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Keyboarding Love Or Keyboarding Pain

Posted by timothy on from the plus-they-look-tough dept.

flyingember writes "Over on Ars, they've done the ultimate review for anyone who sits at a computer more than someone on AOL does, the IMAK Smart Gloves. These gloves are supposed to both prevent and help ease pain associated with conditions such as carpal tunnel syndrome. Read it to see if our code monkey enjoys the gloves or if they're just something for him to throw at the gawking crowd."

6 of 276 comments (clear)

  1. This worked for me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I had a moderate case of tendonitis from keyboarding and mousing about 2 years ago, and this thing does work.

    I like the fact that you can still bend your wrist as much as you want, but you are gently reminded that you are bending, so you eventually stop doing it. It's not constricting like those braces.

    1. Re:This worked for me by Sad+Loser · · Score: 4, Informative

      tendonitis is real, CTS is real, most doctors would say that RSI patients tend to be nutters.
      (IMHO, IAAD)
      rest and splinting are standared treatments for tendonitis and CTS. Use whatever works but CTS has a genetic component, and other diseases may also predispose you to it. CTS is not really classified as an 'overuse injury'in that overuse is not proven to cause it, although overuse may exacerbate the symptoms, if you appreciate the difference

      tendonitis is an overuse injury, and splinting, drugs like ibuprofen and steroid injections are all useful.

      --
      Humorous signatures are over-rated.
  2. Re:Couple this with Dvorak... by MattRog · · Score: 5, Informative

    Correct, most "Dvorak is faster than Qwerty" claims are not based on fact. Theoretically, though, your fingers travel less so perhaps you can type faster. I haven't coded Qwerty in a long time so I do not know what speeds are, but I am confident I am no slower.

    Most RSI help claims are, of course, anecdotal, but from what I have seen virtually everyone who has switched has seen vast improvements in comfort - that I can't ignore.

    A short list of pros and cons are here:
    http://www.mwbrooks.com/dvorak/procon.html

    Note that no claims of speed superiority are made - most speed claims are made by uninformed converts and not by evangelists.

    --

    Thanks,
    --
    Matt
  3. Watch out for medical advice... like THIS advice: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative
    Two things:

    1. Over in Ars Technica's forum someone named Figa made an excellent point:

    Ars Technica shouldn't be recommending medical devices to its readership, even if they're over-the-counter. I hate to think how many people will go out and buy the things instead of seeking medical advice, hoping that their pain will go away.

    My doctor warned me to avoid splints specifically because they can weaken your wrists, especially if they're worn 24-7 as the author recommends. Think about what happens to muscles when you wear a cast. They atrophy!

    There was a lot of lousy advice in the forum as well, which I can attest to firsthand...

    Figa (quoted above) then proceeded to explain why other people's advice was bad and then gave a 15 point treatment plan :)

    That said, if you're going to self-medicate with gadgetry, my vote would be to check out Kinesis's Contoured Keyboards

    The keys are arranged in lines in pits in the shell of the key board. Your fingers naturally droop into the pits and then move forward and backward (rarely to the sides) to depress the appropriate key.

    Claimed to make the activity of typing simulate CTS reducing exercises. I have a co-worker who has one and loves it.

  4. My solution by Schemer · · Score: 5, Informative

    My solution to wrist pain has been to use a break reminder program like xwrits to remind me to take a 5 minute break for every hour of computer use. I would use those five minutes to get out of my chair and walk around for a while, so not only was I resting my hands, but my whole body as well.

    It's also a good idea to look out the window at something distant while taking your breaks, you can avoid eye strain by not focusing on something 18 inches from your head all the time.

    JWZ has some good advice about this stuff on his site which I found very useful.

    --
    A buddhist walks up to a hot dog stand and says ``Make me one with everything.''
  5. Re:dvorak by Graspee_Leemoor · · Score: 4, Informative

    Yes, I do roll out this story of mine every time, but here we go again.

    I switched to Dvorak layout AND touch typing from being a very fast (70wpm) 6-finger-looking-at-the-keyboard-qwerty guy.

    Not only that, but I switched right in the middle of a big VB project I was working on.

    For the first week it was amusing. I would have typed out half of a word and I'd be staring at the screen going "L- now where is it? erm erm erm- ah! Now, S.... erm..."

    I know that it would have better to do some sort of typing exercises or something to make the switch but I didn't want to be typing everything else in qwerty and getting myself confused.

    The results, after a couple of months were astonding: my RSI-like symptoms were gone and only come back slightly when I am forced to use a non-split keyboard. (Note that I can actually type faster these days on a non-split keyboard but it sure as hell isn't good for me).

    I am now up to about 70 wpm again which is only the same as before, I admit, but typing is a lot more comfortable and of course I don't have to look at the keyboard as I type, which increased my score in Typing of the Dead no end. (By the way, I totally recommend this game to people who want to practice Dvorak).

    I was amazed at myself in the end- not for the fact that I had got rid of my RSI-like symptoms, but because I had managed to achieve the same typing speed after only about 5 months that I had had with my old technique, which had been built up over about 20 years.

    graspee