In this post I'm gonna break down what I do to fight sore tendons and achey hands, it's involved but I hope it's a bit better than just these blank "do these stretches" cause that often won't tackle the specific aches n pains. Not a medical professional, this is all personal studying and exp, mileage will prolly vary!!
That said here's what I suffer from: (First pic)
-tendon pain, from wrist to knuckles
-Gamer thumb, inflamed thumb muscles
-Overall "tightness" levels of my hand, it can get so bad that if unattended it can lock my hand up to the point I can't really grip or do much of anything until fixed
-Intense flaring joint pain
-Bad forearm meat, usually from the base of the elbow bones to the tendons, it can also lock up really bad, which sucks worse cause thinner meat means more of a headache to properly massage
-arthritis and its already starting to change my hands ¯_(ツ)_/¯
-blisters on my hands pretty much 24/7
-Tight shoulders, from blades to the skull all the meat is tense
-tight ankles, very hard to walk or hike without prep and frequent breaks, feels like my ankles n calves are gonna explode out my legs
-This is the big one, lower back and sciatics, just completely borked and always in pain, can be "kills your weekend plans" levels of painful
Now all of this being said, I still feel I am at a low 3/10 with the constant low grade pain, 6/10 when flaring. This is mitigated by these things, sometimes all of them sometimes a few in order, but I do this p much daily or more
Now here's my solutions:
Basic-
-hand strectches, I can throw up a vid at some point but it's nothing you can't find off of youtube: mostly I fully rotate and stretch the hands up n down wrist, flatten palm out against a wall for a few moments, and lightly stretch the thumb muscles, sometimes more, sometimes less You should absolutely do these daily, follow the instructions of whoever you watch and like yoga DO NOT OVER PUSH ANY STRETCHES! It can do more harm than good if done thoughtlessly
-Yoga, more or less the same as above
-Stopping and stretching everyhour or so, the hardest of all of these imo, easy to forget and hyperfocus for ten hours but it's so important for further spine n gravity damage!
Medium-
-epsom salt soaks, both in tub form and in a bucket just for my hand with the water as hot as possible
-biofreeze AKA rub on menthol, whatever form you take it, make sure to rub it in thoroughly on pain spots, it sucks but the more the spot hurts when rubbing it in, the more it needed it/will feel the effects, so just do as much as you can comfortably take. It can be a lot sensory wise, so be sure to section out the spots you apply to not overload yourself all at once I get this big ol thing from a local store https://www.amazon.com/Biofreeze-Professional-Relieving-Analgesic-Arthritis/dp/B01GZQ4FSU/ref=pd_lpo_1?pd_rd_w=GHJyY&content-id=amzn1.sym.116f529c-aa4d-4763-b2b6-4d614ec7dc00&pf_rd_p=116f529c-aa4d-4763-b2b6-4d614ec7dc00&pf_rd_r=BGC6QHXEEX4Q56NSVNEQ&pd_rd_wg=P5vFX&pd_rd_r=c40cab6b-d751-4652-87d3-8d7bb25eec2b&pd_rd_i=B01GZQ4FSU&psc=1
-Massager sling, this thing is usually very cheap and its lovely for lower and upper back, it won't dig up the real deep aches but rather deal a lot of general soothing of the spots, and also its a sling so u can still game or draw or whatever :p Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Shiatsu-Back-Shoulder-Neck-Massager/dp/B074S9BJ6B/ref=asc_df_B074S9BJ6B/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=242089033130&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=12673343518472864970&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=t&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9033275&hvtargid=pla-463724384879&psc=1
-Hand cream, great for hand damage of any kind, it's wild how fast it fixes popped blisters! https://www.amazon.com/OKeeffes-Working-Hands-Cream-ounce/dp/B00121UVU0/ref=sr_1_4?gclid=Cj0KCQiAqOucBhDrARIsAPCQL1YfAWv60qP0uKpf4DinbD-th0ug8nuVJqsdREGCKKFxetyjLth2FgAaAhZlEALw_wcB&hvadid=616862820435&hvdev=t&hvlocphy=9033275&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=17294041793191271540&hvtargid=kwd-4447016863&hydadcr=24634_13611738&keywords=working+hands+lotion&qid=1671147836&sr=8-4
-peppermint oil, for tension headaches just take a lil film of it on a few fingers and rub into temples or forehead, make sure to keep away from eyes as best as possible, and wash hands afterwards cause getting it in your peepers is not fun!
Advance-
-dragon balm, never cheap but holy shit just put it on a spot that hurts, if it doesn't stop hurting, it now hurts a hell of a lot less. Used a lot on forearms and base of neck to skull and it makes the rest of the day a loooot easier on that spot https://www.iheartjane.com/products/146147/ceres-dragon-balm-super-cbd-3-4oz-500mg
-Massage gun, I use the "cheapo" of the market vybe, and it works amazingly! The chart I made of where to hit is a bit hard to explain, so I think I'll make a follow up video showing how, much easier to get across where to glide. This one makes the biggest difference out of them all, it's wild how much this changes the game, but good god does it hurt sometimes when you find the right spots.
I have found thru exploration that if I hit the right spots in my forearms, I can almost completely cancel out thumb inflamation, like just turns it off after ten minutes of good working of the muscle. Similar goes to using it on spots in my shoulders and blades (Pic 2)
If you were to do the massage gun, take a moment after going thru in these spots before you switch arms, and notice how much lighter it feels. It's legit some anime stuff, I was blown away how for the next hour or so my arm felt feathery light!
If this all seems like a lot: it super is! But I've been doing art since I was five, it's not stopping so neither should my health regiment. I've made so many more concessions for my passions, the one I should absolutely respect is the mesage my body tells me often
I hope this is helpful to literally anyone working on a computer, and I'll answer any Q's if I can. We weren't designed to do what we do all the time forever, make sure to fight it properly before you gotta do Physical Therapy like me!!! (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧