Caveat Lector

Left arm’s doing very well, thanks. I gave it a pretty good workout on Friday, eased off on it the rest of the weekend… and it’s really trying very hard not to hurt at present.

In other words, I can make it hurt (the usual: extend arm out fully, then pronate/supinate), but otherwise it’s keeping itself to itself. Hasn’t that been a while coming.

I’m not quite sure what’s going on in the upper arm, shoulder, and the left side of my neck. I do know they ache and get stiff now and then, especially when they’re tired after a long day. Hitting the sore spots with my dolphin gizmo helps; I’m just not sure I’m finding all the right sore spots.

Eh, well. I learn more about my own sore spots every time I go to the physical therapist. Another appointment in two weeks.

I gave myself a break on the exercises this weekend, after last week’s adventures in overworked wrist flexors. This morning, though, I turned over in bed once I woke up and started in on the good old (I really hate these) shoulder raises.

Tell you what, though, all this bloody exercising works. I got to work in absolutely zero pain. None.

Now, I’m used to pain, and since I finally started feeling some improvement, I’ve been watching myself like a hawk to figure out what hurts me. Trust me, I’m not ignoring pain. I genuinely wasn’t feeling any.

Right now, the elbow is starting to twinge. So, okay, at the moment I can’t beat it for long. But beating it at all—that’s a nice November surprise.

I seriously overdid the wrist-curls yesterday evening. Not ready for thirty reps yet, nope nope. I didn’t know it was even possible to pull wrist muscles, but I’ve gone and done it. Wearing brace for a day or two, until the worst is over.

But, hey, the nerves are behaving very well, by and large. Elbow is quiet today. Sometimes having a different problem is as encouraging as having no problem at all. At least it’s a change.

So I bought myself one of those little dolphin-shaped massager gizmos (don’t buy on the Web; the chichi soaps-and-lotions place I got it from had it for half what I was seeing on websites), and it is my new best friend. I have some learning curves to climb about where precisely to apply it, but even at my present level of non-expertise, I can quiet my elbow from screaming rage to a dull roar with some good hard work on my neck and shoulders.

It makes a difference, being able to lessen the pain, even when I can’t get all the way to zero. (Which I actually have, once or twice, but not tonight.) Just that extra little bit of control creates so much optimism.

Book on trigger points on hold at library. Learning curves.

One could legitimately call me stiff-necked today. Ow. Working on it.

The elbow is whinging again, though perhaps a bit less than it was when I got up this morning. Wrist is behaving itself nicely.

One of the many nasty things about RSI is that the pain can be deceptive. Just because your elbow hurts doesn’t mean the problem is in your elbow.

I’ve started to get better about this. Just no point in rubbing my wrist when it starts to go bad; that’s just not where the issue is. Lately, I’ve started to suspect the shoulder, because of its habit of getting weak and wanting to slump forward at the end of the day. Lo and behold, much of my half-hour pounding yesterday focused on the shoulder, front and back.

This morning I woke up with a roaring-mad elbow. Appearances being deceptive, however, I turned over on my stomach and started my shoulder-raising exercises, then turned on my side and did whirlybirds. Oh, joy, crackly bits in the shoulder, right as the arm moves back from pointing directly overhead. Wish those would go away. Still, despite tenderness from yesterday’s mauling, the range-of-motion seemed a bit better; I could move the scapula further back than before.

And ten minutes after I was up and about, the dull roar from my elbow had quieted to a mildly querulous whimper, really only perceptible on full extension.

I am beating this. I am. I’ve got it on the run. I need a proper neck-massaging tool, though, gizmo like this. Given the awkward angle, my fingers just aren’t strong enough to do the job.

For a moment, right at the end of my appointment today? Nothing hurt.

Nothing. Hurt.

I could bend and turn my arm and hand every which way, and feel nothing. It’s been a long time, I tell you what.

It didn’t last. Carrying the heavies home after a shopping trip pretty much did for my elbow, and anything I’ve done since has only made it worse. (And this is going to be a damn short entry, for the obvious reasons.)

But if I can get to painlessness even for a moment, I can get there long-term. And I will.

I’m going in later to get my arm pounded on. I’m not sure whether it’s a measure of desire for healing or sheer masochism that I’m actually looking forward to it quite a lot.

’Cuz this elbow, man, it seriously needs to give me a break.

I now officially hate my work chair. I can indeed tilt the seat-pan forward, but the chair-back comes with it. I’ve hit a barely-acceptable compromise, but I don’t like it one bit. Not, not, not comfortable (though it will get better once I get used to it; adjusting the home chair worked that way too).

No wonder I messed myself up in this job. I’ve been sitting badly for two and a half years!

Oh, and yesterday’s neck pain was all resolved when I woke up this morning, but I discovered at work this morning that my head wouldn’t tilt properly; my scalene muscles are tight as rubber bands. Working on it, slowly and gently… but I must note that the “listen to your body” people don’t always have the straight story. If all I’d been doing was listening, I wouldn’t have known my neck was in poor shape this morning.

Call it “active listening,” then—making one’s body talk louder and clearer. I’m assuredly still learning how to do this.

Sometimes I have to be slapped in the face with a wet fish before I learn.

No, not literally. But it does feel that way.

I thought I had my setup, well, all set up. My knees were brushing the bottom of the keyboard tray, and I kept hanging my feet off the chair base, but I’m used to that from work; it felt normal.

“Tilt your seat pan slightly forward,” say Damany and Bellis. It’ll feel weird, they say, like you’re going to fall off your chair, but it works.

Hm. Okay. Give it a shot, anyway. And my new chair adjusts the seat pan tilt independently from the back or the seat height, so go new chair.

Yep. That’s the ticket. Feet now hit floor and are happy to stay there, and seat can be lowered until knees aren’t anywhere near keyboard tray. Elbows naturally rest at a slightly obtuse angle, and wrists naturally sit in neutral. Head sits comfortably upright, not even tempted to slump into my chest. And all from tilting the seat a bit forward.

I think there will still be adjustments; the seat height may be a smidge low, and I’m not sure I have the chair back at the right angle yet. I had it very wrong at first, too far forward; my abdomen was getting crunched. I fixed that, but we’ll see if I fixed it entirely right.

I’m still learning how to know what my body needs by way of positioning and exercise. I woke up with stiff neck and shoulders this morning. Tried a few stretches, eventually determining that the wall angels were what I was after. Eventually, I’m sure, I’ll have the intuition, but in the meantime, the extra exercise probably isn’t a bad idea.

Now I have to figure out how to tilt my work chair forward, is all. I will get the better of this RSI business, no matter how many slaps with a wet fish it takes.