What do you do to alieviate back/neck/hand pains from drawing?

[Chocolate]

Lmaooooooo I’m serious my whole body throbs.

[XiuLyn_12]

Putting a pillow on my lower back helps! If your upper back hurts more, just put on a thicker pillow!
The pillows give me more time for my back to actually start to hurt!

[VibrantFox]

aside from proper support or ergonomic tools/supplies, resting and stretching. i've already had to go through pretty rough hand and wrist pain (doubly so from work) so doing those hand stretches and just general body stretches has helped. oh and drinking lots of water!

[BoomerZ]

Take breaks. I try not to draw for more than 3 hours without getting up and just moving around. I have a drafting desk style workstation so I'm over the top of my Cintiq. I find a stool is better than a chair. It forces you to sit up and not slouch back into a chairback. Only thing I can say for the wrist is loosen up your grip on the pencil (easier said than done, I know.) and draw with your arm more and less with your wrist (also hard to do if you are using a small tablet.)

[Lensing]

Take breaks, stay fit, eat healthy.

I´m 48 and I don´t have any pain and I´m in good shape, I do nothing else but playing instruments
and illustrations all day. I eat healthy, I workout, I walk. I set timers for everything and take breaks.
Set a timer to 55 minutes, then take a 5 minutes break, stand up, stretch, drink water.
It´s good for your eyes, body and brain.

[river121693]

doing exercises to strengthen your neck and back is very important. I started doing it when I notice my posture getting worse and some neck pain. Wish I've done it ealrier

[Dei]

Ergonomic chair and table also helps. Aside from being able to adjust the table height, your ergo chair should have functions that would accommodate to the contour of your lumbar spine, arm & foot rests and angle inclination is also good when you just want to use it for leisure. Also, I don't use a screen tablet. I use a traditional pen tablet so I would always sit at 90 degrees.

[feuersichel]

I would also sugest a session or two with a physiotherapist. They can show you good streches and strenght training methodes. There is stuff on the internet but a person can directly help you in doing the methodes corectly. I speak from experience ^^'

Go walking. This is an exercise, that helps your whole body and helps your posture.

[thepenmonster]

I have spinal stenosis and sciatica. This was my inheritance from my father. I would have preferred it if he willed me his house but so it goes.

Anyway, because of that sitting down is preferable to me since, y'know, it doesn't fucking hurt like everything else does. But I do get stiff and need to loosen up a bit so here's my deal;

1. CBD oil capsules or even a couple of low dose gummies. This may depend upon where you're at.
2. Step outside every few hours, breathe some fresh air, and go touch grass. This also may depend upon where you're at.
3. This may sound stupid... an it definitely looks stupid... but stand up, bend over a bit, and swing your shoulders side to side like your arms were wet noodles you're trying to dry off.
4. Lean on your chair, put one leg back behind you a step and put your feet flat on the floor. Try to keep them flat as you stretch forward like joggers do. Count to ten and switch legs.
5. Drink a lot of water. You'll stay fresh and getting up to go pee counts as exercise.

[Shanny8]

I have an ergo chair that I bought in 2018 after my fave comfy chair fell apart in 2017(I wore it out) and its replacement- one of those "cool looking" [but cheap] gaming chairs, went to shit in less than 8 months. Not a top of the line ergo chair, but solid enough that I haven't replaced it 5 years later. I also have an inexpensive memory foam foot rest that helps keep my feet from going numb and is comfortable af- I plan on getting another for the other side of my desk(I have an L-shaped desk- laptop on one side and drawing screen tablet on the other side; foot rest is on the drawing side).

I try to take breaks, stand, and stretch whenever I remember; sometimes I'm "in the zone" and lose sense of time...I keep telling myself to get one of those apps that notifies me when to take a break, but then I forget. I DO however, drink a lot of water- especially when working on my art stuffs, so it helps every whenever to get up and go to the bathroom.

My only issue is that I picked all this "preventative maintenance" up kind of late(and was doing the majority of my work on a smaller workspace between 2016 and late 2018, so the back/neck/and hand pains have come to roost). Whenever things get really bad, I ease up on the amount of time I spend drawing; always plenty of TV shows and anime I can watch while resting...

[GumshoeComix]

i put a pillow on my back i stretch and then i lay down for a bit
go for walks or if its really hot out just pace around the house

What helps me the most is naps tbqh tho
I haven't had any wrist or back pain in a year, you just gotta be aware when to stop and listen to your body

[ThunderChicken]

I work on cars for a living and have been doing so for thirty years, so the pain from drawing pales in comparison. That being said, the most important thing that I do is to make myself comfortable. I draw on a Surface Pro 8 tablet, and thankfully it is small and light enough that I can lie on my back on the couch propped up by pillows and draw in comfort, holding the tablet as I would a book were I reading. I look like a lazy loaf when I'm doing so, but it's comfortable.

And, I'm a lazy loaf.

[Legendofgenii]

I have no advice. I also draw until it hurts, then sulk about it to anyone who’ll listen.

Usually I take a day or two off and that sorts it.

[GothickangelStudios]

I have a spinal cord injury (my neck and brain stem) from an MVA. Soooooooo my younger brother being a carpenter made me a wooden table top easel. Its large enough I can adjust with clamps angles and support. My neck stays upright. The downside is your hand is angled now. So will get sore from time to time. Then I do carpel tunnel wrist and hand exercises. I dont have the condition, I just do the exercises.
For my drawing tablet a touch / programmable Wacom Pro Large tablet. I just look at my screen. The tablet is on my lap with my hand flat.

[dan_thepainter]

(post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 24 hours unless flagged)

[TheLemmaLlama]

No advice from me, just here to express a sudden feeling of gratitude for how lazy I am :'D

[inkerclark]

I think that incorporating regular exercise into your routine can have significant benefits, especially when it comes to alleviating aches and pains. Even just moderate exercise, such as following a three-day-a-week total body schedule, can make a difference. The best part is, you can easily achieve this at home with some creativity – there's no need to become a bodybuilder or anything extreme. The key is to keep your body active and engage your muscles, tendons, and promote healthy blood flow. It's not just about cardio activities like running; incorporating muscular training, consistently and in a gentle manner, can improve your posture and even enhance your drawing skills. Because when you're pain-free, you'll find yourself more relaxed and calm.
And it will take something like 20 to 30 minutes.

[RedLenai]

Before starting the day:

• Drinking water
• Radio Taiso
• Stretching

Before working:

• Hand and arm stretches
• Straight position of desk, avoid slouching
• If you work with a pc, make sure the monitor is high enough so you look up straight at it without lowering or raising your head
• Make sure your chair's height is positioned so your arms are resting on the table/desk at a relaxed 90° degree, same for your legs
• Do a few warmup exercises, hand must be relaxed
• Move your elbow instead of your wrist

During work:

• Keep hydrating yourself
• Take small pauses every 20-40 minutes of 10 minutes and stretch, you can stand, crack the bones of your hands, stretch again your fingers and such.
• Take the pauses to re-adjust to check your posture
• Make sure to pay attention to the way you're holding your pen and hand posture. Some people tend to hold their pens the same way they'll hold it to write down stuff. For drawing, there are specific positions to hold a pen depending on the element you're supposed to draw.
• Move your elbow instead of your wrist

After work:

• Stretch again, do a few massages in your hands with creams and such
• Stand up and walk a bit
• Take a warm shower, before entering it make sure its warm enough and first thing the water has to hit is your back/neck
• From time to time, put your hands on warm water with soap and coarse salt, keep your hands there until the water gets cold.

The only thing I have is back pain but due to an hereditary condition that my dad and great-grandmother share with me. But its been a few years since I've experienced wrist pain, nowadays is a few ingrown nails on my pinkies or index fingers besides normal fatigue.

Recommendations:
If your wrist pain lasts around 3-4 days then it could be fatigue or stress due to bad movement, if it lasts around 6-7 days go to your doctor.
Depending on the cause or diagnosis you may or may not be recomended doing paraffin baths.

Paraffin baths are good to reduce stiffness and pain, but its recommendation will be limited. Since the heat is meant to open up the blood vessels and such, if you have diabetes, skin diseases, wounds and similar then a paraffin bath is not recommended.

Exercising is good, I would recommend going to a gym and specify to the trainer your condition, and based on that they'll recommend certain activities to help you out.

[NickRowler]

I have been dealing with back pain since I was a teenager. My advice is doing a lot of back stretches. Make sure your chair is comfortable. I also have a back brace for bad days, which has helped a lot.

If you have a day job or classes where you carry a heavy backpack, try to not over fill your backpack. Carry super heavy books in your arms. Invest in carrying cases with wheels to avoid getting over strained.