The cause? That’s lost in the mists of time, I think it was probably triggered by helping to lift a heavy sofa, as I probably didn’t have hold of it very well, but it could already have been building up then anyway.

So what’s the cure? It seems to be rest, ibuprofen and some specific exercises, my Dr mentioned surgery too last time I was there.

And what can aggravate the problem? Pretty much everything! Or some days that’s how it feels, if an activity uses my hands there’s a good chance it wont be helping.

Heres a small list of everyday things that either hurt instantly or will after a while

• Typing (if I’m not careful writing this will hurt)
• using a mouse – its uncomfortable as soon as I try to use one, pain wont be far behind
• writing – using my graphics tablet might be better for me than a mouse but its not a cure
• picking things up
• getting dressed
• eating – both with or without cutlery
• using my phone
• using a tv remote
• holding a book
• driving
• holding a wii controller
• lifting a glass to drink
• opening bottles
• opening cans
• Some part of snowboarding, probably ratcheting my bindings and boots, or maybe its just from carrying my board
• fastening laces
• carrying things
• sleeping wrong – s lying wring will do more damage than is healed over night

That’s just a list of things that seem to have caused pains and then only the ones I could think of.

Primarily the problem is in my right wrist but that’s mostly because I’m right handed, my left is actually not fine I can’t just switch to it, partly because it really is an effort to use the wrong hand for some tasks but mostly because it’ll then have the same problems because its both wrists that hurt at times.

In the time I’ve been suffering I’ve discovered a variety of pain, all in my wrists, arms or even back (thanks to the physio!), from the sharp stabbing pains on the under side of my wrist, aches on the top, burning on the inside nearer my elbow, sharp pains shooting the whole length of my forearm.

Pain killers are great, I take them all day so I can work,  but they only hide the problem while they’re effective and they’re not a cure, the damage is still being done I just can’t feel it for a while. Imaging taking pain killers so you can put your hands in a fire, you mightn’t feal it, but your still going to have pretty crispy hands and it’ll hurt like hell later when they wear off.

As for how it works, all the tendons and nerves are packed together in the wrist, if one gets inflamed for whatever reason its swells, putting pressure on the others and causing them to rub more and get inflamed and swell making the problem worse, once the damage is done you do far more damage by continuing because of that.

So if you’re wondering why I’m lacking motivation, avoiding driving, trying to avoid the computer, or any activity that might possibly hurt, its all because I know it will hurt and being in pain isn’t fun, it really is quite hard to find the motivation to do something you know will leave you in pain with no gain from it. Hurting myself falling over snowboarding is just part of it, the snowboarding is fun and enjoyable and well worth a little suffering afterwards, but to spend time doing something that really hurts and is limiting my ability to continue and also limiting my entertainment options due to the pain levels, that’s really not fun.

If you haven’t worked it out, it really does suck, reading and tv are fine pass-times, but they’re not interactive and I want to shoot aliens not watch someone else do it, but if I spend too much time playing then I can’t work and then I still can’t (shouldn’t) play, or if I drive too far, or do too much work at work, you get the picture…

Oh on the plus there’s been a study that showed playing video games distracts from painful things, which explains how I can actually play games and not be in pain, but will be in pain within minutes of starting work, just a shame I’ll suffer for it anyway.

More posts to come

As this is the internet I’m starting with computer stuff

• A new 1TB+ HDD, I have 3 drives at the min its a bit silly, I’m tempted to get 2 or 3 and RAID them but cant decide if I should stripe or mirror, might need a RAID card to do RAID5
• Keyboard and mouse, my current ones are a little worn and faded
• A ram cooler, my custom balanced fan’s working but a bit unstable
• 5.1 surround speaker, I really want  a centre speaker

Snowboard stuff

• A helmet with built in speakers
• New Goggles
• New Gloves
• Would like a new board too, as mines getting a little old and is probably time to become a wall decoration

I guess I need a new source of income to pay for all this too!

I’m sure this years going to be full of interesting things, or just things that I want to write about

It only arrived on monday so I’ve not really spent too long on it, the delivery went well the Wii Fit was dispatched from Amazon 2 days before my new black Wii was even released then sat on a shelf at the Home Delivery Network’s depot, thne after a failed delivery to work on Saturday of just the Wii they brought both on Monday, yay

So onto ease of set up, everything was in the box, even batteries and theres pretty much nothing to worry about to connect it up to your tv, as all the plugs are shaped so no chance of getting that wrong, then its pretty much press the power n you’re good to go. Never tried the other consoles but can only assume they’re as easy.

Connecting to the internet was just as easy but I’d definitely prefer using a keyboard to enter details rather than the controller. The Wii shop’s pretty disappointing in terms of freebies but being able to buy old Nintendo games is good for building a collection of old games as its fully backward compatible with the previous consoles.

Graphics wise, its not really the most impressive on the market, but that’s expected and its not made for good graphics, if I want that I have my PC

The games that ccame with it Wii Sport, Wii Spot Resort, and Wii Fit Plus, all the games in the lot are really simple fun games made to make the most of the motion detection in the controllers and balance board.

The wii fit games, are pretty much all shifting your balance and waving the controllers in the right way to complete a task and get points the idea being to get you active and using most your body to get into the games, a few examples are the juggling, you have to balance on a ball and juggle the balls thrown at you, you move the ball by shifting your weight n juggle the smaller balls  by flicking the controllers at the right time.
Generally they’re all similar in principal but different enough that theres variation. The Rhythm Boxing you step punch and dodge, theres ones its just shifting your balance, others you walk/run on the spot, jump(without leaving the board) or just swing the controller for the golf game.
The games are broken down into Aerobic where you’re most active, Balance which focus on using your balance, and training plus which is just a collection of new games they added for the Plus version.
The other parts are the yoga and muscle training sections, both are to rain up the strength of specific muscles, the yoga being the more gentle as its all stretches and balance.

Could you get fit from just a wii fit, maybe if you spend long enough on it, but its really not going to compare to a trip to the gym or going out and doing the exercises for real, but for someone that isn’t very active a game that gets you active is a good start n better than nothing.

The games in the wii sport resort aren’t made with fitness in mind, but the few I’ve tried you can get into fully, the Sword play you get to swing a sword, its a two hander on screen so its just natural to make full swings standing and step into them for balance, be even better with a sword addition (or lightsaber, think there’s a star wars duel available isn’t there?) . Archery you aim the bow, draw back and release, its just seems right to stand and do it like you would for real, only without the strain of holding a bow string at its full draw weight.

My view is that the Wii and its games that come with it adnd the Wii Fit are good fun, they get you active which for someone that sits at a computer all day then plays games on one too is a good thing as the games get you up on your feet moving about, its definitely good for a group or party game as you can all get together compete or just take turns, and some of the games you do look pretty stupid so everyone can have a laugh. But playing on your own the games are still fun and any exercise is better than none.

I’m not sure what the whole game selections like, but I’m sure there are plenty to play aimed at single player rather than competing, but really the play station or x-box have that covered and they have excellent graphics too, or there’s all the games on my pc if I just want to sit still n kill stuff.

Cheaper than a gym membership and still a chance of getting fit depending on what you do and how much time and effort you put in.

but I’m going to be a yoga master by the time I’m fit

Some of these should help with my leg strength for snowboarding, balance for snowboarding n hopefully so better overall fitness even if I don’t lose loads of weight, I’ll just call it extra insulation for winter