I’ve been dealing with CTS for over a decade (and drawing for over 2 decades), here are some tips I’ve picked-up on over the years to help relieve pain and decrease risk of making your CTS symptoms worse:
1) Support your arm, do not rest your arm weight on your hand/wrist. Use a pillow for your elbow if need be.
2) Avoid putting pressure on your hand/wrist, this includes while drawing. Pushing on the wrist can cause symptoms to flare-up. Don’t push on anything if you can avoid it.
2.5) If you like to press-down hard on your drawing utensils, train yourself to be more light-handed, or try different methods that require less pressure on your hand. For example: a digital artist can adjust the pressure sensitivity on their tablet so that it requires less pressure to create a thicker brush stroke; a traditional artist can work more with markers instead of colored pencils; etc.
3) Wear a wrist brace while you sleep if symptoms are present. This can often relieve pain overnight.
4) Take frequent breaks while working to avoid a build-up of stress on the wrist.
5) Avoid keeping your wrist bent for prolonged periods of time. This includes while you sleep- a reason why wearing a brace at night can help relieve pain and symptoms.
In short, be kind to your wrists. If you can afford the surgery, go for it. CTS sucks and there’s no real cure for it. It’s far more common in women than in men, and there are a few factors that can increase your risk. I hope this helps!
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