finger pains

[Xezial]

my left ring finger feels really awkward and out of place lately.

I play spread and it's usually hovering in the air. Has anyone else ever felt this?

Any suggestions to help (other than stop playing FFR) ?

[Alucard4_6]

Lay it to rest on your keyboard, if anything just remove your right Ctrl and Shift keys.

[hullmo717]

I also just started having these pains in my left hand. I used to play one handed and it happened for a while on my right hand but hasn't bothered me in a long time. Now that I have switched to spread it started to bother me. I think that it is partly because of the non rest thing like alucard said, but I'm also thinking that it might have something to do with the lack of independence between fingers on my left hand (at least in my case). Obviously as you play more your hands get used to it and the pain subsides. Although I was wondering what were some exercises that people use to 'train' there hand. Maybe this isn't something that people think about but I know that it was a topic of discussion on the UPSB (fairly large penspinng forum before it closed). Thanks

Morgan

[Alucard4_6]

The main thing I find wierd about this is that I have pretty much always played spread, (or some veriation of it) and i have yet to experience any pains like you two state. As for exersises, I find myself constanly balling my hand up into a fist and slowly letting it relax helps to release alot of tension in your hands. If that doesn't work, then just try making sure that as you play that your fingers are on a somewhat level surface, if your hands are not balanced more blood may rush to either side of your hand, which could cause them to become irritating.

[TheRapingDragon]

My middle finger on the right hand experiences a lot of pain. Has been going on for the last 2 months or so.

Best suggestion I can give you guys is to go get it checked out at the doctors. A guy who used to play here (Rewind) got pain in his hands, turns out he had developed carpal tunnel.

It just happens unfortunately.

[KazeHime]

If you're getting any significant pain in your hands and fingers you should take a break, maybe for a day or two until the pain subsides. If you play through it you may be putting strain on your tendons which can lead to inflamation and eventually repetitive strain problems like carpal tunnel etc.

Besides that make sure that your keyboard is about at height with your shoulders(forearm / wrist straight). Resting your palms is fine, but if you're using a wrist rest you're actually putting more strain on the tendons due to the pressure.

Also like Alucard says try and keep your fingers/thumbs you arent using at rest on the keyboard, because leaving them stationary in the air can definately cause irritation.

[mmeegghhaann]

It's not like FFR is a real physical activity. You might want to try stretching those fingers that are bugging you.

[TheRapingDragon]

Originally Posted by mmeegghhaann

It's not like FFR is a real physical activity.

That doesn't matter, you can get finger aches purely from typing if you do it long enough. The whole point is just overdoing it and taking a break. Which he should do. If he just stretches his fingers but continues to play FFR day after day then it will still get worse unfortunately. Though I may be wrong.

[Ekehart]

No...You're right. Best thing to do is just take a break. For a few days.

It sucks...but...You need to do it.

Eke

[powerflash86]

that is happening to me alot lately and I have to stop playing for a week or so. I have been doing this for a while and it helps so resting them is definately a must imo.

[sarah_briarmoss]

If your fingers/hands start to hurt, stop playing until they don't hurt anymore. I played FFR almost 24/7 for a while and got RSI... now my hands hurt real bad if I play too much, or type too much.