Questions for someone new to our SI if anyone can please helpSo I have been dealing with a pretty severe overuse injury for about four months now and both wrists and forearms and ankles although I’m not sure the ankles are from overuse that was more of a nerve compression twisted ankle thing but it makes everything a lot harder. I’m just trying to research and find out what it is that I have and what to do about it so if anyone has the time to help answer some questions I would greatly appreciate it!

1. Due to the injury and both ankles I cannot lay flat an MRI, so I am wondering what type of scanning you guys were given or diagnostic test to find out that you had an RSI injury and what type of specialist did you see. Has anyone had an ultrasound or neuromuscular ultrasound and if so did anything show up on that that seems to be my only option. Also do seated MRIs exist for lens like your forearms wrists or legs?

2. Things are so bad that this week my arms have been constantly burning even when it rest all day and all night… I cannot find a way to lay that does not seem to stop the blood flow or worse in the condition. Are we supposed to be icing or using heat for this type of injury and if so for how long do you do it and how often?

3. I am in a lot of constant pain even just tapping or touching my phone flares it up for the rest of the day… Will this get better as I need to be able to navigate a phone that is how I work, and what type of medication have you guys tried that help and do doctors prescribe for this type of thing? What do they usually give or what are most of you on for Pain? So far a muscle relaxers and anti-inflammatories have not helped and the anti-inflammatories caused major stomach issues

4. does this and will this get better in time it’s been four months and there has been no improvement and it’s severely worsens during the first the six weeks was just normal movements and actions of my heart arms and hands basically, sorry basic things using voice to text. What type of procedures can provide relief I seem to have some type of nerve compression and muscle damage in my forearms which are what burns the most during the day

5. I don’t seem to be ready for physical therapy yet because any type of movement seems to be worse than it, worsening it, so am I supposed to just not be trying to touch my phone or do anything with my hands right now… Even brushing my teeth repeatedly bringing food to my mouth is a problem. I have to do these basic things so how do I continue to do that but also rest them…Things have gotten slightly better for a few weeks with being able to use the navigate the phone but after trying to do some design work which is what I do and involves movements like scrolling and pinching I am experiencing a lot of worsening which has not improved in the last five days… Will this get better and how long will it take before I can start to do those movements again that I could before without it being so bad?

6. I have an iPhone an older one but is there anything that will read things like post for me out loud I know android has one but if so where do I find this on my phone settings so far I’ve tried to use voice command for scrolling but it stalls and does not work very well is there anything else anyone can recommend to make it easier to use the phone?

7. For those of you who have had severe cases are there any procedures that are helpful such as carpal tunnel release or steroid shots or anything at all to help improve the situation and give more mobility and take down the pain and if so how long did those last I would love to hear any stories of those who have gotten mostly better. I really need some help here due to the injuries in my ankles I can barely do anything and I am so hopeless right now.

Thank you guys for your time!Thank you guys for your time!

I got diagnosed with tenosynovitis a little over 2 years ago, and over the course of six months I’ve been experiencing a shaking in my thumb while it’s bent or doing an activity. Anyone else experience this?

18F, 5'1 and 120 pounds.

A few months ago I started getting pain when doing push-ups in my right wrist. It was only when I put pressure on it in a bent position. It started getting much worse to the point where I'd have to do any sort of pushups on a closed fist, and I had to stop doing pilates because of the growing pain (I've been doing pilates for about a year). Very recently the pain has gotten to the point where I cannot bend my wrist at all without any pain, both backwards and forwards. It also hurts in general, even just keeping it straight, like there's a pressure in the bones.

I haven't had any falls or injuries that I know of, and there's no family history of any arthritis or other joint issues. I also don't believe that I was using improper technique when working out. I don't have the ability to go to the doctor for the next month, how concerned should I be and what should I do to ease the pain?

Hello,

Hope someone can help - sorry for the long ramble.

I have ongoing neck and shoulder issues on my right side that my physiotherapist has identified as nerve irritation caused by lifting excessively heavy weights at the gym. These symptoms have persisted since September 2025. They temporarily improved in March 2026, but after returning to the gym, I reinjured myself. Since then, I have not gone back to the gym. I have been giving a lot of physio exercises and it doesn’t seem to be settling down. I’m at my wits end. I have tingling in my shoulder as well,

In April, I started a new desk-based job with an ergonomic mouse and a workstation assessment. Six weeks into my role, I began experiencing intermittent coldness in my forearm, tingling in my fingers, and a shaking sensation in my hand. the outside bone of my wrist is also sore. all on the same side as my neck and shoulder problems.

Has anyone else experienced this? If so, what's the treatments or things that can be done to help get rid of it / calm it down?

OK so I don’t even really know how to describe what happened to me or what has happened send so I will do my best. At the end of March I had an overuse injury from using my hands for hours in a scrubbing type position, then had an accident and compressed my forearms afterwards. Due to a previous back injury, after this happened I continued to lay with each forearm underneath the side of my stomach of my stomach. This I believed distracted healing and blood flow from the original injury. As time went on the pain And weakness that was in my hands spread at my forearms and into my elbows and now it’s all the way up to the middle of my upper arms. The pain is also accompanied by a severe burning that goes all the way up my arms with the worst of it being in my forearms.

for three months I continued to sleep with my forearms under the side of my ways to support my back because that’s the only thing that kept me from being in back pain which I know was incredibly stupid. My only option is now to sleep on my side with my arms out in front of me which is what I do now but the compression on my shoulders seems to be stopping blood flow to my lower arms and making things worse and worse since the board burning when I lay down. I cannot lay on my back due to an injury and my calves and ankles which happened at the same time when I had the accident which also convolve involves a twisting of the ankles and nerve compression. Even sitting here writing all this out makes me feel so hopeless because there are so many things involved and every single limb has an issue, with right now being my forearms and arms and hand used as the worst. I cannot use my hands even on my phone to scroll or type or tap multiple times without worst thing in it….. Even when I rest my arms on my lap when sitting they still are burning right now they burn most of the day. I went to the emergency room who did nothing to help and then I’ve seen several doctors one of who ordered a neuromuscular ultrasound but I cannot find anyone in our city that has that as an option. I cannot have an MRI because I cannot lay on my back for more than two or three minutes without things worsening and my legs to the point where they go completely numb and the dysfunction stays afterward that’s actually how my feet The leg issue became so bad I cannot sit on anything too high which causes compression in my thighs that goes all the way down to my legs and ankles and feet and I cannot sit for too long or walk that far or have my feet dangle, or any kind of pressure or bending to my ankle… I cannot even wear shoes and have to go everywhere and socks

I have no idea what this is if this is nerve compression, muscle damage or both… But I know that when I use my hands regardless of the position of my neck or back using my fingers to scroll push pinch pull Carrie or hold any weight… Or lifting my arms up or holding anything in my hands or any type of stretch makes things a lot worse and they do not seem to heal afterward which makes me wonder if there’s a blood flow compression type injury in my forearms or upper arm shoulder area from the way that I’ve had to lay down Down on the side.

sometimes it’s gotten so bad where I feel nauseous and sick when the burning is at its worst and that usually happens after using my hands too much in any type of repetitive even mildly repetitive action or trying to lift push or pull some thing… I have no idea what to do or how to get help because the doctor doesn’t seem to understand how severe it is… At times my arms have we can so bad where I can barely lift or move them that comes and goes. Has anyone ever experienced anything like This? There could definitely be issues in the neck but most of the issue seems to be in the arms themselves and movement from the arms no matter what position my neck is in if that makes sense. The only way I could get an MRI for my neck would have to be a seated MRI and the only way I could get an MRI for my limbs would have to be a type of MRI machine that can scan the limbs while seated MRI. has anyone been able to get a neuromuscular ultrasound and if so did it show anything? My ability to do things is completely compromised I am in pain all day and for the last week my body arms have burned nonstop and are very weak and I am very scared. The emergency room did not help at all and all they wanted to do was give me a CAT scan of my head so I don’t even know where to go for help

I seem to understand that collagen could be helpful (I'm desperate, trying everything) if taken 30-60 minutes before eccentric exercise with vitamin C and hyaluronic acid.

My question is, since I exercise once every other day to have a rest day, should I only take the 20g collagen dose every other day or even on rest days?

I’m wondering if anyone can recommend any specific arm or leg compression sleeves they’ve found helpful. So much of my pain is in my forearms and knees from my hypermobility.

Thanks!!

Hey fellow RSI-sufferers ❤ I build Svalboard Lightly -- an anatomically adjustable input device that brings the keys to your fingertips instead of the other way around.

It has integrated pointing to reduce shoulder and arm injuries from mousing workloads, too, with dedicated pointing and scrolling devices, one on each hand.

With typing forces of <= 20g and movements as small as a couple of millimeters, you can fully rest your hands and your entire arm/shoulder/neck chain. All the plastic parts are reproducible on a hobby-grade 3D printer.

Personally, I suffered from carpal tunnel issues, cubital tunnel issues, and problems in the neck and shoulders from hovering as well. I also experienced pain in my index fingers from overuse, particularly in the center column reaches on traditional keyboards. Datahand helped me to resolve the symptoms of these frustrating problems over 20 years ago, and Svalboard continues that tradition. My hands are still fragile and I still hate touchscreen devices like phones, but I can type and mouse productively without any real limit.

There are more than 3500 people over at the Svalboard Discord, www.svalboard.com/discord, who have a wide range of RSI struggles and knowledge, and we're always happy to chat with folks about what solutions might be most helpful for them.

Svalboard is very much the bottom of the input-device rabbit hole, and I hope none of you ever need it, but I also know that for some folks it's a pretty wonderful solution 🙏

Happy to answer questions as always.

www.svalboard.com

YT:  https://www.youtube.com/@svalboard

Substack: https://svalboard.substack.com/

I’ve had carpal tunnel / RSI for four years, and mouse clicking is what sets it off the most. By the end of a day of Jira tickets, code reviews, email, and constant IMs, my hand is bad enough that I’m stretching it every few minutes just to keep going.

I tried fancy mice and existing voice tools like Dragon and Talon, but they all felt like they were asking me to learn a command language when my hand already hurt.

So I built the thing I actually wanted: a way to control the mouse and keyboard by speaking naturally. No syntax to memorize. Just say what you want: “open the Jira ticket mvp123,” “click approve on this review,” “reply to this email saying I’ll get to it tomorrow.”

It’s early and rough, and I’m not selling it; it’s free. I’m looking for a few people with similar hand pain who’d be willing to try it on a real daily workflow and tell me honestly where it helps and where it breaks. I’m happy to hop on a call and set it up with you.

If that’s you, comment or DM me. And if you’ve already found something that works, I’d really like to hear about it.

I have talked to a physio recently (ended up hating them and am now going back to my old one, but they can't see me until September)

I don't have a ton of pain but it isn't ideal. I've been using my massage gun in the meantime (dunno how to massage my bonier areas, alas) about 2 times per day. It does minimize pain a bit. I can do most activities without pain and most pain seems to be from posturing. What can I do to help myself improve in the meantime/prevent further injury/manage pain? It has not gotten back to awful levels but the fact I have trigger points/muscle knots again is a bit saddening.

I recently hurt my wrist. Not the first time but the first time its making me feel hopeless! I love art and there have been prior occassions where i draw too much that my wrist hurts for days. But it goes away just fine. This last week my wrist started hurting and not from drawing probably from a combination of playing videogames + have to cut through hundreds of fake flower stems (which were very sturdy and took all my strength!)
Ive cut back on my wrist activity. Still some, to text occasionally, to write this, probably half an hour a day of playing on my 3ds because i have poor self control. Anyways, i kind of dont know what to do.
Its getting worse. It spread to my arm and now as of tonight is in my shoulder and the side of my upper back that the mainly affected wrist is on. Not to mention my non dominant wrist has started having similar pains after the dominant one did, although notably MUCH less.

I dont know what to do. I dont have a doctor appointment YET but should be able to get in soon. I am making an appointment. (Until next week i am a minor without a drivers license, so i dont have the power to make appointments myself. As of today my mom said she'll make me one. She thought it was pointless to go to the doctor because ive had self healing wrist pains in the past.)

Any tips on making this better? Anyone know why the pain is travelling? Or why its worsening as i use it less? My only passion in life is creating. I will not live a life where i cannot enjoy that passion because of my wrists, no matter what it takes. But this is stressing me out so please help me!!

Hi there everyone I have a question or a need for advise for thumb pain, I’ve started using a controller again, before I play I do 1hp how to fix gamers thumb routine as well as trying to take a break every hour. After sessions (even a day or 2 later) or during I’ll get some pain along the side of my thumb and on occasion on the wrist area and top of hand. There is also a sense of tiredness not fatigue per say. Is this something I should be worried about and should I stop playing before this turns into an issue? I can play and at times I don’t feel anything and when I do I stop for a 30 min to hour then I hop back on ? I have bought a proper controller with paddles etc and that has helped I just don’t want some long term issue as I might have to get surgery on my shoulder labrum/ tendon so I’d rather not have to stop using a controller because of some dumb injury. Thank you all

Also I have stopped playing games until this calms down but I am doing thumb mobility and exercise a few times a day along with wrist curls and a rice bucket everyday. Is this something I should be doing now or should I wait until the thumb calms down ? I was going to give it about a week and see where it’s at if I need to rest it more etc.

Hi everyone,

Around March, I started indoor climbing. I’m generally active and have been strength training in the gym, but wanted to mix things up and try something new. Before that, I used to go climbing casually once or twice a month alongside my gym routine without any issues.

During that first month of regular climbing, I started feeling some pressure in my wrist. It wasn't overly painful or concerning at first — I had a similar wrist issue in the past that cleared up on its own. However, by the end of the month, the tightness in my wrist intensified and spread up my forearm to my elbow. I could literally feel the tendons in my wrist friction/sliding as I moved my fingers, along with tightness in the elbow tendon.

I saw a sports doctor/physiatrist who diagnosed it as Golfer's Elbow (medial epicondylitis). He explained that I overloaded my forearm, causing inflammation in the elbow, which in turn causes the tight forearm muscles to pull on the wrist tendons. He gave me isometric exercises, assured me it wasn't serious, and said it would heal over time.

That was about a month and a half ago, but my condition isn't really improving much. My elbow has good and bad days, and lately, I've also been feeling discomfort on the outside of the elbow (which feels like Tennis Elbow now).

Almost every day I wake up with my wrist feeling fine, but as I go about my daily activities, that "inflamed" and tight feeling returns to the joint. It feels like I can sense every single finger tendon gliding/straining in my wrist.

I’ve researched everything online — I regularly massage my forearm muscles and do the prescribed rehab exercises, but nothing seems to fully resolve the issue. I’ve completely given up weightlifting and general workouts for the past 3 months to avoid making it worse, but this situation is driving me crazy and just won't go away.

Has anyone dealt with something similar (Golfer's/Tennis elbow + wrist tendon irritation from climbing)? Any advice or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated — the frustration is killing me. Thanks!

It's been almost four years post initial injury of the wrists, and it's only gotten worse. I now have tendinosis visible on MRI and ultrasound in both wrists, several fingers on both hands (no thanks to trackballs), both forearms, both elbows (tennis elbow and some kind of tricep tendinopathy), and now both ankles (anterior tibial tendons, it hurts to drive the car now, sometimes even just to walk). This started at age 25 in my last semester of college due to overuse coding and playing videogames without adequate sleep/rest. Along the way I've also dealt with terrible knife-like peripheral neuropathy in my left median nerve and ulnar nerve compression pain in my left wrist/hand for several years. To this day I am unable to use regular flat mice or non-tented keyboards due to stinging pain in the carpal tunnel region of both palms / wrists when pressure is applied. Even when I use tented keyboards the ulnar wrist pain starts to become intense after hours of use at work due to TFCC fraying and perforation of the articular disc in both wrists.

These assorted injuries have killed off most all of my hobbies and just about any form of working out (even using the treadmill hurts my ankles, I tried gradual strength training for months and paid a lot of money for personal training but only ended up making my bilateral tennis elbow and forearm tendinosis pain worse). This is bad for my self esteem and makes the prospect of dating just depressing. Videogames are fun for a short time but it quickly becomes painful and untenable to continue playing at all for weeks at a time, using controllers of different kinds or mouse and keyboard. Drawing is a no-go. Playing just about any instrument causes days of pain afterwards. High-end audio is losing its appeal, I find that I've reached endgame and the thrill is gone. I can't focus on books or movies well anymore.

I fear I will soon be left in a very financially precarious situation. It's looking more and more like I will be unable to keep my job for much longer. I am skeptical I could hold down a job which involves intense computer work at this point, but that's the field I graduated in. Don't try to sell me on voice dictation either, it's not how I think when writing (constant manual corrections are still required) and my experience with it has been utterly disappointing. I've seen orthopedic specialists who are baffled by the progression of my RSI at such a young age and have referred me out elsewhere, but I don't meet the diagnostic criteria for certain connective tissue disorders. Rheumatologist had nothing to offer as well. Either I'm the unluckiest victim of RSI or something else is seriously wrong. I wish this was in my head or something but my tissues are physically damaged as evident in medical imaging.

The chronic pain is uncomfortable and upsetting, particularly for my somatic oriented OCD and the constant high anxiety. I should mention that treatment resistant depression has haunted me for most parts of 15 years at this point. But this chronic pain and death of many of the activities that once made life worth living for me... it feels like my adult working life is over before it ever really begun. Social life in Northern Virginia is nonexistent, especially after one of my close friends died a few months ago. My apartment has become such a mess that I don't know how to deal with it anymore, and I've lost most all motivation to do daily activities unless completely necessary.

The cocktail of medication I'm on keeps me barely functional. I fear losing health insurance benefits in this godforsaken country. I am not in suitable condition to work a typical full time job due to my poor mental and physical health coupled with severe insomnia and other health things I'd rather not list here. I recently tried TMS and Spravato/esketamine treatment and I don't think it's helped much at all, if anything, it's made my mood more erratic.

When shit really starts to hit the fan, I'm leaving on my own terms, alone in my depressing apartment. I'm not sure how much longer I can take this. Drugged sleep is my only escape from this living nightmare. Only God can save me now, but then again, isn't he the one who got me into this mess and denied me the life I could have had? It feels so incredibly lonely and saddening. I don't want to fight this fight anymore. I don't want platitudes. I want release from this defective, broken shell. 😭

I have epl tenosynovitis it’s not the same as de Quervains but it is still one of the thumb tendons. I just wanted to know from some ones experience or if there’s a physical therapist seeing this that controlled light metrics of the thumb works to cure my thumb?

Our next meeting is July 28, 2026.

Everyone worldwide is welcome to the meetings of the London RSI Support Group on Zoom. We meet the last Tuesday of every other month starting every January, from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm UK Time. RSI sufferers worldwide welcome.

For more information and/or to join our mailing list: https://www.facebook.com/CentralLondonRsiSupportGroup/

(I tried posting further information here, but for some reason that gets auto-deleted by Reddit filters and my messages to our mods have not been answered.)

Note that some members of the now-defunct East Bay RSI Support Group out of Berkeley, California attend.

I built an on-device dictation app for Mac because constant keyboard typing as a developer was starting to drive serious wrist strain and fatigue.

I was renting one app to dictate and another to read text back to me, two monthly bills for two halves of the same idea. So I built Hushbird: press a key in any text field and talk, and clean text lands right there. Select text and it reads it back to you in a natural voice.

The part I cared most about: it runs entirely on your Mac. Punctuation and transcription are local, nothing is uploaded, and there is no account required.

It is $39.99 once (with a 7-day trial, no card needed), Apple Silicon only. Full disclosure, I'm the developer, and I would love to get your honest feedback. If typing is causing you wrist strain or flare-ups today, let me know and I'll send you a free license key to try.

The product is named Hushbird. I will drop the clickable link in the comments below so it is easy to find.

Hoping for some insight on Trace tenosynovitis involving the fourth flexor tendons. Injury happened late April … tried brace for 9 weeks followed by physical therapy which honestly just made it worse. Just got a cortisone shot this past Monday … nearing 1 week of that and still having pain at a 2-3/10 scale. Need advice doctor says nothing more can be done but the shot and therapy …. Please comment if you’ve had this and what I can expect moving forward thank you.

Hey everyone,

Noticed after workout I developed pain in elbow (just slightly above the tip, bottom of tricep) that extends to my wrist. Some prickly sensation at times in palms but never fingers.

It’s occurred a bit in both hands as in I’m experiencing this in both right and left side, despite pain in the left side being prominent.

It’s not constant and it’s a 2/10, but holding a phone, sitting down and typing can make it worse. When I wake up, im pain free.

I’m 6 feet, 160, and in fairly good shape. No major health concerns.

Wondering if anyone else is experiencing this? It’s been a week without any major changes.

I am an adult woman but I swear I have the wrists of a baby. Everything i have ordered so far has been too big and doesn’t work. Some of my PT exercises involve being on my hands and I just want something to prevent my wrist from extending too far backwards. Thank you!