r/RSI

Hi everyone,

I’m 23 years old and I’ve been dealing with chronic pain in my right hand/arm for about 13 years, since I was around 10. At the time, doctors couldn’t find a clear explanation, so I ended up just learning to live with it. However, since November 2025, my symptoms have worsened in both intensity and extension, and I’m trying to look for answers again.

It originally started in 2013 as swelling in the thenar area of my right hand, near the base of the thumb. The swelling seems to follow just underneath the palm crease people usually call the “life line.” It feels somewhat hard to the touch. With use, the back of my hand can also become swollen. The pain and swelling usually get worse throughout the day and with activity.

Since the beginning, the pain has been diffuse and constant, mainly in my hand and wrist, but I’ve also had cramps in my fingers and pain radiating toward my elbow.

For many years, the symptoms stayed relatively stable. But since late 2025, I’ve started feeling more pain in my forearm, elbow, triceps area, and sometimes up toward my shoulder, almost as if the pain is spreading or radiating.

So far, I’ve had several tests and specialist appointments:

• Palm ultrasound: normal.
• Cervical MRI: disc dehydration at C5-C6 and some straightening of the cervical spine.
• Rehabilitation for the cervical issues: helped slightly with upper arm symptoms, but everything from the elbow down stayed the same.
• X-rays: normal.
• EMG of the ulnar and median nerves: normal.
• Hand MRI: normal; the lump/swollen area was described as a non-pathological induration.
• Wrist MRI: showed tenosynovitis and ECU subluxation.
• Two orthopedic specialists told me the ECU subluxation seemed mild and probably didn’t explain my symptoms.
• Rheumatology confirmed joint hypermobility and suggested the pain could be related to that, but I didn’t get much more guidance beyond general pain management advice.
• Another orthopedic specialist suggested possible right-sided thoracic outlet syndrome, but didn’t order specific tests. I did 15 physiotherapy sessions focused on strengthening and posture, but I didn’t notice significant improvement, so he ended up discarding that possible diagnosis.

At my last follow-up, the doctor basically told me to “do sports” in case it was related to low muscle tone, and to come back if I found a clearer pattern in my pain. This happened when I was the most active child ever (training tennis for 8 hours a week, riding bikes... maybe it could me related to an untreated injury, idk anymore. When it appeared I did not related to any hit, fall, trauma thing) So once again, I feel like I’ve been left without a clear diagnostic or treatment path.

The pain is often limiting and emotionally exhausting. I’m not necessarily looking for a specific diagnosis from Reddit, but I would really appreciate hearing from anyone who has experienced something similar: chronic hand/wrist/arm pain, swelling with use, normal EMG, mostly normal imaging, hypermobility, possible nerve or musculoskeletal involvement, or doctors not really knowing what to do next.

Has anyone gone through something like this? Were there any specialists, tests, treatments, or diagnoses that eventually helped you?

It’s really hard to be 23 and feel like I’m expected to just accept living with unexplained chronic pain.

Thank you so much for reading. Any advice, shared experiences, or suggestions would mean a lot.

Left hand vs. right hand with some swelling

Left hand vs. right hand (the mole one) It is barely noticeable in the photo but there is some swelling that follows just below the ‘life line’ crease of the palm.

Hi, I'm 26 years old. I'm writing this because I don't know what to do (sorry for my bad english). My doctors have told me that they don't see anything wrong with my wrist/arm, they've told me when it started that they saw a little bit of inflammation but that it wasn't big enough to match my pain.

I've been dealing with chronic wrist pain since I was 17. I was about to enter college to study arts, my dream, but then I started having some pain in my right wrist after finishing a detailed painting. What i thougt was a pain that could had been solved with some rest has developed into my biggest nightmare.

I have wrist pain every day since then. I dropped college because i couldnt paint without pain. I cant even draw anymore, on a good day perhaps i can draw for 20min but i dont have much good days because every daily task hurts. Typing on my phone hurts, typing on a keyboard hurts, playing on nintendo switch hurts, writing hurts. Sometimes I can't even wash my hair due to pain. It is not always the same pain, I believe Im everyday on 4-5/10 and my bad days are 8/10 pain. Its not only pain, it feels as if I lose force on my arm and cant grab any object well. Also when I started having this pain I started using my left hand more and now it also hurts.

I dont know what to do, 8-9 years with chronic wrist pain and without a diagnostic is a nightmare. I dont know if they dont see anything because its psycological due to stress or anxiety. I dont know, but if it is because of anxiety what could i do? Nobody tells me anything and I feel that im gonna be disabled for the rest of my life without knowing WHY. Please help..

I post my original review (2024-03-16) here too:

Solid and customizable

I bought the Nature Qmk keyboard on 2022-08-16, I'm a programmer and I had forearm and wrist pain.

It took me about a month to accustomize myself to this new keyboard layout (US is not my native layout but it's better for programmers).

My previous keyboard was a Microsoft ergonomic one with keypad on the right. It was a giant leap for me: different layout, no numpad, different keys arrangement... but I saw the pain gradually vanishing, and I really love the programmable keys via the simple qmk Web interface.

It's such a joy now using it every day at work and at home.

The only downside if you are a programmer like me is that some symbol keys are a bit far to press when needed, but that's somewhat easy to overcome if you want (just use qmk config website).

I bought this keyboard because it was the only one with a good price range to start with, other competitors costs about twice!

Note: I bought 2 keyboards before the fuss happened some time ago (just look in the r/xbows subreddit) and I had no trouble at all, the company sent a mail about a week ago stating they had a fraudolent staff member screwing thair business and it should be resolved now. I really love this keyboard and I hope they will continue to sell it in the future.

After a long journey trying to get relief for my wrist & hand pain, my doctor basically said there’s nothing to be done - I’m likely to have chronic flare ups indefinitely, and braces or what he called wrist gloves are really the only way to manage it when it happens.

He said basically any kind will help. I already have some with rigid metal braces inside for workdays or heavy lifting, but I’d really like to find some smaller discreet or fashionable ones that that I can wear all day when I’m having a tough flare up but still want to go out on hot days or dress up. Does anyone have recommendations?

Hello, 27M here, since almost 2 years now I'm dealing with pain and tingling in my left forearm, wrist, hand and fingers caused by excessive gaming.

Here is what I did : Ultra sound around median nerve around wrist and forearm, RMI on cervical, RMI on left hand, 2 EMG on left arm.

Everything went negative except on the second EMG when they show a very slight median nerve involvement. Meaning than the first one with most hardcore symptom show nothings.

My primary GP said I don't have carpal tunnel but tendonitis of wrist flexor,

My Physio said I have some sort of carpal tunnel syndrome and give me strength exercices which doesnt work and cause me insane flare up.

My 2 neurologist don't know what I have except the second one said I have probably carpal tunnel syndrome but not worth surgery since I don't have muscular or tendon damage and said that it's really slight median nerve involvement for a surgery.

Orthopedist said if I have slight EMG he can do the surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome since I told him that it can happen that the nerve tingling go up to my elbow/shoulder (but randomly and in very rare random moments)

After a long break not using keyboard and going to vacation my symptoms disappear last year, I thought I was good for now but last week I developped the symptoms once again by playing on an arcade machine. Since then, my symptoms reappeared and I struggle to find solution except rest for a very long amount of time. I'm currently doing some exercices for my wrist and forearm to see if I can have some improvement but I struggle a bit. Sleeping with brace at night show great result as well.

Anyone in this situation which can provide me some help ?

Is it a carpal tunnel and I absolutely need a surgery ? or I can progress in other way ?

(sorry if I did some mistake in the text , english is not my main language).

EDIT #1 : Forgot to mention that I'm going to gym and doing street workout 2 - 3 times a week, so I'm pretty active guy.

I’ve only been doing physical therapy for my hands and wrists for about 3 weeks, but they’ve been hurting so much that I feel like something isn’t right. I have trigger fingers in almost all of my fingers on both hands, and I haven’t had surgery.

The trigger fingers started a while ago and were somewhat improving with steroid injections, hot compresses, massages, and some exercises I was doing on my own. But when it started affecting my thumbs, it felt different, especially because the thumb is such an important part of the hand. Around the same time, I also developed De Quervain’s tendinitis, and later pain on the ulnar side of my wrists especially on the right side, but in both hands.

I’ve been trying to avoid surgery and thought physical therapy would help, but honestly it has felt like the opposite. Since starting therapy, I’ve been waking up with severe wrist pain and pain in the palms of my hands as well.

I’ve done some research, and it seems like many of the exercises I’m doing are more for general wrist tendinitis, while some of the trigger finger exercises like squeezing a ball feel too aggressive for my condition right now. I also haven’t received any ultrasound therapy or treatments focused on reducing inflammation first.

I’m still working and regularly lifting and carrying heavy boxes, so I feel like my hands and wrists are already under a lot of strain. Because of that, I wonder if starting with gentler stretches and inflammation reduction would make more sense before strengthening exercises.

Would it be okay for me to ask them to adjust my therapy program? I’m not sure how to bring it up without sounding like I think I know better than the therapist… I just feel concerned because my symptoms have gotten worse

I know everyone's situation is different and the grass is always greener. But my RSI has gotten bad enough that I can't game, can barely use my phone, and I'm trying to figure out what's next.

Did you switch careers entirely? Go part-time? Find ergonomic setups that actually made a difference long-term? Move into something more physical, or something with more variety in movement?

What worked and what didn't?

Long time lurker here...my wrists were basically wrecked about a year ago. I'm a developer, typing 10+ hours a day. Sharp burning in both forearms, and some mornings I couldn't even hold a coffee mug without flinching.

Here's what actually made a difference for me. I'm not saying it'll work for everyone, but after a year of trial and error, this is what got me from daily 3/10 pain to basically nothing.

Exercises that helped
Tendon glides first thing in the morning. Three sets of 10. It took about a month before I noticed anything. I also did wrist flexor stretches, the kind where you extend your arm palm up and pull back on your fingers with the other hand. Prayer stretches too. I do all of these 2-3 times a day now, and it takes maybe 3 minutes total.

What I changed at my desk
I got a split keyboard, the Kinesis Freestyle. That was the biggest hardware fix by far. It took me about two weeks to adjust to the layout, but my wrist angle is way more natural now. I also switched to a vertical mouse, and raised my monitor so I'm not hunching forward.

The thing nobody told me about breaks
I used to power through 3-4 hours without moving. Now I use a timer, 25 minutes on, 5 off. During those 5 minutes I actually stand up and walk around. Not just scroll on my phone. It sounds stupidly simple, but it made a real difference in how my hands felt by 3pm.

Dictation, the part I didn't expect to help as much as it did
I was skeptical about voice typing at first, but it ended up cutting my daily keystrokes by maybe 50-60%. That gave my hands enough recovery time between typing sessions that the pain stopped piling up.

I use a few different tools depending on what I'm doing:

For quick stuff like Slack messages or one-line replies I just use Apple Dictation. It's built in, fine for short bursts, not worth paying for.

For longer writing, emails, docs, code comments, I switched between a couple. Wispr Flow ($18/mo) is solid, but the paste-based insertion broke on remote desktop sessions I use for client work. Talon is powerful but has a steeper learning curve than I had patience for.

What I use most now is DictaFlow ($7/mo). Hold a hotkey and talk, release and it types wherever your cursor is. The feature that actually made it stick, if you mess up mid-sentence you say a correction word and it deletes back and retypes by voice. Sounds minor, but when you're dictating a whole email it saves you from grabbing the keyboard constantly.

There's also Voice In, a Chrome extension with a free tier, which I use specifically for web forms and Google Docs. Different tool, different job.

None of this replaces typing. I still type. But spreading the load across my voice and hands meant I wasn't hammering the same tendons for 10 hours straight.

Took about 4 months to feel normal-ish
The first month nothing changed. The second month I noticed I wasn't wincing in the morning. By month four I could do a full workday without thinking about my hands. I still do the stretches. I still use dictation. It's maintenance now, not emergency repair.

What's worked for other people here? Everyone's RSI is different, so what combo of things worked best for you?

I’ve only been doing physical therapy for my hands and wrists for about 3 weeks, but they’ve been hurting so much that I feel like something isn’t right. I have trigger fingers in almost all of my fingers on both hands, and I haven’t had surgery.

The trigger fingers started a while ago and were somewhat improving with steroid injections, hot compresses, massages, and some exercises I was doing on my own. But when it started affecting my thumbs, it felt different, especially because the thumb is such an important part of the hand. Around the same time, I also developed De Quervain’s tendinitis, and later pain on the ulnar side of my wrists especially on the right side, but in both hands.

I’ve been trying to avoid surgery and thought physical therapy would help, but honestly it has felt like the opposite. Since starting therapy, I’ve been waking up with severe wrist pain and pain in the palms of my hands as well.

I’ve done some research, and it seems like many of the exercises I’m doing are more for general wrist tendinitis, while some of the trigger finger exercises like squeezing a ball feel too aggressive for my condition right now. I also haven’t received any ultrasound therapy or treatments focused on reducing inflammation first.

I’m still working and regularly lifting and carrying heavy boxes, so I feel like my hands and wrists are already under a lot of strain. Because of that, I wonder if starting with gentler stretches and inflammation reduction would make more sense before strengthening exercises.

Would it be okay for me to ask them to adjust my therapy program? I’m not sure how to bring it up without sounding like I think I know better than the therapist… I just feel concerned because my symptoms have gotten worse

I've had RSI for two years. Typing wrecked my forearms first, then my wrists decided to join the party (a bit emotional, bee coding since I was a child).

So I did what everyone here eventually does. Switched to voice.

For about 30 seconds, it felt like the answer

Then the transcript made a mistake. And suddenly I was doing the exact same keyboard dance I was trying to escape

Except now I'm also hunting through a wall of spoken words to find the one wrong syllable buried in paragraph four.

Move cursor, Find wrong word, Select it, Delete it, Retype it, Fix the spacing it left behind. Fix the punctuation. Hope the sentence still makes sense.

That's not a voice interface. That's typing with extra steps and a worse cursor.

I realized: the problem was never transcription. Everyone solved transcription. The problem is correction.

Because speech is fast and loose. Text needs to be exact. And the moment those two things collide, your hands pay the price. Again.

The thing that actually helped me wasn't better AI or smarter autocorrect.

It was a system that shows me what it's unsure about

So I only correct those parts. Tab to move. Enter to accept. A number to choose. Never throws me back into normal editing mode.

It shows me what to fix so I actually fix it in seconds, not minutes.

My hands are still not what they were. But I'm no longer typing through a full day of work just to clean up after my own voice.

Anyone else gone down the speech-to-text rabbit hole and felt like you just traded one problem for another?

I’ve always felt slow using a mouse or trackpad. It works fine at a desk but when I’m trying to work on the go like on a bus or small desks it starts to feel clunky and inefficient.

I’m exploring whether eye tracking could make laptop control faster and easier. Your eyes would aim where you want to go and your keyboard would confirm the action so it doesn’t accidentally click everything you look at.

I’m curious whether this would actually help people work more efficiently when they’re away from a proper desk? Keen to hear people's thoughts.

Not pitching anything. Just trying to figure out if this is a real problem or only a cool demo.