• I bought extra sharp knives for the kitchen so I didn't have to press down so hard when cutting produce and meat. I know it doesn't sound like it would make much of a difference, but if each little change you make decreases tension in you hands by just 3 - 5%, then over time ten or so small changes can add up to a big reduction in pain over the course of the day. I found when my hands were tight, the tension in them would travel up my arm, causing pain in my arm, neck and shoulders.
  
  
• I bought precut fresh veggies or frozen veggies from the grocery store. It's tempting to eat out a lot when it hurts to cook, but magnesium rich, nutrient dense whole foods are much better for muscle relaxation than eating a lot of highly salted, processed foods. I think fresh vegetables, either made into soup or lightly steamed are best, but if your hands are too sore to chop them up, then fresh or precut are the next best option. (To read more about my history of fibromyalgia, see the first section of my Fibromyalgia Diet page.)
  
  
• I bought a shredder for the office. It may sound strange, but I noticed that my hands would get sore even from something as minor as ripping up old receipts and checks.
  
  
• I bought a hospital style bed table that slides over a chair or bed to use for reading. I either held the pages of books open with rubber bands or used a book holder. Holding books up to read was a big tension inducer for me in my hands, neck and shoulders.
  
  
• I avoided anything that involved detailed work with my hands - sewing, embroidery, too much computer work, etc.
  

• I tried expensive chairs on a trial basis, and for the money it just didn't seem to make much of a difference. It was easier and cheaper just to take a basic chair from a place like Office Depot and buy inexpensive seat cushions and pads as needed to shape it to support my body correctly.
  
  
• Though I did spend a lot of money on different chairs, pillows, splints, heat packs, etc., for my fibromyalgia and other aches and pains, in the end the only products that were really effective for me were some relatively inexpensive massage tools. It helps to have massage tools when doing the trigger point therapy to keep from getting repetitive strain injuries in your hands.
  
  
  
• I bought a keyboard tray so when I typed on my PC, my arms were at right angles. Prior to that I had to reach upwards to type with the keyboard sitting on the desk. It made a huge difference having the keyboard lower. Our other office desk doesn't have a keyboard tray, and I can really tell the difference in my neck and shoulder muscles after using that desk and PC for even brief periods.
  
  
• I bought a stand for my monitor so could look at the PC screen at eye level instead of downward. When I was looking downward all day, over time it made my neck muscles contracted in the front and stretched out in the back causing a muscle imbalance.
  
  
• One small change that had big benefits for me was to switch the type of mouse I had on the computer. I went from one with a track ball to an optical scanner mouse. This made a tremendous difference in shoulder and arm pain. Those thousands of little repetitive motions during the day really added up to much less pain for me when my mouse was easier to glide around much more. My husband said he could not tell the difference, but I could tell it by decreased pain in my arm and neck after spending any time on the PC.
  
  
• I got a wedge type seat cushion that helped me to sit more upright instead of slouching. Again, this is a small change, but it really helps to keep my front torso muscles from shortening by forcing me to sit in a more upright posture.
  
  
• I tried voice recognition software for the PC, but it would often take minutes just to get a single sentence typed correctly. I found it more productive to just stay on the computer for short periods of time, and then do a lot of stretching and trigger pint therapy afterward. (See part 1 of Fibromyalgia Treatment for more on this topic.)

Recommended Book:

The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook: Your Self-Treatment Guide for Pain Relief by Clair Davies

Return To:

Related Web pages:

TMJ - Diet and exercise tips for temporomandibular joint disorder, a common condition in people with fibromyalgia

Scoliosis Exercises

Neck Pain - what worked for me to end years of chronic neck pain.

Fibromyalgia Diet - the diet tips I found helpful

Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome - There are many overlaps between EDS and fibromyalgia.

Mitral Valve Prolapse - a common feature in people with fibromyalgia.

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