Wrist supports are one of the worst things you could buy for yourself. All you're doing is further weakening the supporting muscles, and making the injury worse.
Buy yourself a set of climbing shoes, a chalk bag, and a membership to a climbing gym. Your wrists, not to mention your whole body, will get a lot stronger, and RSI will become a thing of the past.
Completely anecdotal, but I used to climb a lot, before moving to Tokyo, and since I've been here, haven't been out once... and you know what? Wrist pain.
I always thought that CTS was caused by the muscles in the wrists being over developed. But I just read the Wikipedia article[0], and it seems that there is no evidence that CTS is related to typing. I'm not sure if wrist health can be helped by braces or exercise, except that it can be caused by obesity.
This is a great piece of marketing though, whether it is intended to be one or not. I wonder how many wrist braces were sold.
When typing, the muscles on the outside of the forearm (anterior group) get a lot more use than the ones on the inside (posterior group), so they get a lot stronger. This lack of balance is (likely) a contributing factor to CTS, in the same way that a weak neck and thoracic stabilizers cause UCS (upper-cross syndrome)
Climbing is ideal here, because you spend a lot of time grabbing and holding on from odd angles, giving your entire forearm a solid workout.
Completely agree. By not allowing your wrists to take any stress, the muscles will get weaker, not stronger.
Far better to take that money spent on wrist braces and buy a decent keyboard instead (<insert Kenesis Ergo plug here>).
I would concede that there is a time for wrist braces - if you are developing RSI issues, wearing a wrist brace in bed can help you from accidentally sleeping with your wrists in an unnatural position and aggravating the situation.
You know what really works? Swap your keyboard and mouse every month. The subtle changes in geometry and force between 3 or 4 sets of keyboards/mice somehow prevents RSI from becoming chronic.
I once suffered terribly from RSI, until I got a small collection of input devices and established the habit of changing them every now and then. For the last 10 years I've been swapping between an Apple wireless keyboard, a Vivanco generica, and a Logitech keyboard every few months, different mice too. It feels great..
Buy yourself a set of climbing shoes, a chalk bag, and a membership to a climbing gym. Your wrists, not to mention your whole body, will get a lot stronger, and RSI will become a thing of the past.
Completely anecdotal, but I used to climb a lot, before moving to Tokyo, and since I've been here, haven't been out once... and you know what? Wrist pain.
Exercise. Your body needs it.