“Mouse hand” refers to carpal tunnel syndrome, which occurs in people who frequently use the mouse. It is mainly manifested in numbness and stiffness of the thumb, index finger and middle finger and swelling and pain of the wrist joint after long-term overuse of the wrist and fingers.
how human hands become “mouse hands”
To understand why the mouse hand occurs, we must first understand the structure of the carpal tunnel. The carpal tunnel, as its name implies, is a tube of the wrist. It is like a subway tunnel that runs through our wrists. Eight carpal bones form the foundation and rail. The transverse carpal ligament forms the subway roof. There are 10 tracks in the middle, including 9 tendons and 1 median nerve. The space of the carpal tunnel is narrow, the tissue is tough, and it is difficult to release when the pressure in the tube increases. We know that tendons have good “compression resistance”, and nerves are the most vulnerable to injury.
Although the median nerve is relatively fragile, it has the dual control function of sensation and movement. First of all, it controls the feeling of the thumb, index finger, middle finger and ring finger, which is often called “three and a half fingers”; Secondly, it can control the movements of thenar muscles (that is, the large group of muscles connected below the thumb), thus helping the thumb to move flexibly, and also perfectly cooperate with other fingers to complete more complex movements.
When the pressure in the carpal tunnel rises and the median nerve is damaged, the first thing to appear is sensory dysfunction. For example, the above-mentioned “three and a half fingers” appear numbness, pain, inflexibility and other symptoms. Some people will be awakened by numbness and pain when they sleep at night, and occasionally their forearms, elbows and shoulders will also have dull pain; The wrist is swollen, painful and weak. After repeatedly bending the wrist inward, the pain becomes worse and needs to be relieved by shaking the hand. If we still let it go at this time, the situation will continue to worsen until there is sensory decline and atrophy of thenar muscles, and finger strength is weakened.
who can easily get the “mouse hand”
The mouse hand is nothing more than the gradual thickening of the “subway roof” due to the long-term intensive, repeated and excessive activities of the wrist joints, and the increase of pressure in the “subway”, which causes the pressure on the median nerve inside, and then gradually affects its function. People who use computers for a long time, people who tap the keyboard and mouse too often, and people who use smartphones frequently, are all likely to cause increased carpal tunnel pressure. Some professional groups that need a lot of hands, such as pianists, teachers, journalists, editors, designers, miners, assemblers, athletes (such as badminton, basketball, E-sports), are also susceptible to carpal tunnel syndrome. Housewives are also very prone to disease because of their heavy housework and the fact that the female carpal tunnel itself is thinner and narrower than that of men. In addition, some special groups such as pregnant women, hypertension and diabetes patients are also prone to carpal tunnel syndrome.
the “mouse hand” is not without help
Wrist pad, which can relieve wrist fatigue when using the mouse
First of all, prevention is the key to changing bad working methods. First of all, we should use a mouse that conforms to human engineering mechanics and has a wide contact area. In addition, sitting posture is also very important. Generally speaking, the height of the mouse should be the same as the height of the elbow when the upper arm naturally hangs down, that is, the forearm and elbow should be kept in a horizontal position, and the wrist is most comfortable at this time. You should also pay attention to rest, relax your wrist every hour of work, and repeatedly make fist, finger and wrist movements (but be careful not to do it against the boss!). For housewives, perhaps the most important thing is to change a lighter kitchen knife (why use a butcher’s knife to kill chickens), as well as a light pot and cooking spoon.
If you are very, very unfortunate to have this disease, you have to go to the hospital for local treatment of your wrist, and you may also need to take medicine, physiotherapy, acupuncture and so on. If the symptoms are still repeated after simple treatment, or muscle atrophy has occurred, surgery is likely to be performed. The traditional way is to cut the transverse carpal ligament or the adventitia of the median nerve to reduce the pressure in the carpal tunnel. Although there are also more advanced endoscopic operations with smaller wounds, there is no clear conclusion on complications.
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