Hey everyone, what's up? Well I've run into a bit of a problem yet I know that anyone who plays the Elder Scrolls series or Fallout 3 an insane amount of hours-per-day, is going to have the answer to my question. In general I love long games like the ones mentioned above, and I'm just ending the Dragon Age series and fixing to start Skyrim, but my frickin mouse-hand wrist hurts, and my index and middle fingers are numb at the tips.

I'm certain it's some sort of RSI or Carpal Tunnel. So I'm wondering if anyone here on the Bethesda Forums has experience with this. In particular, I'm wondering whether I should relocate my mouse pad from the edge of the desk, farther toward the back maybe taking the pressure off the wrist. Or would a mouse wrist rest of some sort fix the problem? I don't know what to do. But I don't want to stop gaming that's for sure!

Anyone have any expertise in this area or suggestions? Thanks for any help you offer, Gardenia

I'm no professional, but if you really think it could be something like Carpal Tunnel syndrome, see your doctor and he can tell you if gaming is safe. It would be best to take a break from gaming until then.

Honestly, waiting a week or two until starting skyrim beats having to take painkillers for the rest of your life

Keep support on you're wrist. I'm sure there are several mouses out there on the market that can help the supporting too. Just rest your wrist on the desk, not on the edge, and see if you notice an improvement. If not, i'd contact your local doctor.

I just rolled up a thin piece of foam rubber and put it under my wrist and that seems to help a good bit. I don't think it's anything serious....yet...but I'm trying to avoid that happening.

its probably carpal tunnel, id invest in a game pad

Thanks Silver Eagle, do you have a recommendation?

Get a http://www.amazon.co.uk/Powerball-Neon-White-Pro-Signature/dp/B000MLPGZG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332268890&sr=8-1

I have one, and it's great. It's often used by people who play sports like golf and tennis a lot and need to build strength in their wrists, or people recovering from carpal tunnel syndrome.... but it also works great for pro gamers.

As a certified Orthopedic Doctor my highly trained medical recommendation is to svck it up buttercup.

Oh right, on topic: that's very definitely the start of carpal tunnel. Lay off using the PC much for the next few days, get a good mousepad, and try not to overdo it. This happens to me every now and then when I've spent days on end typing at the computer, and the abstinence seems to do the trick. If it's a recurring problem, I'd suggest getting a wristguard, too.

I re-read this and it sounds filthy.

LOL! well that's one option! My first Skyrim character's name is going to be Buttercup<-----with a capital B

Abstinence, ftw! Oof

You don't mention how long you play each day. Take breaks and do something else for 15 minutes every couple hours or something.

Even while playing, you can pause a few times an hour and stretch/flex your hands/fingers, roll your shoulders, arms and wrists and raise your arms over your head for a few minutes without ever leaving your chair.

Buy one of those hand exercise balls or squeeze thingies and use it when you're sitting around watching TV or something.

If it doesn't improve/help, then yeah....take a break for a few days and then later, reduce length of play sessions, period. You don't have to stop gaming, but you may have to stop being obsessive about game time.

I get the same thing playing long hours, especially when i was playing in raids in WOW, now i try to lessen my playtime, especially since i have a bad shoulder as well, but i have a gas lift chair with adjustable arms which i rest my elbow on some forearm is in alignment with my mouse, and it puts less pressure on my wrist, i get a mouse pad with a rest as well.

Yeah, a chair with good arm rests helps a lot...ie, high and rather long. I do the same thing - my armrests are so high that they're almost level with the top of the desk, so the arm/wrist doesn't have much of an angle upwards. I wish they'd go up a little bit higher than the desk, even.

Well, I play between 4 and 6 hours a day in 2 hour intervals. To me they are very long sessions. And as far as my chair goes, it does not have any arms: on purpose. Mainly because I play an extremely fast paced fps for the last 8 years. My arms are very active and the arm rests on computer chairs gets in my way. Having said that, the fact that I don't have arm rests is part of what is causing me pain in my wrist now because that is the exact pivot point where I rest my arm. After a while, the constant pressure on my wrist is starting to hurt so I will have to reach a solution. Also the problem with wrist rests on mousepads is that they interfere with fluid mouse sweeps on the mouse pad which are critical for fps...unless I raise my sensitivity way up so I don't need to use much space on the mouse pad to hit my target. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm so much to consider. Thank you all for pitching in though.

http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/en-us/p/xbox-360-wireless-controller-for-windows/jr9-00011

Fixed.

A doctor would prescribe a pain killer.

bumpity bump

I had the same problem, although mine was more from work than from gaming (although gaming didn't help). One thing I will say is that you shouldn't ignore the problem (I tried). It will only get worse.

The best solution is to cut back on mouse time and take more frequent breaks, unfortunately. I also started using a wrist brace at work. I'm talking about a real wrist brace that immobilizes your wrist and thumb...not one of those "computer gloves" that seem to be all the rage right now. I tried two different "computer gloves" and they didn't help a bit. I put Teflon tape on the wrist brace so it glides over the mouse pad better.

I definitely do not recommend mouse pads with built-in wrist pads. For me it actually made things worse, because it encourages articulating the mouse using your wrist and keeping your arm stationary on the wrist pad. You need to be able to move your arm so you don't contort and bend your wrist as much.

Anyway, like I said, don't ignore it. If you wear down the worky parts in your hand and wrist too much you'll end up with permanent damage and arthritis-like pain. You don't want that.

Ahh, I remember when the mouse was the one responsible for my wrist pain..



Now it's swinging my model katanas curtain rods around at night while pretending I'm a ninja..

Thanks for this input....definitely something to think about.

^this one million times this

Yea, right, gaming

You arms should rest on the evenly at the height of your elbow, adjust your chair to the height. Never let your wrist to be the point of support, let your elbow do the job. If you think that hinders your gaming experience, I suggest you start practicing your off hand everyday functions only. I've known people actually lost function of their hand for rest of their lives because of carpel tunnel.

My mouse is my off-hand and I'm completely ambidextrous with the mouse. I change it up whenever I get bored

But yeah, proper keyboard and mouse ergonomics are very important, especially if you use your computer a lot. Both my work and home desk setups are nearly perfectly ergonomic. The only problem with my home setup is my chair lacks good back support and at work my desk is too high so my legs don't form good angles to the ground (solved this one with a make-shift foot rest). I have some mild tendinosis in my right hand that'll flare up if I'm not in a good ergonomic position for long at a computer.

I used to use a mousepad with a wrist rest but now I use the mouse like that. I hardly game at all, but my hands have developed some persistent numbness lately that I need to get checked out.