Here are two books that have helped me recover from Repetitive Strain Injury or RSI, which many people call Carpal Tunnel Syndrome:

Dr. Pascarelli’s Complete Guide to Repetitive Strain Injury: What You Need to Know About RSI and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome by Dr. Pascarelli

This is the bible on recovering from RSI. Recognizing the early signs and risk factors, Finding a doctor, Preventing RSI, recovering.

Conquering Carpal Tunnel Syndrome : And Other Repetitive Strain Injuries by Sharon J Butler

This book contains stretching exercises to gently relieve the tension in your body and to strengthen weak muscles. The exercises I employed are on page: 106, 110, 112, 116, 128, 130, 134.
I perform them every morning.

I have found that vacation (or weekends) are the best time to heal from RSI or Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.  Some tips:

1) Do not use the computer at ALL

2) Try to minimize carrying heavy items

3) Use rolling luggage or backpacks

4) Have someone else carry your items. Porters, Spouse, etc.

5) Keep doing your exercises on the road

6) Bring your night time splints on the trip

7) Try not to drive

Hot and Cold Transition Baths have helped my hands feel better.  I fill 2 pitchers, 1 with hot water from the tap, and another with cold tap water plus a few ice cubes.

I dump my arm into one pitcher for 30 seconds, then into the other for 30 seconds.  I repeat about 3-5 times.   This helps by improving circulation to your arm.  I do this every day.

Icing is an important technique to help minimize pain and reducing swelling from an Wrist Pain – Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Again it is a pain-reliever not a treatment or ergonomic technique.

I liked to put ice cubes in a pitcher of cold water and dunk my hand, wrist, and upper arm into the cold ice water.  This gets the entire area iced thoroughly. My hands needed to feel almost numb before they were removed from the ice water. As some put it, when you are numb, you are done. I found that I need to ice longer than I did previously.

Hot and Cold transition baths are also a good way to increase circulation due to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome problems.

This site has some good times on how to make icing work well for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome sufferers.

You can read more about icing and how long to ice from this guide to Repetitive Strain Injury. Wrist Pain – Carpal Tunnel Syndrome takes time to heal, so lay off the computer.

Do you notice that you wake up in the middle of the night more? That is a symptom of an RSI or repetitive strain injury. I was literally sleeping on top of a pillow with my hand right underneath, causing my injury to flare at night.

The Futuro Reversible Splint Wrist Brace is a low cost ergonomic splint that can help you at night.

I used one for a while until I got a custom designed splint from my hand therapy center.