For the last couple of weeks, my hands have been hurting terribly. It all started when my hard disk drive crashed on the same day a book I was writing was due. I had no choice but to speed type all 7,000 words in twenty-four hours. I’m telling you, it’s no walk in the park. Good thing I already knew what to write because I was literally churning out 1,000 words an hour and clearly did not have time to think much. After that day, there are now permanent dark circles around my eyes, my back aches, my shoulder’s in pain, but most of all, my hands extremely hurt.

Now we all know how important hands are to a blogger. Of course you can always use voice-recognition software, but some of us prefer seeing words materializing on paper (or in our case, on screen) to be able to get into the “flow” of the written piece. Anyhow, I went to the doctor yesterday because I can barely move my index and middle fingers anymore. I truly thought I already had Carpal Tunnel Syndrome because I have a friend who’s suffering from the condition. Good thing my doctor said it was just stress so I got off with only a hot water soak.

Knowing how important your hands are, how do you take care of them? I believe I already discussed some health tips before, but I haven’t exactly focused on the hands. Here are some tips I’ve gotten from real life friends and friends from the Freelance Writing Jobs board about hand care.

1. Wax Baths

Amanda B. England suggested I do wax baths. For all those who don’t know what wax baths are, you often see them in spas. It’s melted scented wax in water (I think) in which you dip your hands. After the wax has cooled and solidified, your hands will then be gloved to seal in the moisture. As such, wax baths are generally used to moisturize hands. However, Ms. England said it’ll work wonders for my hands so why not? I get to soothe stiff joints and get soft hands at the same time — that’s killing two birds with one stone right there.

2. Cutting Back

Phil, another regular in said blog, advised to cut out of taking more work. For clients, this means cutting back on the posts. Perhaps not on the frequency, but rather, on the length of each one. Keep the posts short and sweet and lay off the novels at least until you get your hands well.

3. Accessorize Properly

As I said before, ergonomic accessories help a lot. Keypads are perhaps the most important of all. If you’re such a blogging nut, then you better invest properly so as to prevent future body pains! It’s all for your own good. Phil, again, suggested interchanging the position of the mouse regularly.

4. Exercise Your Hands!

You need to stretch out those fingers or else they’ll rot off. My friend, a science writer, informed me of exercises meant to prevent Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. They’re simple calisthenics for the hands and arms. Follow the link to a sample exercise routine and get that blood flowing. It’s basically a series of stretching your arms and flexing your fingers. You can do this even in the office or between writing posts and it doesn’t require much time on your part.

Here is another one for arthritis pain relief. Not exactly for preventing CTS, but it’ll help ease the pain too.

5. Use Exercise Gadgetries

My college friend advised me to use a stress ball. You can squeeze on the stress ball to relieve the pain on your hands. There are many different hand exercisers to choose from, and it’s all up to you which one you end up using.

These are some of the tips to take care of those two hands. If none of the above work, then perhaps it’s time for you to go to the doctor like I did and rest for a while. Your health takes precedence over anything else — remember that. If all else fails, however, you could try voice recognition software for a while until you can fully use your hands again.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 21st, 2007 at 3:00 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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