Lionbridge hand use question - arthritis

[carriedee]

Hi there,
I was definitely going to apply to Lionbridge, but now I have a question.

I have arthritis in my hands that flares up if I use the computer intensively.

When working on an assignment for Lionbridge, are you constantly using your mouse and typing?
Or, do you pause for a few seconds or minutes to read the page?

Thank you!!
Carrie

[SageOldWoman]

Originally Posted by carriedee

Hi there,
I was definitely going to apply to Lionbridge, but now I have a question.

I have arthritis in my hands that flares up if I use the computer intensively.

When working on an assignment for Lionbridge, are you constantly using your mouse and typing?
Or, do you pause for a few seconds or minutes to read the page?

Thank you!!
Carrie

I don't work for LB, but I do work for LF which does the same thing. I had to quit my full time job last November due to surgery for arthritis in my basal thumb joint. I tried working for three months after the surgery, but was in excruciating pain. I was an accountant, so I was on the computer constantly. The surgery has not healed as expected. So, I searched for jobs that I thought wouldn't require a lot of keyboarding. The amount of keyboarding varies with what you are working on. On some of them you do have to type in comments. I can't work on those for very long or I'm in pain. There is also a LOT of clicking/moving the mouse around which also can aggravate arthritic joints. The good thing with this work is that if you start hurting, you just stop and then work later. With LB it is a little more restrictive since you have a 10 hour/week commitment. I passed the test for both LB and LF and chose LF specifically because it was more flexible, even though it pays less (but with LF you can work as many hours as you want if work is available). Good luck...I feel your pain, literally.

[carriedee]

Hi SageOldWoman!
Thank you so much for replying to my question! For some reason, this site didn't notify me that I'd received a reply. I'm sorry it's taken me this long to get back to you. I so appreciate you answering my question!
My arthritis is inflammatory osteoarthritis, and it is mainly in my fingers. I developed it from overusing the computer. I so feel your pain as well.
The mouse hurts me just as much as the typing. After two hours of working on my blogs, my hands ache for at least 24 hours afterwards.
When you stop to rest, how long before your pain subsides?
Thank you for the info on the differences in the two companies. About how long do you work per day for LF?
Thank you heaps for giving me this info. It's what I needed to hear. I'm pretty sure I shouldn't work for these companies. I'm still looking for work at home jobs that don't require this amount of computer use.

Carrie

[SageOldWoman]

How long pain lasts varies with me. I also have back issues from car accidents I have been in. (Yes, I am a mess physically!). I have worked as little as an hour and up to four hours in a day (but I definitely feel it, if I work several days in a row for more than two hours a day.) It's worth giving it a try. Just taking the test will give you a good feel for if you can tolerate it or not, but give yourself plenty of time so you can do some of the test, rest, do some more. It does take several hours to take the test for either company. I suppose maybe the call center work might not involve so much typing, but I don't know. Personally, I'm not a people person so that isn't even an option for me. Kind of hard to find an occupation where you don't need to use your hands. Good Luck and let me know if you find anything!

[carriedee]

Thank you so much!!! I decided to apply to see how it affects my hands. I'm working on my resume now. Did you provide referrals? If you did, did they get contacted? Thank you!!