04-19-2021, 01:38 AM
I can share my health story because it was the longest battle so far and it was closely related to art.
About 3-4 years ago I had some issues with my fingers in the drawing hand. Especially PIP joint of index finger and extensor tendons. Every time I pressed stronger with wacom pen or pencil on paper it hurt in the joint and at some point I used some unusual grip with hope that it would go away. Cold air from air conditioning aggravated it even more. It lasted so many months that I felt like it will stay with me forever and I would have to get used to it. At the lowest point mentally I even thought I would change my career to something that doesn't involve drawing. Also I couldn't get the right diagnosis for a long while.
Eventually I went to the right USG specialist and she found out I had mild osteoarthritis in my joint and she said it will slowly go away but it might come back. I also realized I was always using the wrong grip on the pen where I was squeezing it instead of lightly holding it between my fingers. The pressure on the fingers was was even more extreme during stress or tight deadline. Unfortunately switching back to right type of grip was not enough at this point because damage has been done. So for a long time I tried many things to accelerate the healing. I went to physiotherapists. I tried anti-inflammatory gels, collagen supplements, stretching, some strengthening exercises and even contrast bath hydrotherapy during breaks. I slowed down with my art totally and I only did what was necessary for work.
Few months gone by and the pain very slowly went away and then disappeared completely (though it sometimes comes back). In the end I feel what contributed the most to complete healing was being super strict with taking micro-breaks during work (I had a Chrome extension with timer for that) and constantly focusing on relaxed hand. Also every time I went to sauna there was noticeable improvement in my finger. For the tendons the eccentric exercises might have also helped that physiotherapist showed me.
It's so good now I don't even think about my hand anymore but back the then it felt super desperate. If you can learn something from this - Work in ergonomic way, take frequent breaks and try not to get stressed to much. If you get some sort of RSI it's still possible to recover from this even while working.
About 3-4 years ago I had some issues with my fingers in the drawing hand. Especially PIP joint of index finger and extensor tendons. Every time I pressed stronger with wacom pen or pencil on paper it hurt in the joint and at some point I used some unusual grip with hope that it would go away. Cold air from air conditioning aggravated it even more. It lasted so many months that I felt like it will stay with me forever and I would have to get used to it. At the lowest point mentally I even thought I would change my career to something that doesn't involve drawing. Also I couldn't get the right diagnosis for a long while.
Eventually I went to the right USG specialist and she found out I had mild osteoarthritis in my joint and she said it will slowly go away but it might come back. I also realized I was always using the wrong grip on the pen where I was squeezing it instead of lightly holding it between my fingers. The pressure on the fingers was was even more extreme during stress or tight deadline. Unfortunately switching back to right type of grip was not enough at this point because damage has been done. So for a long time I tried many things to accelerate the healing. I went to physiotherapists. I tried anti-inflammatory gels, collagen supplements, stretching, some strengthening exercises and even contrast bath hydrotherapy during breaks. I slowed down with my art totally and I only did what was necessary for work.
Few months gone by and the pain very slowly went away and then disappeared completely (though it sometimes comes back). In the end I feel what contributed the most to complete healing was being super strict with taking micro-breaks during work (I had a Chrome extension with timer for that) and constantly focusing on relaxed hand. Also every time I went to sauna there was noticeable improvement in my finger. For the tendons the eccentric exercises might have also helped that physiotherapist showed me.
It's so good now I don't even think about my hand anymore but back the then it felt super desperate. If you can learn something from this - Work in ergonomic way, take frequent breaks and try not to get stressed to much. If you get some sort of RSI it's still possible to recover from this even while working.