laratheescapeartist

I’ve been off work for 8 weeks now, and where am I? Ok so 3 of those weeks don’t count because I was frantically packing and unpacking and dashing all over England going to my friends wedding, to see my friends new baby, another friends 30th weekend in the country, and a trip to Turkey to see some old school friends which was exhausting.

Fun, but by the end I couldn’t keep the smile on my face and just wanted to cradle my arms and crawl into bed. But that still leaves 5 weeks in which all I’ve been doing is rest my arm. Mum has been so kind to me, and has been cooking and cleaning and helping me carry things around, and I haven’t had to battle my way into work or do anything on a computer if I didn’t want to.

So what progress with my RSI has been made?

Well I can now do an hour and a half of painting in a day and my arm feels OK afterwards.

I can swim 14 lengths of a 50m pool.

I can type for 10 min or so (my arm is starting to tingle)

I can get through a relaxed day at home without needing to wear my wrist splints or take a pain killer.

It’s so much better than it was when I couldn’t do anything with my arm without constant pain, but it’s so far off being normal that getting better can feel like something that’s never going to happen sometimes.

I’m still seeing a physio twice a week to get rid of the tightness in my muscles (she does this with an ultrasound machine, putting current through my arm and massage), but mostly what I need to do is rebuild my strength. I’ve started my squeezing exercises with therapy putty again, and I’m gradually trying to increase the amount that I swim, paint and type each day.

If anyone has any RSI recovery tips, please let me know!