Four tips for preventing wrist pain from typing

Shooting emails to co-workers. Putting together proposals. Texting our family and friends. Most of us do far more typing than we might think, and all this typing can lead to wrist pain if we’re not careful. 

Unfortunately, wrist pain is a common issue; researchers report that up to 6% of non-manual workers experienced wrist pain in the past week. You may be wondering if there are ways to prevent wrist pain from typing, and fortunately, there are. In fact, physical therapists can offer tips and techniques to help reduce your risk of typing-related wrist aches. 

These four tips can help prevent wrist pain from typing

There are many steps you can take to help decrease your risk of typing causing wrist discomfort. Physical therapists often recommend: 

1. Use good wrist posture — How your wrists are positioned while you type can have a lot to do with avoiding pain. Good typing posture involves keeping your wrists as flat as possible. In addition, you’ll want to be sure that your wrists aren’t angled either inward or outward. Both these positions can increase wrist stress and the risk of pain. 

2. Try an ergonomic keyboard — Ergonomic keyboards are specially designed to reduce stress on your wrists and hands. They can be especially helpful for people with broad bodies. This is because such people are inclined to angle their wrists inward to type, and ergonomic keyboards tend to be wider so that this isn’t necessary. 

3. Take frequent breaks — Doing any repetitive task for too long can be a problem, and typing is no exception. Make sure that you take breaks from typing frequently. It could be as simple as doing a non-typing-related task for a few minutes. 

4. Go to physical therapy — Many people believe that physical therapists can only help you once you’re already in pain. However, these specialists can also help you find ways to prevent many forms of musculoskeletal pain. 

How can a physical therapist help prevent wrist pain from typing? 

A physical therapist can take many steps to help you prevent wrist pain from all that typing you do. For instance, they can:

• Assess the ergonomics of your workspace and recommend improvements. 
• Evaluate your typing posture.
• Recommend ways to improve your typing posture. 
• Show you therapeutic exercises to strengthen and stretch your wrists. 
• Use myofascial release to break down myofascial trigger point in your forearms. 

Find out more about preventing wrist pain from typing at Back in Motion Physical Therapy

Want to learn more ways to prevent wrist pain from typing and other daily tasks? Our team at Back in Motion is primed to help you learn many prevention techniques. We offer free screenings that can pinpoint underlying issues that could morph into wrist pain. Our physical therapists are also adept at creating individualized therapy plans designed to reduce and prevent forearm, wrist and hand pain. 

Don’t have time to come to one of our clinics for help? No problem! Our team can save you the drive time thanks to our virtual therapy and at-home care services. 

Contact us today for more information about our preventive therapy services or to schedule an initial appointment.