Slashdot Mirror
Preventing RSI?
conJunk asks: "How do you protect against RSI? I try to practice good typing habits, but without the aid of wrist splints, I tend to get cold wrists. The splints are great, but they slow down my typing by a fair bit. What do you all do?"
Or just a wrist rest if you don't use a mat/pad. Honestly, you'll get used to it very quickly and I strongly suspect it's the only reason I don't have crippling RSI by now. A decent natural "split"-style keyboard has also been my preference for years.
Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Gates M'dna wgah'nagl fhtagn.
simply talk and ask your secretary to type it for you :D. For permanent relief, outsource your work.
They called me mad, and I called them mad, and damn them, they outvoted me. -Nathaniel Lee
I have workrave running on my computer. It's great!
that should keep your wrists warm...
I have made it a habit to take my hands of the keyboard and mouse whenever I am in a conversation with someone, or whenever I'm not actively typing or using the mouse. Have a pen or pencil to play around with also helps to keep your fingers moving around at that time. :) freeclimber, so I tend to exercise the muscles in my arms once a week, and because you can quickly cramp up while climbing, this has taught me to relax my lower arm muscles whenever I'm not actively using them.
I'm also a (not very accomplished
I've been using computers intesively for over 15 years and haven't had any symptoms during all this time.
I used to outsource all my typing to India.
When my boss complained about my spelling and vocabulary, I told him I'd gotten dyslexic.
atm, I'm an RSI-free full time couch potato. Too bad I can't outsource channel switching...
I was lucky to never really develop major RSI related injuries, but I got very close, and I am still very alert when it comes to feeling pain in my hands. Generally I guess you could characterize the means for prevention into hardware and software (which mostly includes changing habits i.e. brainware as well).
Hardware:- Mouse alternatives (like a tablet, trackball or, better, a combination of as many input devices as necessary)
- Ergonomic keyboards
- Ergonomic anything, desk, chair, office. There ARE many ways to get hurt or at least work on your chronic situations, not just RSI but back pain etc.
- Medicine: In my case whenever I am in a phase where I need to work on a computer exclusively I start developing pain in my right hand, some kind of inflammation - which can be taken care of 3 days with ibuprofen or diclofenac. And which also keeps the thing under control for about another 9 months or so. Talk to your doctor!
Software:- Break Scheduler: Software that enforces breaks, micro breaks; shows stretching tips etc.
- Habits: change your habits, change your posture, change your input devices - do anything that keeps you from burning into one repetitive posture/gesture/.... (As with all things in life - change is good)
- Macros, Automation: get a good spell checker, get a good macro software, program your editors to do things for you thereby reducing the repetitive work.
Some links/Linklists:thread at 43folders
google RSI prevention
btw: where is markdown formatting in slashdot's comment form?Go by what you feel when you're using a computer. If you feel something hurting, stop. right away. Then look at what you're doing and what could cause it, and try something different.
12 years ago I worked in a department that insisted on bucketloads of ergonomic tricks to make things easier for people. If we were just using mouse and plain keyboard, we were pushed to try trackballs, wristrests for mouse & keyboard, split keyboards, ergo chairs etc. That made for a culture of workers feeling free to say "this isn't working for me, let me try something different" and most people found their niche setup, using components they didn't know were available to them, or didn't know were an option in the workplace.
As it turns out I tried trackballs and found them cripplingly painful, and ergo chairs were comfy while I sat on them but locked my knees painfully into place. I'm most comfortable with plain old keyboard and mouse, and have been RSI free with that setup for 22 years. It's the best solution for me, and if that works for you too, don't be in too much hurry to change.
Wrist rests may work for some, but I find that they place pressure on the wrists and forearms right where I don't want it. My recommendations:
1) Posture is important. Have a look on Google for guidance on arranging your workspace on ergonomic guidelines. Also, consider seeing a chiropractor - a competent chiropractor will be able to track down areas of weakness and suggest exercises to strengthen muscle groups which are causing problems. Which leads to:
2) I find that regular light workouts with a set of dumbells help - make sure your arms can support themselves!
3) If I find my forearms are getting a little sore, contrast bathing is helpful. Bathe your arms for a minute at a time in cold water, then hot water, then cold again, alternating back and forth and always finishing on cold. Do that once a night for a week or so.
Usual caveats - I'm a geek, not a doctor, dammit; your mileage may vary; if you're really having problems, see a doctor rather than asking Slashdot...
...but I have typed/moused daily for the past 12 years of my life and have never had any RSI problems. I'm a fulltime programmer and program as a hobby too, so you can imagine the amount of time I spend behind a keyboard.
My secret; don't use wristsupport of ANY kind. The majority of RSI problems stem from straining your wrists, so don't strain them. My wrists are usually floating because I support my arms at my elbows if needed; the area of motion allowed just by skin flexibility (not even adding flexibility in clothing layers) around the elbows alone is enough to reach the entire keyboard and mouse physical space.
At home I have a custom-built desk which lowers the keyboard and mouse to a comfortable position (just above my lap) where I don't even need to support anything; now I'm able to use all the muscles in my arms for the required motion; which is far easier.
Often I see colleagues using wrist supports for their keyboards, where they quite literally push their wrists into the support and produce all motion from flexing the wrists; a sure way of getting RSI.
Just try keeping the wrist afloat and everything will go much smoother. Perhaps even try raising the keyboard from your desk a bit if that makes it easier.
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
I'm personally not affected by RSI but i would suggest that the best way against it and any other injures related to extensive keyboard and mouse usage
is not use those devices for long time without a break. There are also many devices for muscular developement at the wrists. Maybe you should review your
typing habits, finger placement, etc.
tell me your problem and i'll show you the solution tell me your solution and i'll show you the problem.
1) Move to America
2) Get RSI
3) Sue
4) PROFIT!!!
Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so. - Douglas Adams
Indeed, if your elbows are properly supported, you shouldn't need to try to keep your wrists afloat--it should be difficult to get your wrists down far enough to need support! If your wrists hit the desk, you need to adjust your chair (or get a new one), IMO. Chairs without arms should be kept as far away from keyboards as possible.
I know I'll probably get the piss taken out of me for this, but I tend to do a lot of glowsticking - often up to an hour a day, in the privacy of my home. It's fun and fairly good exercise, plus it means gonig out clubbing all night doesn't leave me a smouldering wreck the morning after.
:D
It mostly involves fluidly moving the hands via the wrists faster than the eye can see, along with a fairly hefty dose of arm waving, continuously, for anywhere from an hour to ten hours.
I've never been able to tell if it's good or bad for me. I don't have RSI, but then I didn't have it before I took up glowsticking, either.
Anyone know? Us ravers need to know!
I know, sounds daft. But setting up your chair for *real* comfort as opposed to slouching, with a view to helping your wrists stay in the proper position.
;)
Your chair should be high enough so that your feet naturally lay flat on the ground, and your thighs are perpendicular to your shins. If you have one of those annoying spring-backed chairs which let you lean way back, lock it all the way forward for support. Some chairs have adjustable back supports too, move them to the correct place (which I think is supporting the lower back).
At this point, sit up straight and reach your hands out in front of you to a comfortable position. Put the keyboard under them, with the mouse mat next to the keyboard. This should be a decent position for you to work from without straining anything.
A tip I've had from people who get back pains at work is to buy a really big exercise ball, and sit on that instead of a chair. You'll look stupid and people will mock you, but it really helps build up the lower back with all the unconscious movements you use to keep balanced on it. Of course, if your balance sucks you'll fall off and get mocked even more
Game dev and music blog
i.e. no single item can prevent you from getting RSI. You'll have to combine healthy work habits, regular exercise, and good equipment.
- Work habits: Set up your work area correctly. Desk height, chair height, monitor placement, etc. You should be able to find a relaxed position. Take regular breaks, and do some exercises during those breaks.
- When you're at home, don't spend the entire evening sitting at your home computer.
- Exercise: Couch potatoes are more susceptible to RSI (and a host of other problems).
- equipment: Use a good mouse (optical, low-friction worked for me, YMMV) or trackball, etc. Consider getting an ergonomic keyboard. Lighting, and a good monitor are important too.
One cause of many RSI complaints is 'static tension': the muscles in your arm and hand are contracting but not moving. The muscles need movement, so every 10 minutes spend 20 seconds to stretch your arms, relax your hands etc.
a curved keyboard really helps, even if you already have rsi (as i do). also i switched from a mouse to a digitizer
Conservatism: The fear that somewhere, somehow, someone you think is your inferior is being treated as your equal.
You know why you're developing RSI. It's because you engage in daily furious masturbation! Quit defiling yourself and ask our lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness!
Since I stopped visiting "adult" web pages my wrist RSI has greatly improved!
I haven't had RSI but i can think of those in a minute:
Mouse scrolling(and the autoscroll)
Healthy lifestyle(no allnight coding!)
Macros/Automated or sheduled tasks
scripts and bots
Slow typing with breaks
Laconic/condensed writing/language
custom keyboard layouts/drivers
voice input,contact-pressure keyboards
anything that reduces the work tempo
Porn. I think you need to relax more, so watch some... Oh! PREVENT rsi... nevermind
"I'm going to f***ing bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to f***ing kill Google"
I've found 2 things that work for me when my arm starts to hurt (from when I get lazy about doing these)
1) Support your elbow- keep it on your chair's arm or have a tabletop to your side that you rest your elbow on. This way something besides your wrist is supporting your arm.
2) Wrist stretches- many say wrist strengthening but stretching works for me (maybe both are even better). You can stretch your wrists in 4 directions: up, down, and bend/twist in both directions. As with all stretches they need to be done slowly, held for 20-30 seconds, then slowly release.
Why can't I mod you -1 Moronic?
IANADoctor, but it seems to me that cold wrists can be a sign of the blood flow being cut off, or nerves being pinched, both real, and possibly dangerous problems. Even if not, cold extremities are annoying and do make typing harder than it needs to be.
First of all, work out regularly. This increases the blood flow everywhere, which has a lot of benefits besides preventing RSI. Working out encourages your body to increase the efficiency and capacity of your blood vessels, leading to better endurance when you're sitting behind a desk. Basically, it will allow your hands and arms to recover more during work, because the material supplies required for the recovery are transported there in larger quantities. Also, increased blood flow will decrease recovery time outside working hours. Before, I would come home with pain in my hands and I would go to work the next day still with pain in my hands. After I started working out, I would come home with tired (but not painful) hands, and everything would have recovered completely by the time I got up the next morning. An added advantage of working out is that you're less tired after a day's work, which means that you'll have more energy on weekday evenings.
:-)
Secondly, make sure your upper arms are hanging straight down along the side of your body while you're working. Most typing-related RSI problems, although you feel them in your wrists, actually originate in the outward-facing muscles of your upper arms, which extend into (or at least are strongly connected to the muscles in) your shoulders and into your neck. Even when your elbows are only 15 cm away from your body, the tension in all those muscles will be considerable, and their stress levels will decrease the blood flow to the lower parts of your arm. I've seen many surprised faces of RSI sufferers when I massaged the outward-facing side of their upper arms, which (unexpectedly for them) caused a tingling feeling in their hands (the sign that they were suddenly getting enough blood flow again), followed by the disappearance of the pain in their wrists, lower arms and hands.
I´ve lived with RSI for 5 years now. I´m 27. I´ve had therapy, shots, many medical treatments with bad results.
Now I go to the gym every day... that the only way I can type without hurting myself.
I've been rather extensively typing on all sorts of keyboards for the last 25 years, and have yet to develop any RSI symptoms. Some of these years were in conditions "less than perfect" (understatement of the century).
:)
:)
What helps for me is that I simply don't type longer stretches than 15 minutes. I get up to get some tea, coffee, water, whatever, but don't touch a keyboard for the next 5 minutes. Also I try to refrain from using a mouse if not necessary, take intermittent breaks if I do start to feel annoying feelings.
Getting some water to drink also has the added benefit of actually giving your body some much needed hydration, very important for an alert mind as well.
Most importantly: Try to develop a work schedule where you can be efficient, yet still take those much needed breaks. Instead of emailing a colleague, call them on the phone, or if your workplace allows it, walk there. It'll give them a break, yourself a break, and generally it's a much easier way of conversing anyway.
On a cynical sidenote: Take up a bad smoking habit. That'll force you to take a break at least once an hour
Splut.
ps. An example of "less than perfect" circumstances is having to work on a computer being used by 5 year olds. Typing with my legs pretty much bent up to my ears isn't very ergonomical, I'm sure
Coz eternity my friend, is a long *ing time.
... both times recently with a really comprehensive blob of text explaining myself.
...
Rejected both times. I guess I should rename myself to beatle-beatle or something
this doesn't exactly relate to RSI, but recently I find myself with sore eyes after using either my computer or reading for more then an hour or so at a time; i assume this is just eye strain? will going to an optomitrist or getting glasses help me? My vision is fine, if not good otehrwise, eyedrops don't seem to help so it isn't just dryness.
Some RSI suffers report that the Dvorak layout (www.mwbrooks.com/dvorak/) is easier. The layout's arguably more efficient, but it does come with a learning curve particularly if you are already very skilled at typing on a qwerty keyboard.
If you try this, plan to use it for 2-3 weeks before you even begin to feel comfortable. Its absolutely maddening for the first few days, but once you get past that you eventually begin to adjust.
This may sound stupid... but recent studies are showing that most people that get RSI actually get most of the damage from sleeping on their hands at night.
So...
#1 No hands under the pillow/head
#2 No hands between the legs to keep them warm
#3 If you ever have numb hands from cuddling your S.O. that's a no-no also
I changed my sleeping habits just that little bit and now no matter how much I abuse my wrists at work programming or playing Enemy Territory I have no more pain.
Telcos have alot of dark fibre in the States. Most people assume that's optical fibre...but it's actually moral fibre.
Two very important things:
1) Take your hand off the mouse/keyboard when you're not using them. Even if it's only for a few seconds, it gives your muscles a break. Put your hands in your lap.
2) Half the problem is the muscles in your hand are constantly "ready" and tensed ready to push that button. Be aware of this. Relax your muscles. And do (1) often to relax them again.
All of you. "Aaah, my wrist hurts!". Meh. Been typing for almost 20 years, no pain at all. Go work in a mine, then I'll understand if you start saying it hurts.
Isaac Asimov typed 90 words per minute for most of 50 years, and he did not get RSI. Why? I distinctly recall reading something to the effect that he actually enjoyed the typing process. Thus the "Subject" of this message. I think it would be interesting for the psychologists to study a large group of typists, to see how many of them don't like typing, and how many of those have RSI. Me, I learned on a manual typewriter approx 1968, and while my speed is only 40wpm or so, I've done lots of typing over the decades since, mostly liking it -- and I don't have RSI.
I used to suffer from RSI in my right elbow (mouse arm, mind you this was at a time I used to play UT rather a lot...) My solution is I use the mouse in my left hand at work, and right hand at home. Not as difficult as it sounds - you get used to it quite quickly.
It's called Repetative Stress Injury for a reason. Just cut it out! Seriously though, a lot of RSI's come from performing the same task over and over again in the same position (stop it dirty minds!). Vary the activity, take breaks. The problem is aptly named...try to remember that.
"He was a wise man who invented beer." - Plato
No text.
http://outcampaign.org/
I just got a powerball about a week ago. Its too early to tell, but my wrist seems to feel a little better.
Just frickin' relax. People get all tense when they try to type fast, and it just slows them down and causes injury. Seriously, just try to keep your muscles as loose as possible when typing and mousing.
I have been programming for over 10 years, 8 - 12 hours a day, 5 - 6 days a week, and have never suffered RSI. I am a touch typist and can type 50 - 80 wpm, never really bothered to measure it.
The problem I find with most people that have RSI caused by typing is that they tend to keep their wrists in a rigid locked position and they tend to pound on the keys with their fingers. This WILL cause RSI because you are constantly straining your tendons unnaturally. My brother-in-law types fast, but he does it in short bursts, his wrist and arms go rigid and he types blazingly fast, fingers pounding on the keyboard for about 30 seconds, then he has to stop and rub his wrists because they are sore. RSI is repetitive STRAIN injury, and by keeping your wrist rigid and tendons strained, this is how you cause the condition.
My typing style is relaxed, and I am not measuring or care how fast I type. By not keeping my wrist rigid and only applying enough pressure on the keys to depress them enough to register a press, I quite honestly that this prevents me from the kind of RSI problems most people suffer from. I find that relatively slow and steady will beat out the productivity and discomfort of trying to type blazingly fast for short bursts. I can maintain a consistent typing rate for hours that will exceed someone typing in quick short bursts and having to stop because the pain becomes unbearable.
Another thing I believe in is that your company or boss has to give you the right tools to do the job. I will refuse to program if I don't use Microsoft's Natural Keyboard. I have used one almost my entire programming career, and before it, in the early days of using those straight unnatural keyboards, I did feel I was starting to suffer some strain in my wrists. Since then I have found this keyboard layout to cause no undue strain on my wrists. If your boss is too cheap to buy you the right equipment then it will pay in the long run for you to invest in your own equipment. If your not allowed to bring your own keyboard and/or mouse into your office, then quit. You work to live, you don't live to work, and any company that doesn't recognize that they must cater to your personal comfort and safety at work is not a company you should work for. This goes too for the kind of desk and chair you sit in. A chair without adjustable height and adjustable arms so that you can position your arms appropriately to the height of the keyboard is essential to proper typing technique that does not involve RSI.
Another important factor is to simply take a break, at least 5 minutes every hour. Get up and walk around, get a drink from the water cooler or something, go to the washroom. I rarely spend more then an hour of solid typing without giving my body a break. Even if your boss ties you to your desk, just stop, drop your arms and take a rest for 5 minutes.
Most people assume that typing causes RSI, that there is no way to avoid it because the motions of striking fingers onto a keyboard is the fundamental definition of RSI. Bullsh*t! If you are suffering from RSI then you significantly underestimated the importance of ergonomics in your work environment. Change that keyboard and change your typing habits, pay attention to how your holding your wrists, if rigid learn to loosen them up, stop trying to go for speed records typing as many words per minute as possible (its not a competition) and realize you don't have to strike your keyboard with a lots of force in order to move those keys. If you can't touch type, then learn to, its more efficient the the 4 fingered speed hunt and peck that most people do when they don't know how to type. Your wrist splints are probably more of a hindrance then they benefit, and the fact you mentioned they slow down your typing suggests you feel quantity is better then quality.
There is no one single thing you can do to prevent RSI, its a collection of habits and the tools you are using that are causing it. But I can safely say with the right combination of both, you should experience no pain or RSI symptoms, period.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
A hundred years of typing pools, and several hundred years of piano playing tell you how to sit and work, and it is no accident that proper typing posture is the same as proper piano posture.
I just Googled up an interesting site that discusses both issues.
I use an old IBM keyboard with a solid click to the keys. The tactile feedback lets me know that the key has been pressed so I can release pressure before the key bottoms out.
Whenever I try to use the more recent el-cheapo keyboards I find that I constantly bottom the keys forcing my fingers to a full stop while the muscle is still taut. The impact on my hands is uncomfortable.
Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
I was getting RSI in my hands from too much mousing and typing. After a couple of months of ignoring it, things got bad enough that I was feeling some low-level discomfort all the time, not just when at the PC. It got to the point where my wife would ask me to open jars and I couldn't seem to grip them tight enough to get the lids off. Bad. (Sometimes I'm sure that's the only reason she married me :-> )
Anyway, I did some research and started taking breaks. I get out of my chair for at least 5-10 minutes every hour. I walk down to the break room and grab a bottle of water, wander over to visit the developers (I'm a writer), or walk around the outside of the building. This has helped immensely, and at this point the pain is pretty much completely gone.
If you use the mouse a lot and the pain is mostly in your right hand/wrist, you might think about trying to use the keyboard as much as possible. It seems that squeezing the mouse tightly (which is something that's easy to do unconsciously) and holding your arm out of line from your body (since the mouse is too far to the right because of the keyboard) are common causes of RSI in the right hand. Switching to keyboard shortcuts is a way to limit the amount of mousing you have to do.
YMMV, of course.
Interested in a Flash-based MAME front end? Visit mame.danzbb.com
On a more serious note, in my experience it does help to exercise those muscles a bit. You can do it with your own weight. Do a few press ups and sit ups while watching TV. If you don't have the discipline for that, install a break reminder. When it pops up, put your hands flat on the desk and press real hard for about a minute.
I run Linux and use XWrits as follows:
xwrits typetime=15 breaktime=1 canceltime=1
8 of 13 people found this answer helpful. Did you?
Some folks at my work use ion; I tried it but didn't get into it. So searching around came to this: http://wmii.de/ which for me has done the trick. (really nice wm btw, particularly if like me you live in a bunch of open xterms, most people haven't even heard of it though)
Still dealing with pain, (I _really_ need to get myself to a doctor...) but I think the above has helped me in improving my habits.
Workrave
Well jiminy the man doesn't have RSI, he just hasn't paid his heating bill since the dot com bust!
-Billco, Fnarg.com
- Dumbell writ curls
- Dumbell wrist reverse curls
- Hangboards are good, too
Reforce helps with that Windows problem.
"RefreshForce universally and permanently fixes the Windows 2000/XP refresh rate problem on ANY variation of graphics cards, monitors, or drivers!!! No messing around, no hassle, it WORKS and it's SIMPLE!"
I've never had RSI but as a programmer/violinist/pianist I naturally take an interest in how to avoid it. I've got an additional mouse (actually a trackball) that I've put on the floor and work with my toes. This works very well with being a touch typist; I get to keep my hands on the keyboard, in the home position.
Even banging on an old VT100 or IBM model-M series keyboard -- where you need to keep your wrists up in order to get enough force on each key -- is better. And good luck playing tricky runs on the piano with your wrists down...nowhere to rest your wrists on a piano keyboard...I wonder why that is?
I still remember our typing teacher walking around with a yardstick keeping an eagle eye out for anyone with poor posture or droopy wrists. She'd only touch it under your wrists (or small of back, or top of head) as a reminder -- but it was pretty intimidating none the less.
Since when did the old fashioned "keeping proper posture" become the oh-so modern "science of ergonomics"?
You don't have to be ambidextrous. Just switch your mouse to the oppositte hand every week or so. It really, really, really, really helps.
-Clio
Karma: Bad (mostly from not giving a fuck)
Blog: http://clintjcl.wordpress.com
As I do most of my typing on a laptop which has a slightly smaller keyboard than normal, does anyone know of any good tips for using a laptop keyboard?
I've been using these for about two years. I used to have to ice my wrists every night after work, but after wearing these for about a week, the pain went away. Your milage may vary, but they work great for me!
I've been fighting with RSI for well over a decade now, and I have to agree with the following advice others have mentioned:
The one other thing I recommend is taking glucosamine to help rebuild the joint surfaces. If there's any sort of arthritis or gout causing inflammation, the swelling will cause pressure on the nerves in the wrist, leading to trouble. Since I started taking 1000mg of glucosamine every day a few years ago, I haven't needed to get a refill of Naprosyn for use as an anti-inflammatory. Check with your doctor first, and all that....
Osteopathic Manipulation is my magic bullet. Nothing else worked for me.
Osteopathy is putting the body's structures back where they're supposed to be. Lets see... This post wasn't too long ago, I know I've mentioned osteopathic medicine a couple times in the last year (buy a subscription?).
Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
www.teslabox.com
Even if your symptoms are very localized, the cause probably involves your whole body. Everything in your body is connected, and if one area gets out of whack, the others will try to compensate and the problems will spread outward.
For example, if your quads are tight they will pull your upper body forward, making you slouch. Your back has to fight against that, but if those muscles aren't strong enough they'll get fatigued and tense up. Tension in your back/shoulders will affect the nerves and blood flow in your arms, until one day you discover you can't feel your fingers.
At that point, the obvious place to look is your hand and arm, but to really solve the problem you have to start with your legs, where the root of the problem is, and work up from there. (I speak from experience in this case).
Ergonomics, rest breaks, etc can help, but to really get your body sorted out you need to exercise. Weights can develop the muscles in your back, shoulders, and legs that you need for good posture. You don't need to bulk up as much as tone -- which can be done with lighter weights and high reps (2-3 sets of 40-50 reps). You also need to stretch a lot -- especially your legs and lower back, which are crucial to your posture.
A good chiropractor, physical therapist, or massage therapist can identify which areas you need to focus on and show you exercises and stretches. My massage therapist actually came to the gym with me and showed me what to do. Failing that, it's probably worthwhile to have a few sessions with a personal trainer so you know what you're doing at the gym.
I do the following to help recover fromu RSI in my fingers (not wrists):
1) I use a FingerWorks TouchStream keyboard. Unfortunately, they don't make them anymore and they cost $600+ on eBay.
2) I run 'xwrits' in the background which reminds me to take a break. I also try to remember to take little short 10+ second breaks in between -- I drop my hands to my sides, relax, and take a few deep breaths.
3) I wear warm clothes (always long sleeves). Typing with cold fingers is teh suck.
4) I excercise my shoulders and arms when I take a break. I stretch them over my head. I stand up and swing them around in circles to help the blood flow. I also throw darts, do the dishes, or other short activities that are more active.
5) I take about 200 mg of Vitamin B-6 every day. Someone once told me this trick and I was desperate enough to try anything. It works for me, and I've been battling RSI for about two years now, so I've had my periods where I've forgotten to take the vitamins and have been able to correlate the ups and downs. If you try this out, for best results first overdose on the Vitamin B-6 (~ 600 mg daily -- 200 mg at each meal) for one week. Then drop down to 400 mg daily for another week, then 200 or 100 daily. Prolonged overdose of B-6 causes dry skin for me, but short stints help speed up the recovery phase.
6) Finally, I gave up caffine and soda because I noticed it made me less likely to take breaks. Instead, I drink lots of water so that I HAVE to take breaks. With more frequent breaks I found I would get less sleepy. If I do get drowsy I just take a break and and am awake when I get back. I'm talking SHORT breaks. Five or ten minutes of walking around is not enough knock me too far from concentration on what I was just working on.
Ligaments don't get a lot of direct blood flow, so they take longer to heal than skin and muscle. The short breaks throughout the day help the blood flow and can repair and prevent RSI. That's my theory anyway.
Good luck.
Religion is poison to rationality, and we lose sight of that at our own peril. -- Lurker2288
Many people who think they have RSI, I suspect, have been having their conditions aggravated by toxic mold exposure, which causes all sorts of aches and pains throughout your body. Molds of the stachybotrys, chaetmonium, aspergillius and penicillium kinds produce many different mycotoxins such as the trichothecenes, aflatoxins, ochratoxins, ergot alkaloids, etc. which can cause, among other things, cell damage and other kinds of apoptopsis. (This information is being suppressed by all sorts of big money interests.) Normally, your body repairs RSI-type damage, creating a sort of equilibrium, but in the presence of high levels of mycotoxins, it cant do so. This may also cause depression, ADD-like symptoms, and a host of other things. Much CFS and MCS may be due to hidden mold sources in home environments. Mycotoxin binders, like activated charcoal, inflammation reducers like omega-3s and antioxidants might help!
Note, I am not a doctor, no do I play one on TV.
is also good for peripheral neuropathy in some situations.. It promotes nerve repair/regrowth, esp. when taken with arginine..
My hand after typing too long turns icey cold, i started taking 5 minute breaks every hour and opening and closing my hand, help very little but better then nothing
I'd probably be using Workrave if I could but there's no version for OS X. I use AntiRSI instead, which has a smooth, minimalist interface. (It's open source freeware, too, and is a universal binary.)
/Applications/AntiRSI.app/Contents/Resources/ and I've replaced the small 300x300 images with widescreen versions. Now the AntiRSI overlay "dims" my entire screen and prevents any attempt to click out of it.
AntiRSI keeps its onscreen graphics in TIFF format in
Yup, that too --- although the relaxed-wrist hands-dropped posture isn't unknown to pianists either, on the theory that they use the weight of their arms for fortissimo.
I'm not a doctor, but do be careful about relying too much on armrests. Actually, even just leaning on your elbows too much. Theres a nerve that goes through your elbow called the ulnar nerve which gives feeling to the pinkie and ring fingers; if you compress it too often, then it can actually develop problems at the elbow (exascerbated by stuff like resting your arm on the window while you drive/depending heavily on armrests/leaning on elbow while sitting at tables). A new type of strain injury? It so happens that this is the same nerve that you hit when you slam your elbow into stuff -- the "funnybone."