Hi. I also shared this in a comment in /DeQuervains, but I thought I might reach more people with a post on here.
So yeah, title. But let me explain.
Firstly, I'm not sure what exactly I have, I was never diagnosed. But I'm pretty sure it comes from just years and years of playing video games using a controller as I was growing up. That position your hand is in, that's what felt the worst. It's only my right hand. The pain was located mostly from the base of the thumb, running towards the wrist, maybe a little up the forearm. And then also a spot around the middle-left of the palm, towards the pinky finger. Honestly, it's a little hard to remember exactly, as it's gone now, obviously. The pain was always there, but would flare up for a couple of days or so from time to time. Especially in these periods, I found that a compression glove could help alleviate the pain a little bit.
Like I said, I was never diagnosed. But I went to the doctor with it once, though he didn't really take it seriously. He told me to get ergonomic peripherals for using a PC and then he told me to relax. Relaxing is only an option to a certain extent when your job involves using a computer and your favorite hobby is playing video games... After this, I pretty much just lived with it for many years, testing out different gloves with different amounts of pressure etc. No major success there. I started considering looking into what's possible with surgery, especially when I got kids, as I felt limited in what I could with them when it was peaking.
It's hard for me to say how long I had it, but it's absolutely 10+ years. Likely closer to 15.
Anyway. Then, my colleagues and I had a night out on the town. We decided to go bowling. Or, I did not vote for that, because I suspected it wouldn't be great with my pain. We went, but I got tired of just sitting there on the sideline after I had initially said I wouldn't play. So, I decided to give it a shot. I immediately regretted it. I got a crazy shooting pain in my hand. My whole hand got hot. I thought I had really done something stupid. Then, after a couple of minutes, I realized... the pain was just gone. I was over the moon. I just continued to play bowling the rest of the night, no issue. I had actually missed playing a lot, as I really enjoyed it back before my pain started, but I digress.
So. Pain gone. Some time passes, maybe a couple of months. I slowly start to feel something again. I'm telling my wife we need to go bowling. But that's a little inconvenient. I then randomly spotted a kettle bell for sale in the local super market. I was thinking that this could simulate bowling, so I bought it. Works like a charm. Once a month or so, when I start to feel something (not pain, just... irritation?), I grab my kettle bell, go outside, and swing it around, acting like I play bowling. 30 seconds or so, nothing crazy.
That's it. I almost consider myself cured. I guess the violent stretch from bowling just loosened things up in a way that was exactly needed. I used to spend a lot of energy thinking about my pain and ways to mitigate it and such. I sometimes had a hard time sleeping because of it. But now, nothing. If I focus, yes, I can feel something is different in my right hand compared to my left. But it's not pain, it's just some kind of mild irritation.
I don't know anything about RSI, though. I imagine that this 'trick' could make things worse for many kinds of RSI. I don't even know if what I did is a known phenomenon. I am completely new to this subreddit, actually Reddit in general, so I'm not familiar with other people's experiences regarding RSI. I just suddenly had the idea that maybe someone else would find my experience helpful. But I do advise caution for the above-mentioned reason. Talk to your doctor, yada-yada.
Good luck to everyone.