Ok not to be pedantic but since you’re describing thumb pain, you’re probably an least borderline for a condition called de quervain’s tenosynovitis. It’s a bit different from carpal tunnel which usually initially manifests as numbness. Trust me, as my username suggests I play a string instrument and we’re super high risk for repetitive stress injuries so I know a lot about them between music and barista stuff.

As far as things you can do:

-change how you use shakers when you’re on bar. I had a lot of pain when I was new because I have small hands but had my left hand around the whole girth of the shaker while I shook it—trying to tightly hold a very wide thing is very risky for repetitive stress injury. Try having one hand holding the lid on and the other underneath the bottom so you don’t have to exert much force through your thumb.

-use NSAIDs, I.e. ibuprofen or naproxen, regularly. Even if the pain isn’t bothering you that much you want to do everything possible to reduce the inflammation bc that will reduce the duration of your injury.

-ice. Icing your injury helps reduce inflammation in the context of RSIs. Get an ice pack and some wrap that sticks to itself from the drug store so it’s not hard to ice while doing stuff around your home.

-if you can spare the $10-15, get a brace like $1 and wear it while you sleep. It’s easy to know if you’re doing something dumb with your hand when you’re awake because it hurts but this will help keep your thumb in a neutral position while you sleep. Some people clench their fists in their sleep and don’t know it and we don’t want to do this when we’re dealing with an RSI.

-if at all possible try to get deployed in positions besides bar for a couple shifts. I know you probably don’t want to be a pain but when tendons inflame in the wrist area they don’t have anywhere to swell out to and so they just compress your nerves, so at a certain point trying to push through your pain will just prolong your pain and dysfunction. When it comes to repetitive stress trouble spots it’s better to be a baby for a day or two than to be strong for a couple weeks and be dealing with this pain for weeks to come.

I hope this helps comrade. Lmk if you have questions—I know some resources to recommend

I had a similar pain, but turns out my tendon swole up and that cause my thumb to dislocate. I relocated it and continued wearing a thumb brace and was okay after a week or so

Most def see your doctor. A few of the partners developed carpal tunnel because they were always on cold bar. Most def doing hand stretches and wrist stretches will help too.

You might have carpel tunnel from doing the same repetitive motions over and over again, especially on bar. Definitely go see your doctor and/or urgent care and they’ll be able to advise you properly - for my case, I had to wear a wrist brace for several weeks all day and night as well since I have a tendency to move when I’m asleep.