Waking up with sore fingers

Over the last couple of weeks I've been waking up in the mornings with sore fingers - they ache a bit and I have trouble squeezing my hand into a tight fist. They recover farily quickly - within 10 or 20 minutes I forget they were even sore and they don't bother me at all during the day.

I've put it down to the type of farm work I've been doing - milking the cows requires flicking milking cups up and squeezing rubber tubes. Drenching also stresses the fingers as you have to reach over and grab the cows by the the mouth in order to get the drenching gun in and some of the cows flick their heads around when they get the chance.

I was surprised when my wife told me that she's been getting sore fingers in the mornings too. She generally doesn't do the milkings but has been feeding the calves and lifting buckets of milk so I guess those activities could stress the fingers too.

The soreness is completely different to the sore fingers and wrists I used to get doing computer work. I never imagined that farming could give you RSI but maybe it actually can...

For now it's not a problem - just something I'm wary of. But if things get worse a trip to the doctor might be in order.

stresses of farming | injuries

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