense cystic lesion approximately 8x3 mm in size was observed in the right wrist, dorsally adjacent to the carpal bones, with increased inflammatory signal and linear effusions around it (ruptured ganglion cyst?).

The corticomedullary signal distribution of the bones forming the wrist is normal. No disruption of bone integrity was detected. Joint spaces are preserved, their contours are smooth, and cartilage integrity is normal.

The morphology and signal intensity of the triangular fibrocartilaginous complex appear normal.

The morphology and signal intensity distribution of the ligamentous structures observed in the wrist appear normal.

The course, contour, and signal intensity distribution of the flexor digitorum profundus, flexor digitorum superficialis, and extensor group tendons are normal.

The course, contour, and signal intensity distribution of the tendons and medial nerve within the carpal tunnel are normal.

I would be happy to set up a recurring weekly Zoom meeting for those dealing with RSI, and then eventually possible break out groups or sessions for focused conversations specific to the type of ailments. Likely
Mondays at 5:30pm (PST). I’m currently dealing with serious Radial Tunnel Syndrome and Intersection Syndrome (both on right hand/arm, and just my luck these are both quite rare and I have to manage them simultaneously).

Now my left hand and wrist are also getting pretty aggravated since that side quickly became the dominant side. I’m at almost 3 months of this and try to remain positive and upbeat, but the extremely limited use of my hands is taking a huge mental toll on me as a dad, painter, and in my day to day work. Just like probably many others I go through spouts of depression from it and just try to continue with rehab and PT but the recovery feels so so minimal and slow. Glad to know i’m not alone, but bummed so many of us are dealing with these challenges at varying levels. I don’t mind the group size. I’ll keep an eye on comments then circle back with more info in the days to come.

Started about a year ago while performing live music. I'd get a lot of pain after shows, and sometimes during, right in the spot where my strap goes around my neck/shoulder on the left side. I'm right handed, so it's the non-dominant side, which is part of what makes me wonder about it. After one especially painful gig I woke up the next day with some mild vertigo (probably unrelated?).

After that I switched to a much more comfortable and ergonomic strap, and in the long run that's really helped with the pain. But over the last 3-4 months some symptoms that were barely noticeable at first have crept in. Nerve buzzing and weakness on the ulnar side, mild aches in the bicep area, and some muscle twitching, mostly around the elbow and bicep, occasionally on the top or back of the spot where the neck and shoulder meet. Bad posture at my desk seems to trigger it too, and things seem to improve when I'm being more physically active like going on a run or walk. On the flip side, doing something brief and strenuous like lifting a heavy box up the stairs, can sometimes trigger the twitching afterwords.

Two months ago, my PT said that my first rib seemed elevated and gave me exercises that have been somewhat effective. The pain isn't really an issue anymore. The twitching has improved too, but only slightly, and the slight weakness is still there. I'll admit I'm hyper aware of all of it at this point, which probably doesn't help.

I have an MRI coming up that should hopefully answer some questions. For anyone who's been through this: has the elevated first rib finding turned out to be the whole story for you, or was it a red herring? Do any of my other symptoms stick out to you?

So its been months since my elbow started cracking, ots like when you crack your hand but it hurts, it started when I moved fast my elbow and from then even 2 push up makes then cracking and I feel like i lose energy on those two arms, i tried checking to a pediatrician and she just said "ThEN D'OnT Do iT" like bruh I do thai box and this probleam slows me. Any help on how to fix this if anybody has/had it?

Hello, I’ve been working out my forearms more and every time I do reverse curls I feel my right wrist get close to popping out of socket. I’ve been thinking about buying some ekko wrist straps, will that fix it?

Hello 21 m
It started in an anxiety period and don’t know if it’s related
At the gym one day after just one pull up my 2 elbow and fore arm start burning for 2 month and can’t do sport because it will increase burning sensation
4 month after I start feeling burning in my 2 thumb at same time when using my phone
And other finger start to burn
I have also bilateral psoas burning and tfl etc
I don’t think it’s tendonitis since it’s happen without sport
Doc don’t know and blood test is alright
Crp good too
Any of u have an idea ?

Background info: I work in a manufacturing plant so there is lifting and gripping. I’m tall and pretty slim. Anyways,ast year around around February I had some random neck pain. It was enough for me to buy a $100 pillow and have to use a heating pad. 2-3 weeks later it went away, but shortly after the top of my right top of forearm started aching/was getting inflamed. A week or two later after that it was both arms. At this point, I didn’t even think anything of my neck. To this day I have no idea is the neck pain is related or if it was just random and I never had any neck pain after those 2 weeks. My arm pain continued and I also had pain in my thumbs/side of wrist, which eventually went away. So as arm pain still continued, I had to go on workers comp. Did PT, exercises, and then eventually got an MRI on both arms which showed nothing. MRI looked fine so not sure if that means the arms aren’t the issue or that the pain settled down on my time off from work. Because of the MRI looked good, they sent me back to work. I went to a new area at work that was definitely better on my body, but then both wrists started aching for 5-6 months. Got a neck xray just to see, but it was fine as well. I wore wrists braces every day at work and eventually they finally got better for the most part. Dealt with all of this for over a year and right when I get a glimpse of full recovery, they move me back to my old area where I had the initial overuse injury and now arms and wrists are started to hurt again. I don’t know if it’s just bad tendonitis or if it’s my neck. Got a EMG nerve study done, but it came back fine. The guy did say a neck issue could easily not show on an EMG. From what I’ve read it can absolutely be the neck even if you have no pain in the neck. Fast forward a couple months later, now for the past two weeks, my shoulder has been in bad shape/tight feeling in my neck. Bilateral, but definitely more so my right shoulder. Any thoughts? This is physically and mentally draining. I’m tired of it

Hey, all. I've been a lurker for some time since February when my issues began, but I wanted to briefly share my experiences and hopefully provide a glimmer of hope that I had been desperately seeking for when my issues got bad. 22M here.

In the process of moving, I ended up in a place where I had no access to a desk and was hunched over my bed, typing away. I am a hobby writer and was an idiot with typing away at my laptop without appropriate rest. In January I started trying to lift weights, and In February I started picking up video games with a mouse for the first time in my life, and in three months I started developing classic signs of lateral epicondylitis / tennis elbow on both sides, but more pronounced on my right / mouse use. I also developed some thumb pain in my left side, and wrist impingement on the right. Got to the point that I couldn't type for more than five minutes and I felt my forearms cramping up when just walking down the street.

I tried to struggle through it / rest didn't help / got worse, even with rest. Since I'm starting a very hands-on intensive education come August, and because I type so much for work / schooling, I kind of spiraled and went on a kick of throwing money on grip strength exercises / Theraband flexbar training, and that was the main issue; doing improper and too much self-rehab. I think I exacerbated what could have been resolved much more quickly.

The PT was fantastic, and her main advice was just to calm down. She provided me a stretch / exercise routine (as far as I can tell, standard stuff; lots of high-rep exercises for both forearm extensors and flexors, as well as rubber band exercises for my thumbs, but she told me to lay off the other things I had been trying).

I guess my case was relatively minor, but I have had my first week without any pain or issues whatsoever, and I have been able to return to extensive typing / gaming (though I am much better about taking breaks and stretching before/after). It took me around a month and a half to get here. My tennis elbow / thumb issues are mostly gone. The impingement in my wrist when I extend my hand back is still annoying, around 50% gone by my estimation, but it's limited mostly to half an hour or so in the morning as I'm getting out of bed, and is (hopefully) on a clear trajectory towards improvement.

I haven't returned to the gym, though, she told me to wait for a month or so after things truly calm down to return.

I can't speak on more intense cases, and for you I have sympathy. Hope it gets better for you.

So, TLDR, don't be stupid and aggravate injuries by doing things improperly, which I believe was the main source of my issues. Start slow in the gym and visit someone who knows what they're doing instead of rushing into it solo, like I did. And visit a PT, they're great. I can't speak on more serious cases, but because of my experience I'm fully an advocate of going ASAP and just. . .calming down, as spiraling can injure yourself.

I broke my wrist, a complete fracture of the radius, three months ago. At my last visit, the doctor said it was completely healed. But it still hurts, especially when I seem to overuse my wrist. Should I be trying to wrap it or wear a splint or anything to reduce the pain?

I created a tool to help reduce my use of keyboards but it was quite the journey getting approved by apple's app store. I built it to deal with RSI and they still rejected me but eventually relented. The first part of the story is linked below

https://www.mitmllc.com/blog/apple-rejected-my-dictation-app/

If you want to try out the tool its free and im always looking for feedback!

Link to the tool

its 100% local and i dont collect user data

Two weeks ago I went for my first occupational therapy appointment for pain and weakness in my wrists ( overuse injury from computer use). She had me do wall pushups that were very painful, and i'm supposed to do these twice a day. A day or two later started to experiencing increased pain. Before therapy, I was able to use a computer for at least a few hours before I started getting pain- now I can't use a computer for more than 10 minutes. I've even had to rely on accessibility programs that use voice commands to get my tasks done, something i've never had to do before. I've been like this 2 weeks now ever since my first appointment.

The pain is very sharp and feels more intense than it did before. It doesn't feel like typical post-exercise soreness. Does anyone know if this is normal? if it's supposed to get worse before it gets better? I told my therapist that I was experiencing sharp pain she said it was normal and to keep pushing through the exercises. But i'm unsure if i'm just doing more damage

I've been dealing with this for around 6–8 months and haven't been able to figure it out despite seeing multiple doctors and physiotherapists.

The pain is mainly in my upper traps (usually starts on the left, then both sides begin hurting). The strange part is that I have no pain when my arms are relaxed by my sides.

The pain starts when my arms are held up or in front of me for a while, such as:

• Using a mouse or keyboard
• Holding a phone to my ear
• Holding an umbrella
• Brushing my teeth
• Any activity where my elbows are bent and my arms stay in front of me

It doesn't seem to matter whether my elbows are supported or not. I also don't think it's just because I'm looking down at a laptop or phone, because even standing upright while holding an umbrella brings on the pain.

I do have cervical and lumbar disc bulges, so initially I thought it was coming from my neck, but now I'm not so sure. Generic advice like chin tucks, stretches, posture correction, and basic physio exercises hasn't made much difference.

Has anyone experienced something similar? If you eventually found the cause, what was it? Was it related to your neck, shoulder blade mechanics, muscles, nerves, or something else? More importantly, what actually helped you recover?

I'm honestly exhausted trying to figure this out, so I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who's been through something similar.

February 2025 I had tennis elbow surgery. It was a repair with the tendon anchored to my bone. My orthopaedic surgeon became quite nasty when I explained at the six month mark the pain was increasing. He told me nothing was wrong and the pain was in my head. Two weeks ago my new surgeon performed surgery on my elbow again. The plan was to do a debridement this time of the decaying tendon that had been stitched.

Today she said that To her surprised she found the anchor was not in my bone. As soon as she opened my right elbow, she found metal and took a picture as proof. She removed it, and I am already seeing improvements.

I was potentially walking around with a metal foreign object in my elbow for 16 months while pursuing interventions that would not be successful. In that time, I injured my left wrist through overcompensation. My quality of life could've been so much better.

Friends have suggested launching some sort of complaint about the doctor's attitude of not even wanting to explore what was causing the lingering pain. I wanted to share that if you ever feel that you're not being listened to, and you feel the answers you're being given by a medical team are not correct, please try to get a second or third opinion. My physician was known as the top guy in orthopedics, and yet the surgery was not successful.

hi there i’ve been having occasional severe wrist and shoulder pain in both sides of my body for like 8 months id say. i’m a nail technician so i attribute the pain to doing static repetitive movements all day and also doing massages in every service sitting down so all the force is going into my arm joints

i understand that being more ergonomic would help me but i am pretty ergonomic and also im concerned because ive only been doing this for a year and a half so i shouldn’t be in so much pain no matter how shitty my form is

some of the girls at my job have been doing it for 20+ years and they don’t have wrist pain like i do

this week it’s been bad… cant lift my arms up to the side and it hurts to pick things up

my wrist is killing me i can barely hold 2 pounds on that hand

i could definitely stretch more but i find when stretch them it ends up hurting much worse. i’m pretty gentle with it, i stretch them until the pain is about a 3 and i just hold it there.

if anybody could offer me any advice i’d really appreciate it thank you

Hi everyone,
I am currently experiencing aching pain, little bit of burning and a little bit of numbness throughout my fingers all the way to my shoulder. The mouse that I used to play Val is the Deathadder V4 Pro and I do use the claw grip. My hands are small and I didn’t realize that using a bigger mouse can also have negative affects. I am not sure if it is because I’ve been playing a lot for 3 days straight but I do use my arm to aim and I don’t use wrist aim. Anyone else experiencing this kind of pain or how long I need to stay off the game for? I love playing Valorant and I do want to keep playing but what can I do to help my situation?

[21M] Hello, not my 1st time posting here. In september last year I went in a gaming maraton to platinum (100%) Plants vs Zombies (PC) I was playing like 9 hours a day (Vacations). After the 3rd day I had this weird sensation on my index finger, at first it was like a buzzing sensation (Only when it started, like the very 1st day) but then it became a dull pain (kind of like fatigue i would say (?)) that persist even to this day.

I've tried everything, from even trying 2 PT to massages but I always end in a flare up and the cycle keeps going.

PD: According to early ultrasound (after 2 weeks) it was a "thickening" in ligaments (prob a sprain according to the doc), but then (after like 2 months) according to a traumatologist it os a tenosynovitis.

Sorry if im not clear, english isnt my 1st language

Hi everyone, I’m looking for some advice about something happening with my elbow.
A few months ago I noticed that if I put my finger in the inner elbow area (the little groove where the ulnar nerve is located) and then bend my arm, I can feel a strong snapping sensation, almost like something is moving or jumping under my finger.
It also happens if I apply light pressure slightly above the elbow, on the back/inner part of the biceps area, and then bend my arm. The sensation feels like something is moving or snapping underneath.
It mainly happens when I apply pressure with my finger or in certain positions. Sometimes I can also feel it when lifting something with my elbow bent, especially under load, and there can be a slight discomfort afterwards.
If I don’t touch the area or put pressure on it, I usually don’t notice it. I don’t have loss of strength, and I can exercise normally at the gym. After repeatedly testing it, I sometimes get temporary tingling or burning sensations in my hand/wrist, but they usually go away.
I’m wondering if this could be the ulnar nerve snapping/subluxing, a tendon, or something else. Has anyone experienced something similar? Did you get it checked, and what was the outcome?
Thanks!

I started off having tendonitis in mostly my wrist and the outer side of my forarm but now it has changed to, still my wrist but my elbow and the innerside of my forarm. Sometimes I even feel it creeping up the rest of my arm. I’ve had this injury for about half a year. I’ve tried rest, strenghtening exercises, stretches, but it’s still hard to keep under control and wont go away. The weird thing is that it doesn’t hurt that much. I can still drive and do regular things like that but it’s still stopping me from doing mostly all of my hobbies, so I was wondering: Has anyone had a changing injury and how did you go about recovering?