(Updated April 2023.) One of my first experiments in nutritional therapy, and one of the most straightforward, was directed at that bane of the data entry worker, carpal tunnel syndrome.
Carpal tunnel syndrome was endemic among my fellow data entry workers in XYZ insurance company’s workers’ comp processing department. About every tenth woman there (we were 98% women) wore a wrist brace. I escaped their fate until a few years later at another typing-intensive job, by which time I had already heard about the connection with vitamin B6.
30+ days of vitamin B6
I don’t remember how much I used, but it wasn’t crazy — maybe 100 mg a day? I might also have been taking B-complex, which would be another 50 mg of B6. It didn’t take long to work — a month at most. I continued to take it long after the pain disappeared, as I was nervous about the possibility of the pain returning, since I was still a keyboard slave. But eventually I did and the carpal tunnel never returned.
A more active form of vitamin B6, P5P (pyridoxal-5-phosphate), might be called for if you have no luck with regular vitamin B6.
Workstation adjustments required
I also discovered early on that I cannot use a center-placed trackpad on a laptop. Just 10 minutes contorting myself with that thing makes my arms hurt. I’m also careful not to get the mouse, and thus my elbow, too close to my body when I’m working at the computer. (Check out this guy who avoids the mouse entirely by using not one but two Apple Magic Trackpads, one on each side of his keyboard.)
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This content was first published in May 2011 and updated in February 2019, August 2019, and April 2023.
Marjorie R.
Marjorie is the creator of AvoidingRx.com, a record of her and her guest authors’ experiences with non-prescription health solutions. She is a third-generation nutritional-therapy self-experimenter.
Regarding the last statement from this post, in addition to my keyboard I use an apple Magic Trackpad and also a Kensington expert mouse trackball. All of which are Bluetooth so I can place them as I need, which can also help add more variety to hand and arm movement.
Thank you, Robert! I also find trackballs to be more comfortable than a mouse, as is not fighting the drag of a cord. I switched to a Logitech vertical mouse last year, which was such an improvement that I’m considering a tilted (or “tented”) two-piece keyboard. I wonder if there are trackpads that tilt. I also wonder if these major change-ups in how you use your body help to keep the brain sharp.