Switching from a decently active lifestyle to an almost completely sedentary one is what got me injured last summer–well, that and REALLY poor drawing posture. I have chronic nerve pain in my arm and shoulder now, it keeps me up at night fairly often and that’s after changing my desk setup, my bed setup, being aware of the warning signs and getting a headstart with a heading pad and biofreeze, and am only able to draw for any length of time fully a year later. If you’re like me, even if you injure yourself and do need surgery or physical therapy, it’s so out of your budget all you can do is power through by yourself and hope it doesn’t get worse as you get older, knowing it probably will. This shit is serious. A back, shoulder, arm, wrist injury, it can wreck your whole deal. You gotta be proactive about it!!!
I think we’re all fairly familiar with wrist stretches specifically to head off carpal tunnel, I see posts and diagrams all the time, but this set of exercises is fantastic for keeping all of your upper body joints doing what they are supposed to. Definitely, definitely do them!
Without derailing the post, I do want to mention some other things you can take a look at in your workspace to prevent problems before they happen. Something that’s a little uncomfortable if you’re at your desk a few hours a day can wreak havoc when you sit there for eight or more. Look at your setup and check:
is your desk at a height where, typing or drawing, your forearms are parallel to your desk surface? If not, you can raise your keyboard with a stack of books, a short box, a tool specifically made to raise your keyboard but that’s more expensive than shit you’ve already got around the house.
are your wrists held at a netural, straight position when you type and use your mouse or tablet pen? If not, consider a wrist bumper or an ergonomic mousepad–yeah the tiddy ones work great.
is your chair at a height where your feet can touch the floor and your knees are at 90 degree angles? If not, can your chair be raised or lowered so that they are? If you’re short like me, you may need footrests to make sure your feet are touching without having to reach up to get at your desk proper. If you’re super tall, you might need small raisers or blocks of scrap wood to stick under your desks legs.
are the armrests on your chair comfortable? too wide? too narrow? I realized I was using a chair with a narrow seat and the armrests tucked in close to the body, which was not nominally an issue except I was wedging my elbows between the armrests and my body while I worked, which pinched the nerve in my elbow and also fucked up my shoulders since I was keeping them up around my ears. Armrests are the least customizable feature of desk chairs a lot of the time–I ended up purchasing a chair where I can just sling em back and go without, but you may find success with folded blankets or thing pillows to bring them closer to you, or a good old screwdriver to take them off if they’re too close.
when you look at your monitor or tablet, do you have to hunch or crane your neck? A monitor should sit so the top is at or just above your eye level, and ideally a tablet should sit at just enough of an angle so it’s a plane parallel to your face–this ends up being somewhere in the 10 to 45 degree angle area.
is there anything else causing you to slump, hunch, lean, or brace yourself at your desk? move that shit. if you end up propped on your elbow turned half away from your desk so you can see your second monitor or the tv or the window or whatever else, all the ergonomics in the world aren’t gonna help your ass.
You only get one body, and the way you treat it when you’re sat in the same spot all day long can fuck it up real bad or keep it working smoothly. ‘Uncomfortable’ in the short term can be 'dangerous’ in the long term; your body is a machine you gotta do maintenance on, and you gotta store it properly. Stretch!!! Take breaks!! The power is in your hands!!
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