Wrist pain? Think about how you’re sleeping

For many of us, typing all day is part of a job. We sit at computers, fingers furiously flying over the keyboard.

Can this create wrist pain or strain? Definitely, says MaryLynn Jacobs, vice president of operations at ATI Physical Therapy in East Longmeadow, Mass.

“Once you’ve done something too much, too long, and you start to have pain, it’s scary,” she said. “You realize how much you can’t use your hands.”

But beyond that, think of how you treat your wrists, hands and arms all the time.

“When people sleep at night, you tend to tuck your arms up under your chest,” Jacobs said.

Sleepers who do this might have symptoms of numbness and tingling. “What you do during the day is often exacerbated by what you’re doing at night,” she said.

She suggests patients keep a small pillow or a rolled towel, held in place with a stocking or Ace bandage, in their elbow crease. That prevents the elbow from fully bending. A wrist splint can also keep the wrist neutral. Sleeping on your back with a neck pillow can also help.

And think through the rest of your day. Are you lifting children? How do you grab a gallon of milk or pick up a pot?

“It’s not just what you’re doing at the computer,” she said. “It might be what you’re doing at home. It’s looking at your whole lifestyle.”

CENTRAL IT ALLIANCE/GETTY Typing can have an impact on wrists, but so can other activities, including the way a person sleeps.