I’ve started posting to this blog again after a break of a year or more, mostly because there is still lots of interesting stuff going on in the field of ergonomics and health related to repetitive stress injuries and other ailments attributed to the daily modern grind. I originally stopped posting because my main incentive for starting this blog four+ years ago went away: after several years of suffering from repetitive stress injuries (my hands were my main problem), the pain disappeared.
No, it wasn’t magic. It was a visit to a doctor for other unrelated (or so I thought at the time) problems. She had me tested for food allergies, and I came up positive for sensitivities to gluten and dairy (and a few lesser ones). It was hard to give up these foods, which show up in nearly everything, (and I do cheat from time to time) but one of the benefits was that my hand problems gradually diminished. Today I can spend a full day working at the keyboard (or playing World of Warcraft *furtive guilty look*) with pain. Eliminating the allergy foods also helped me get rid of my other issues (I was having heartburn at night, insomnia, headaches during the day, and needed an inhaler for asthma).
Interestingly, when I cheat, as I am wont to do now and then (especially for desserts, mmm), I’ll often know it as some of my symptoms will flair up.
So, for those of you suffering from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or other joint issues/RSIs, it’s probably worth a trip to the doctor to get tested for food allergies. It doesn’t take much time or cost much (I think I paid about $125 for a blood test that checked for allergies to close to 100 common foods), and it may make a world of difference.