Shoulder pain from computer

[Jody]

(Goodness me, I hope no one who knows me reads this, they WILL be shocked)...

V

Lisa,

Should I break the news to her?

Okay.

Vicki --

WE know you, we've read it -- and we're NOT shocked.

 

[Victoria]

Much better, today, thanks Lisa,
(I didn't realise how stressed I was last week, until I came into work this morning).
I spent most of the weekend in my night attire & did nothing much (except a bit of typing).
I really needed that rest - having been pushing myself too hard lately & the cracks were starting to show.
Victoria

 

[Jody]

Vicki,

And you have wisely come to this oasis of rest, to make the work day easier to deal with.

Smart move.

 

[Victoria]

Jody,
I don't mind if the other side of the world knows....
I was thinking more of work colleagues......
I'm a picture of the quiet, innocent, sweet 'li'ol lady' at work.
I want to keep it that way.
V

 

[Jody]

Vicki

It's funny, I had the impression that you were a rather proper, staid lady when you first came here.

It's been a real learning experience.

Bet you're glad sometimes that most of us are on the other side of the world.

 

[Victoria]

Ah, well, Jody,

First impressions can be deceiving.

I decided to be a little more upfront & reveal one of my lesser known sides.

Sometimes, in life, we show the world a picture of ourselves. It's 2 dimensional. It lacks depth. It's a facade that we present to the world, because we're afraid to show our true nature. Well, not so much our true nature, maybe that's the wrong description. We're afraid to show that we have different facets to our personality.

We are not all right or wrong. We are not all good or bad. We are not all black or white. There is always something in between. The important thing I've learnt is to be true to yourself. Don't imagine that you're something you're not. Be comfortable with your skin.

And take a chance sometimes, be bold & adventurous sometimes. Occasionally, you can put into words what the rest of the world is only thinking (& wishing they could say out loud).

If you stood in front of me, I daresay I would say the same thing. As you age, you realise there is nothing to fear (except fear itself).

Victoria

 

[Lisa]

Well put Vicki.

 

[Lisa]

Bach Rescue Remedy seems to make a difference every time.

Hiya Vicki!

I've only recently started using Rescue Remedy for my morning anxiety when it pops up. I have been pretty surprised by how well it works!

Because of the alcohol base of it, I had to go with the children formula but it is identical minus the alcohol. It was either the children or pet one that I could take, they both have glycerin as the base, but for some odd reason the pet one was more expensive by about 10%. I totally would have guessed it would be the other way around, but I guess people think of natural remedies for their pets more often than for their kids.

Awesome to hear it helped with your speedy recovery. I'll have to keep that use in mind.

Lisa

 

[Jody]

Vicki,

You seem to be getting more and more comfortable in your own skin. Or perhaps, more comfortable with letting others in on it.

Definitely seeing more of the bold, adventurous Vicki. I'm glad to be getting the chance to see this.

 

[Lisa]

Yeah - what Jody said!

 

[Jody]

Everyone should have their own Yesman.

Yes?

 

[jenbooks]

Vic, that wasn't the black pepper massage oil guy, eh? Now how many notches are on that belt?

You're so.....Australian! LOL. But Australians are much looser and more relaxed than Americans (or Canadians) and definitely more so than Brits~

 

[Victoria]

Yes, it was.

Well, I could say there's no bedhead left 'cause all the notches wore away the timber work, but I would be telling lies.

I don't have a bedhead at all.

Now you've got me on the subject, apparently it's bad Feng Shui not to have a bedhead.
Can anyone confirm or deny this?
My Feng Shui books are at home (of course).

Well, I've just arrived at work this morning & must get on with it........

V

PS I don't know that you're correct with that comment about the Brits, I nearly married one, when living in London, now he, he was............................................I'd better stop here, I'll get myself in to too much trouble & you'll all be teasing me to death.
I've got to do some work this morning.

 

[jenbooks]

LOL. You know, my ex's humor always went over my head (not bedhead) but I get yours. You're very funny.

The British humor is clever and witty and cutting in a very fine-tuned way. I found Australian humor loose and easy and a bit rough or what my ex would call "rude" (proudly).

 

[Victoria]

We Australians (like people from every country) are all different.
But when you're my age & travelled as extensively as I have in the 1970's, well, we're all well travelled & worldy, & I think you will find most of us (of this age) are very broadminded.

I had a very strict upbringing, so the first thing I did when I went overseas at the age of 19 was to rebel.

And to be honest, don't you think that most people when they're away from home (on holiday) do things that they wouldn't normally do at home?

I certainly cringe when I think of some of the experiences I had when travelling.

I'm actually getting a bit staid & not so adventurous these days. But of course, there are limitations when you have chronic pain & fatigue. I haven't gone on holiday for about 18 years or so.

Life is for living, anyway.

It's so frustrating not to be able to get out & about & travel like the good old days. And of course, there's the financial aspect of travelling - it's soooooo expensive to go anywhere. And I couldn't imagine roughing it or staying in Youth Hostel's as I did in England, Scotland & Wales so much.

 

[Victoria]

Hi Lisa,

just saw your comments on using Rescue Remedy.

Yes, it can be really miraculous. Bach remedies are one of those things that scientists can't explain. In essence, there is so little of the original flower left in the final bottle, that it is unable to be traced, but it DOES work. Sort of like homeopathic rememdies.

But it doesn't always work.

There is a degree of intuition or understanding of your state of mind at the time. So if you haven't already done so, read my basic blog on Bach Rescue Remedies. Most of that information I've taken from my books.

It works well for terror, severe shocks & serious health problems. But it also seems to work for nervous anxiety (exams or job interviews) or (keeping you body stable) in the case of a heart attack.

Not that you would attempt to treat a heart attack with a simple thing like Rescue Remedy - obviously you'd call an ambulance or administer CPR if the person was unconsious, but I've read so many case histories of people being kept alive by Bach Rescue Remedy (until more professional medical assistance arrives).

It can't always be a placebo effect as some scientists proclaim.

I use it for all sorts of reasons (in the hope that it will do something). To be honest, it's so cheap to buy, & being a tincture in a dark bottle, it keeps for ages. I really felt it made a big difference when I was in pain Friday afternoon in the hospital. Strong pain can really cause trauma to the body (that's why hospital staff freely give you pain meds in hospital).

The sooner we understand better the relationship between the mind & body in healing, the sooner tradional Western medicine is going to make greater headway in healing. The Asians & indigenous peoples around the world are so far ahead of Western medicine in this aspect. Pain & anxiety is both a mental & physical thing (in my mind).

Victoria

 

[_Kim_]

Any ideas of how to treat shoulder pain from typing on the computer? It's gotten pretty bad over the past year.

Cort, I might be able to offer some helpful suggestions. I'm a medical massage therapist and the #1 problem I treat in my practice is shoulder/neck/upper back pain from computer usage. I wish you lived closer, because I would gladly work on your shoulder as a gift for all of the wonderful work you've done for this community. But still, I may be able to guide you in some self-care.

Most of the time, the major problem area is the rotator cuff (and associated) muscles, but presents as pain referral into the deltoid or neck/upper back. You can try this:

• Get a tennis ball and put it in a sock (the sock just holds the ball in place)
• Drape the sock over your neck/shoulder so that the ball is about near your armpit, but contacting your scapula
• Shimmy up to a wall and wedge yourself so that the ball makes contact with the wall
• Roll against the ball, looking for tender spots
• When you find a tender spot, stop
• With your arm bent at the elbow, rock your forearm towards/away from your body (internal/external rotation)

The other suggestion I have is to make some kind of change to the way that you mouse (this is your mousing shoulder, right?). Others have had luck changing to a wireless mouse or have taught themselves how to mouse with their non-dominant hand, so that they can switch back and forth when needed.

Hope this helps,
Kim
p.s. I've attached an image so you can see the general area of the shoulder to be targeted with the tennis ball

 

[Martlet]

I had this problem start very recently, bad enough to see my doctor which is rare for me as - well, you know - you get used to living with a certain level of pain. Once I had assured him that it was unilateral and definitely not a fibro flare, he prodded around the back of my shoulder and found a very tender spot, just where the "ball" fits into the socket. He said he was almost 100% sure it was an inflamed nerve, gave me a cortisone shot and, with a little bit of rest and some better computer habits, it has pretty much healed itself.

 

[Cort]

Thanks Kim! - I'll give it a try.

 

[Sunday]

I like the armrest idea, that makes sense. I certainly think ergonomics (and rest) are key. But there are other things that help, too. I have had years of relief from doing a few rounds with a comfrey root poultice. There's some controversy over comfrey root because if you feed a bale of it to rats they have liver problems. I feel bound to say that, but I also feel bound to say that a little through the skin is very different than a lot through the digestive tract. If anyone's interested in the method for doing this poultice, please ask. It got me from being in pain from picking up a paperback book to getting my hand and arm back again for many years. I'm thinking of doing it again. It was a sloppy mess but it worked.

Many years later the pain came back from a lot of repetitive use; this time I tried a series of liver cleanses, but I don't know if this is a great idea if you have CFS (I did one liver cleanse when I first got symptomy, thinking maybe that was the problem. It just made me feel worse). However it was effective for two or three years, so worth mentioning. The theory is from Chinese medicine: the liver/gallbladder meridian runs up the right neck and shoulder. Unclog the meridian, unclog the shoulder. (I'm sure there's more to it than that, but that's the simple version.) Liver cleanses are also beautifully calming, at least afterward.

I go to an acupressurist who really knows her stuff and can get me from screaming nauseating pain to functional in an hour and a half. I try not to get to the screaming pain part, but it's great to have a resource when I do.

More homely remedies: I use arnica, but someone introduced me to Myoflex (comes in a tube, available at drugstores) which works differently. Sometimes one does it for me, sometimes the other.

Here's another homely remedy I got introduced to: infrared light shone on the sore area from a distance of about 18" away for 15 to 20 minutes. I'd learned that muscle pain responds best to cold, but apparently nerve pain is different; a session under a heat lamp can really really help. And it's a pretty cheap fix, too. (You can use a clip-on lamp to direct the light where you want it. My hardware store guy warned me that you want to get one with a porcelain, not bakelite, holder for the bulb; the bakelite ones disintegrate in a few months. I got a chicken brooder lamp.)

Meier Schneider has some movement therapies for this - he's very good - and I've also recently had some work with a Somatics practitioner that is very encouraging. It's about retraining your brain and body to get out of the habit of pain using very gentle movements. It's not about getting range of movement or so many reps, it's about really feeling what's happening in your body, and learning to move in new ways.

This one may be controversial for some, but marijuana oil really helps my nerve pain. I understand that the tincture is better if you want fewer of the mind-changing effects but you do want relief of pain. I might try that since I certainly can't go out or operate heavy machinery when I take marijuana oil. But since it is my stalwart sleep remedy, the pain relief is very welcome (and probably part of the sleep remedy effectiveness).

Can you tell I've had a few rounds with RSI shoulder pain?