Pain in the little finger

kmtext wrote:


Another point that a lot of doctors seem to ignore is sleep, or rather the position you sleep in. Part of my issue is due to the fact that I tend to sleep face-down, which puts strain on my neck - particularly the vertebrae around where the nerves to the hands and arms come out. I've managed to train myself to wake up when I get into that position and turn onto my side, and that has made a tremendous difference.

I've done quite a lot of reading on carpal tunnel syndrome and one other sleep-related point is that many people diagnosed with CTS tend to curl their wrists inwards while sleeping, bunching up their hands. That places additional strain on the nerves and muscles, and researchers found that wearing a splint at night which held the wrist straight in many cases eased the symptoms completely.

Danil Karpov wrote:

Those of you who translate (read "type") large ammount of words daily, have you had any problems with the little (or any other) finger? It's been bothering me lately, and the finger would usually recover over night. But it's now come to the point of some sort of constant pain. If you used to have something like that, have you found a remedy? Many thanks.

Tom in London wrote:

Three weeks ago I had a small domestic contretemps that caused me to make a deep cut right on the tip of my right index finger. The amount of blood was incredible - the scene in my white-tiled kitchen was like something out of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre".

My own bandage, put on in a panic to just stop the bleeding, caused me to "fold over" the cut flesh. In the end I had to have hospital treatment. After 2 weeks the bandage is off but I'm left with a new lump on the tip of my index finger and it's still painful and has played havoc with my musical pastimes. Typing is very awkward because I can't feel with that fingertip.

This episode has reminded me just how much a translator depends on the fingers. Dear Colleagues: look after your hands as though you were a world-class concert violinist !