Just say no! I never thought using painkillers for RSI was a good idea. And I’ve since read of others with a similar opinion, which isn’t very surprising. Some books mention anti-inflammatory drugs and nerve relaxants. But I’ve never used anything like that. Pain exists for a reason. It’s your body’s way of telling you to stop damaging it. I don’t think it’s a good idea to hide that pain. However, mild relief can be soothing.
Arm bath
Now and then I arrive home with very sore arms and I’ve discovered some very nice relief recently. I’ve used our baby bath to have an arm bath. Both heat and cold can provide pain relief and first I tried very cold water. It worked but it wasn’t very pleasant. A hot water arm bath is very nice though and works a treat on aching arms. Unfortunately, I don’t actually have a full size bath in my size – but even if I did this is a bit quicker than a full bath. You might not have a baby bath – but a big basin might do the trick. Note: The Arm Bath is the main tip here – this was originally just going to be a post called ‘arm baths’.
Pain relief sprays
There are a lot of pain relief sprays on the market. I tried one a few years ago and it’s fairly horrible stuff. The one I used worked on the principle of using heat for pain relief. My memory of it is spraying some horrible chemical on your arm which starts burning straight away. Then you spend the next ten minutes desperately trying to wash it off. Then a few days later you try and spray on a bit less but just end of running around the house with your arms on fire again.
Ice packs
Here’s a tip from Dr Pascareli’s book: Fill some styrofoam cups with water and freeze them. Then wrap one in a towel and hold it against the painful area. On a bad day I’ve been known to just grab something out of the freezer – frozen peas… ice cream… but I don’t use these cold packs very often. I’m not a fan of cold things. I’d almost get more relief from eating the ice cream.
Heat packs
I’ve also used Thermacare heat pads before as well. I could take them or leave them, and they’re not exactly cheap, so I left them. I found them “OK”, they provided a bit of relief but nothing major for me. I’ll take an arm bath any day. I’ve a friend with a long history of chronic pain who used to get a lot of pain relief from a microwave-heated wrap for his neck.
Mind Control!
I’ll report back on this when I’ve read it properly. I have a copy of The Mind / Body prescription book. Many reviewers said it cured their RSI. Of course I’m skeptical of anything like this. Great if it works for other people but alternative treatments tend not to work for me, and that includes acupuncture. I’ve also been quite annoyed by what I’ve read so far. 90% of the book deals with different conditions that produce chronic pain. So (A) you’ve got that one of those conditions and know a hell of a lot more than the two pages in that book and (B) you haven’t got all the other conditions listed and could care less. There seem to be very few pages dedicated to the actual technique.
Summary
Most of these pain relief methods are more about coming home at the end of the day and trying to put your pain to bed and enjoy the rest of the day. (At least until you have to do your exercise!) Whereas while you’re working, you should concentrate on Ergonomics, posture , proper equipment and breaks to avoid pain.