Bloggers Bunions & Other Writing Ailments

So, you’ve decided against Bering Sea crab fishing because it’s too dangerous, ice road trucking is rather perilous too, and heading out into the great outdoors to get a proper job is just fraught with problems, with dangers lurking around every corner.

A nice quiet job writing at a computer is about as safe a job as you can get, or so you would think. You don’t have to deal with the weather, and you don’t even have to cross the street. Just a computer, a screen and a keyboard and your health is bound not to suffer. But beware, there are dangers lurking in your new qwerty lifestyle, and being locked away in a dark room whilst you mine your brain for ideas is far from danger free.

Before you embark on your new job as an online writer beware; bloggers bunions, RSI, plantar fasciitis, and DVT are just some of the dangers you will have to face on a daily basis, and I know, as I’ve had most of them in my two years as a dedicated online writer. So, to better prepare you for a life at a computer, and to help you stave of injuries, check out my list of common ailments facing today’s online writers.

Bunions are the bony lumps which form on the first joint of the big and little toes, in response to excess pressure being placed on the joints. In the case of the feet, the metatarsal heads move outwards, extra bone can be laid down, and the toes angle inwards to the others. Imagine my surprise, when I looked at my wrist and found one of these annoying lumps forming on my wrist!

What I didn’t realize is that wrist bunions can form, and they are a potential problem for anyone who works on a computer. I guess that any joint which has excessive forces acting on it can develop one of these annoying and unsightly lumps. In my case it was the wright at the base of my ulna, where its meets the first row of carpals, and was caused by the constant pressure of putting too much weight on the wrist of my mouse hand. Unfortunately this was before I took pictures of everything, so I cant show you it in all its nobbly glory. But to the right is how it starts.

Resting your hand on the mouse when playing games, or when checking a full day’s work can really take its toll, and as with the feet, the body responds to the pressure in the same way, with the bones moving outwards, and a rather unsightly lump forming.

Fortunately, these bunions are easy to spot and easy to correct, by easing the pressure on the wrist. But since you will still have to write every day, you need to make a conscious effort not to rest your arm on your wrists, and that's a little hard. For me, what sorted it out was swapping my old mouse mat to one with a padded wrist guard. Pressure relieved, and the bunion disappeared in a matter of weeks.

I can’t speak highly enough of these mouse pads, and they are worth their weight in gold. They are an absolute must for anyone who works at a computer day in day out. Just remember that they do wear out. I have been using cheap ones, and they need to be replaced every 6 weeks or so. Better quality ones should last you a good six months. Also worth investing in is a wrist support for your keyboard. Even as I write this, you can see that my wrists are getting red from the pressure, which reminds me, it’s time for a break. Now where is that Amazon delivery guy. My wrists are suffering!

This is the worst of all writers ailments that I have suffered from, and is one which I find intensely irritating, frustrating, and whilst not exactly painful, is really rather unpleasant. I have had it in my fingers and wrists but mostly in my mouse hand. It got so bad that I could not control my fingers at one point, with them just failing to respond. Shooting pains started from my fingers going up my wrists, and at its worst, I was unable to make the small movements necessary to type without accompanying pain, and i couldn't grip the mouse without serious unpleasantness.

The main problem is that when you get to this point, taking a day off is not enough. I took 4 days off without so much as an answered email but to no avail. I decided it was time for a holiday and had 3 weeks off (yes, it was lovely, I went to Thailand). That certainly did the trick. Plenty of massages also helped – hand massages are fantastic, and the intense pain in my shoulder caused from being hunched over a computer for 7 days a week was also manipulated out. The relief.

The fingers and hands are not ideally suited for excessive keyboard use, and if you are typing a lot and not taking regular breaks, stretching your hands, and even having a hand massage or two on a regular basis, you will need to be careful. Once you get it, it’s difficult to get rid of it, and if you work at your computer for a living, as I do, it can seariously reduce your earnings.

To prevet it from coming back, and to treat it when it did, I invested in a wrist support. I'll be honest, its awkward having it on and using the mouse and typing, but they really do work. Mine has a metal shaft for support, but you can also get ones with a gel wrist pad, or both!

Staring at a computer screen all day can take its toll on the eyes, and if your computer is against a wall your eyes will not get much of a break and will not be required to refocus. This constant strain can lead to a deterioration of the muscles in your retina, leading to contact lenses and glasses over time, but in the short term, headaches.

You need to give your eyes a break regularly, and simply change your focus from time to time. The best way I found to do this, was to move the computer from the wall to the window. Just looking up and changing my focal point from time to time made a real difference.

Whilst the hands and fingers are getting more exercise than ever before, spare a thought for the feet. Hours at the computer turn into days, into weeks, and it’s easy to get into the situation where the feet are required only to get you from bed to the computer, to the bathroom to the kitchen. When no exercise is being taken, the feet get out of condition, and when that happens, even a little exercise can see the feet fail big time.

Plantar fasciitis is the inflammation of the plantar fascia, the band of tissue that connects your heel to the ball of the toes and forms the floor of the arch of the foot. Whilst the condition is classed as an overuse injury, suffered much by runners and athletes, it is also an under use issue. Anyone who leads a sedentary lifestyle will have feet that become out of condition, and when exercise is taken, injury is more likely to occur. I have written about plantar fasciitis before, so I won’t go over old ground – you can read more about it on this hub . Just remember, it is highly painful, and best avoided, and to do that you need to take exercise regularly, and better still, perform stretches to keep your plantar fascia nice and limber and ready for action.

To stretch out the plantar facia, adopt the lunge position, using a wall for support. With your trailing foot lift the heel onto the ball of the foot and you should feel the stretch in the bottom of the foot. Hold it for a few seconds and stretch out. Then repeat for the other foot.

OK, fortunately I haven’t had this one, but it is a danger for anyone who spends hours just moving their fingers and not their legs. There have recently been reports of gamers dying from DVT, apparently from spending hour upon hour gripped by the adrenaline rush of stealing virtual cars, and shooting the living daylights out of all manner of alien beings.

DVT is is about as serious as it can get. It is commonly associated with frequent long haul flights, and periods of inactivity, and occurs when clots form in the deep veins in the legs. When these blood clots become dislodged, they travel to the lungs where they can cause a pulmonary embolism – basically they block the smaller veins in the capillaries of the lungs and stop blood flow, causing death of the tissues starved of blood and oxygen, which can be fatal. The symptoms include pain and swelling in the legs, feet and ankles, discoloration of the skin (pale, red or blue), cramping, and it warrants an immediate visit to the doctor, and I mean immediate!

To reduce the risks you need to take exercise which keeps the blood moving in your legs, be that just getting up from the computer and walking around every hour or so to get the circulation going. If you regularly knock out long writing and or computer sessions, remember that your legs should be exercised. Its rare, fortunately, but why take a chance!

On a lighter note, RBS is a common writer’s problem. The symptoms are staring at the screen for hours and writing about 6 words. Some refer to it as writer’s block, but that sounds so lame. “I’m suffering from writers block”, “well, you should try to come down to the construction site with me and see what real work is like. Writers block. Laziness more like” you know how it goes. However give it a proper name like RBS, and it sounds far more impressive..

The symptoms of Repetitive Brain Strain are easy to spot by the casual observer, but once in the grip of RBS it can be difficult to self diagnose. There will be times when you may be absentmindedly moving icons around your desktop to creating interesting patterns, or simply opening up document after document in the hope that somewhere in the dark recesses of the brain, and interesting thought might form. When suffering from this condition, it’s amazing how interesting CBS news becomes, and how interesting it is that some Twitterer you have never met before has decided to make some soup. You have RBS, and need to deal with it.

If you find yourself doing any of the above, are suffering from temporary writing induced brain death, and have extracted of every possible thought for the day and committed it to virtual paper, its time to take a break. Whilst not exactly the most dangerous of afflictions, it can be seriously detrimental to your wealth. Hours go by, a lack of productivity ensues, and a day that could have earned you $100 dollars turns out to yield but a few cents.

Whilst the name I have given it may be new to science, it is a well known and very common problem, caused by thinking too much. The brain cannot cope well with constant use, and without a break it can just shut down, and be rendered incapable of producing a single thought. It is often said that the brain can only deal with intense concentration in short bursts, with around 20 minutes the optimum time before a break should be taken. Just a minute or so will do, but if you plough on and put in a monster session, you will invariably find that you reach the point of temporary brain death before long, when it can do no more.

Write for 30 minutes to an hour, take a 10 minute break away from the computer, and then return and your brain will stay refreshed. Remember to take a proper break every 3 hours. Do some exercise to recharge your gray cells, and you will return refreshed and ready to write with renewed vigour.

I’m sure I will discover more writing ailments, but I think this is enough for now!

Have you suffered from your writing? Feel free to let me know!!