Hi all,

I'm not familiar with TENS units and thought maybe someone out there has used one. I have this gawd-awful pain directly over my cervical/thoracic spine that shoots over to my shoulder. It at times is almsot unbearable, but I just grit my teeth and keep going. It seems like my mouse is the culprit. It has been going on for probably a couple of years and used to happen for a couple of days and then ease off for a few days before it came back, but now it seems to be all the time. Anyway, I was wondering if a TENS unit might help this pain... whatever it is. Is there anyone out there using this for a similar kind of pain?

Bony, if it`s coming from your mousing, the best way to deal with it is to look up and print out the keyboard shortcuts in both Windows and your transcription platform and learn to use them! Start with one or two that you use the most, and it will only take a day or so to get used to them. Then go on to the ones you use the next most, and so on.

The other thing you could try before going to a TENS is alternating cold and heat, which is what docs usually recommend for this kind of thing to start with. If nothing else helps at all, you might want to see about getting c-spine imaging to see if you have an osteophyte or a disk.

TENS works very well for some people and not at all for others. I believe you can rent a unit to try it out before buying it, but you do have to get a doc or physiotherapist to show you how to use it correctly. But I don`t think you should start with it until you know where the pain is coming from!

happy saturday

cmt,

Thanks for replying.

I have since found out that TENS are for muscle spasm, and I don't that is it because it is a burning pain.

I do use the shortcut keys sometimes, but I should definitely be more diligent about it. I actually already have a list printed out, and I need to take your advice and do one at a time until I am really using it regularly. However, most of my mousing seems to be moving around in a document. I'm sure every little bit will help. So, now I am going to really pay attention and "think" before I use my mouse... is there another way to do this?

I did find a TENS for $35 at a local medical-supply company. I guess it would be worth the $35 even if it doesn't work, just so I know.

I'm trying to avoid any major workup. Not having insurance puts a damper on such things

Again, thank you for your thoughts and especially for bringing my attention to the mousing alternatives, that I will definitely, like I said, now do more diligently.

I know I've had little pains before and doing things like lowering/raising my chair, moving my monitor, etc. have "healed" me.

Thanks again!

cmt,

Oh, I'm so excited. I just learned how to make "fields" to do some of that moving around in a document that I talked about... thanks to you!!! I guess you got my brain moving a little more. You're wonderful!

Isn`t that "AHA" feeling wonderful?

If you use an expander like Shorthand or Instant text, you can use it to create shortcuts for arrow-key movements that you use a lot too -- for instance, to go back x-many words to insert, perhaps, a "the" or an "a" that you accidentally left out, or to insert the "and" before the last word of a series when you don`t know it`s the last word because the dictator doesn`t dictate it. That kind of stuff.

Good luck!

I use InstantText, and I had no idea that it did that (along with a lot of other things I am sure) I will, for sure, try to find out about inserting an "and" in the last of a series - that drives me crazIER

Thanks for the tips!

OK, I cannot figure out how to insert "and" and have spent all this time trying to find it in the help section of Instant Text and even Googled it.

Could you tell me or maybe tell me where to find it in the "help" section of Instant Text?

Thank you!

Well, I don't use Instant Text, but what you need to do is program control-left (to move one word to the left). You might want to do it twice, in case you've put a punctuation mark after the last word you've typed. Then a Pause (so you can insert your "and")and then a control-end to take you back to where you were when you realized you wanted the "and".

But there is an IT forum here:

http://www.productivitytalk.com/forums/index.php

where you can find more information, and I do believe that Instant Text has forums on its own web site that you might find helpful for this sort of thing.

There are lots of helpful forums at Productivity Talk if you're interested in using your expander more efficiently.

Happy creating!

Thanks CMT,

I just left that website and halfway figured out how to do it. I couldn't figure out how to get back to the end of the sentence after I inserted the "and," but I did get the "and" to insert, and now I can get back to the end of the sentence thanks to your instructions about the "control end" command. Also, I had to figure out how to add more than one command... blah, blah, blah

Ok, now to get some work done

You are much appreciated!

This kind of pain is sometime due to your posture. Be sure to not be "hunched" over your keyboard. That burning feeling is neural but is more than likely caused by the muscles around your spine being strained. This causes them to become hypertonic and shortened, thus compressing your vertebrate and narrowing your disc spaces. This puts pressure on the nerve roots where they exit the spinal column and causes that burning, shooting pain radiating from the spinal area and towards your shoulder.

jules,

Thanks for the info.

Yes, I find myself hunched over all the time. So that is probably it. I hope so anyway... that it is as simple as me sitting up straight. Maybe I should ask my docs to tell me every once in a while in their dictation "sit up straight."

Thanks again. Your info is reasurring for sure!

My daughter has this type of pain. They talked to her about TENS Unit and she did therapy, no help. She has had cervical fusion at C4-5 and she did fine from this, but now once again is having the same pain you describe. They did an MRI and now the disk C-7 has degenerated and this is pinching the nerve and this is what is causing the pain in shoulders, neck and back of her head and numbness sometimes in her fingers. Doc stated he should have done all of the disk in that area but at the time of surgery the 6-7 looked fine. So now once again she has decide to do surgery or epidural injections in neck. I type these pain reports everyday and most of the epidurals just take care of pain a little while. They will not correct that nerve being pinched by the disk. You might want to talk to Orthopedic doctor as it might really be a disk problem. Good luck. Sitting here like we do for as many hours, I get so stiff and I also find myself slumping a lot.

verapauline,

Thanks for the info, though I must say I do not like your diagnosis

Thank for sharing your necessary information. I deny this diagnosis.