Any suggestions to relieve hand pain from drawing

[MrKyleRose]

Hello Tapastic community!

Lately, during and after long periods of drawing (especially when I'm Inking) I have been having an elevated amount of hand pain. I wanted to reach out to my fellow cartoonists and see if anyone else has come up against this and found solutions to alleviate, lessen or even prevent hand pain.

[Chopythes]

This video pretty much sums it up:

It's the stuff I do when I have to take a break.

Try to do this regularly, like, every 10-20 minutes, a small break can help a lot!
I've also changed the position of the mouse, from right hand to left (non-dominant hand) and that's taken away the pain a lot!
Good luck, and remember to take breaks often, especially when you're inking.

[edwarddippolito]

Eesh sorry to hear. Such is the life of the cartoonist, right? While I can't entirely speak of hand pain, I suffered like crazy from back pain after long hours of working on my comics. My advice to anyone is to take more breaks than you are, I feel like none of us take enough breaks.

Hope it works out for you.

[AnnaLandin]

Yep, @Chopythes linked a great video!

Remember to stretch as often as possible, and especially as soon as you feel pain. If the pain persists, you might want to invest in a hand-brace, and you should also take a longer break from drawing. If your little finger starts going numb, that could be an early warning sign of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, which you do NOT WANT.

Something else to think about is to try to loosen up your grip on the pen; the harder you grip the pen, the more strain you're putting on your hand.

[MrKyleRose]

Thanks everyone this is all really good advise!
@Chopythes I tried those stretches and I can feel them pull in my problem areas so thank you for sharing!
@edwarddippolito It truly is. Yeah I really need to be more mindful about taking breaks. It's so easy to get lost in your work and look up to realize that 3-4 hours have gone by.
@AnnaLandin Thank you, I will definitely look into a hand-brace.

Thanks again!

[Luie]

I have arthritis in my hands n stuff, so I do this

It applies just as well to artists. The hot water break really helps. I spend just as much time drawing so hourly breaks work well. It also improved long-term performance (my hands used to get stiff and lobstery after 3 hours). Tho I will say, if your hands are sensitive to touch, be careful about how hard you massage your hand and don't just press down on random spots. The squishy thumb and squishy pinky parts are the places you want to target. Hope it helps c:

[blop]

Here's some good advice I found on twitter :

I did some pt for my wrist this year & I haven't had pain in 3 months now! I thought I'd share some tips I learned. pic.twitter.com/g8veJsSt7P

— Olivia When ( @usuallyawake ) 31 Décembre 2015

[maximumthemokona]

*~T~A~K~E~*~B~R~E~A~K~S~*

And what everyone else said, too. But mostly that. Set a timer!

[JigokuNeko]

A lot of times, pain in the wrist is not carpal tunnel or stuff like that even though doctors will often chalk it up to that. It is:
a) referred pain from the neck or anywhere else along the path of the nerve from bad posture. The nerves start from the back of the neck, run down the neck's side, under the armpit and through the arm. They can get pinched anywhere in between which will lead to numbness and tingling pain. Posture and ergonomic desk setup will help with that. Nerves do heal up albeit a little slow.
b) sharp pain from gripping too hard at a pen for prolonged periods of time, which clenches up the muscles in the arm. There is actually nothing in the wrist that can cause pain, barring the inflammation that is carpal tunnel. (Incidentally the test for CT is pretty easy: press on the wrist for a minute. If it's CT the pain will be unbearable. If it's not, it will actually be a relief to press there.) Anyway, when the arm muscles cramp up, they pull on the tendons and they in turn pull on the nerves which is why it hurts.
In both these cases however, the origin of the pain is not where it actually hurts and that is very important to know because things like wrist braces will temporarily relieve you but will not address the root of the problem and you might ask for the wrong type of physical therapy and in a month or two get back to where you started.

Either of these types of pain are warning signs to treat the body better because when it gets to the breaking point it will hurt. A lot. Breaks, self-massage, correct posture and above all incorporating appropriate exercise to strengthen the muscles that weaken when you spend all day hunched over a desk are a must. I cannot stress how important posture and strengthening exercises are. If possible, take up swimming. It will build muscle and help with cardio without straining the body.
In cases of acute pain it is actually better to consult a physiotherapist skilled in sports injuries (ie. tennis, which is pretty similar to artists' RSI) than a doctor because they tend to have better experience with muscle strains and repetitive stress injuries.
Finally, when I speak of posture, I mean posture correction everywhere. There is no point in drawing sitting up straight and then spending hours craning down at the phone screen and wrecking the spine. That way lies a herniated disk and that is the last thing you want.

source: 3 years spent getting rid of RSI pain.

[JeanGuillet]

I've actually had great success with sticking a moleskin anti-blister bandage on my middle finger. It cushions the bump that you get from writing, and it also provides a little bit of extra grip for the pen so I end up holding the pen more loosely.

[Doubtcent]

Gotta take breaks more often than you think!
Step away from the computer screen every half hour or so and stretch out your hands, back and neck. Anything helps other than sitting for too long, for it can cause a lot of problems down the line.