QWERTY won't kill your hand in ten minutes or ten days. More like ten years. For some people, maybe even never. But for others, much sooner. I for one would prefer to never get RSI, and I decided after I experienced what turned out to be a false alarm that I never wanted to experience the real thing. Unfortunately, no science has been done in this domain to my knowledge so we are on our own with anecdotes.
Please don't spread misinformation about how typing causes "repetitive strain injury." "RSI" is essentially a psychosomatic problem. By spreading the idea that using a keyboard can hurt your hands, you are helping cause it. For starters, read this document. Do a Google search with the terms Sarno and TMS. Then read the book "The Mindbody Prescription" by John E. Sarno.
I suffered for over one and half years and was not working during that time until I realized that the true cause of my symptoms originated psychologically. After that realization the pain simply went away and I went back to my normal activities. Don't buy into the misinformation that exists out there. There is plenty of it out there, it will screw your head up if you believe it. My physician was even very skeptical about the existance of "RSI" and he ended up being right.
I say forget about ergonomics. Type on whatever you feel comfortable in whatever setup you feel comfortable for as long as you want to without breaks. That's what I do. But don't take my word for it, read up on what Sarno has written and you will get a better understanding of why ergonomics doesn't matter so much and you should never fear typing on a keyboard. Just don't worry about it is all I'm saying, that is the most important thing.
Cool, another believer in the mindbody concept. Dr. Sarno made sense of everything and his book "The Mindbody Prescription" literally changed my life for the better. Here is another good link:
Sorry to reply to myself here, just wanted to add something...
Reading all the messages in this thread, I see a lot of people with RSI symptoms. I think everyone should read the links I provided because it might help them. Also, I see a lot posts from people who have been typing a lot for many decades and have never had RSI symptoms. These people should read the links to understand why they don't have any problems, and why they shouldn't expect to have any problems in the future.
The ideas are something that can help with many things besides RSI (for example back pain) and can maybe prevent these things as well, so give it a read, it might help you.
I'm only suffering from pain in my wrists when i'm stressed, and I think it is *the* cause for it. If it was computer-over-useage, i'd have no wrists left....
I very much agree with this. Though in my experience, its not necessarilly stress on the concious level. I had RSI for a year and a half that was bad enough that it kept me from working, but I found a solution and no longer have any incidence of it. And these days I use my hands/arms all day long without a break and don't restrict myself in any way. Here are some links to the solution I used:
I normally get flamed for posting this stuff, but that's expected. That first link gives a great summary. Read ALL of it and pay attention to what it says before forming an opinion.. I'd try to summarize the ideas myself, but I really can't explain it as well as that document does. For those who don't want to view a Word document, here is a link to the Google cache.
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QWERTY won't kill your hand in ten minutes or ten days. More like ten years. For some people, maybe even never. But for others, much sooner. I for one would prefer to never get RSI, and I decided after I experienced what turned out to be a false alarm that I never wanted to experience the real thing. Unfortunately, no science has been done in this domain to my knowledge so we are on our own with anecdotes.
Please don't spread misinformation about how typing causes "repetitive strain injury." "RSI" is essentially a psychosomatic problem. By spreading the idea that using a keyboard can hurt your hands, you are helping cause it. For starters, read this document. Do a Google search with the terms Sarno and TMS. Then read the book "The Mindbody Prescription" by John E. Sarno.
I suffered for over one and half years and was not working during that time until I realized that the true cause of my symptoms originated psychologically. After that realization the pain simply went away and I went back to my normal activities. Don't buy into the misinformation that exists out there. There is plenty of it out there, it will screw your head up if you believe it. My physician was even very skeptical about the existance of "RSI" and he ended up being right.
I say forget about ergonomics. Type on whatever you feel comfortable in whatever setup you feel comfortable for as long as you want to without breaks. That's what I do. But don't take my word for it, read up on what Sarno has written and you will get a better understanding of why ergonomics doesn't matter so much and you should never fear typing on a keyboard. Just don't worry about it is all I'm saying, that is the most important thing.
Read this document to learn what "RSI" is really caused by:
http://www.rsi.deas.harvard.edu/handout.doc
For more info, Google for: sarno tms
Cool, another believer in the mindbody concept. Dr. Sarno made sense of everything and his book "The Mindbody Prescription" literally changed my life for the better. Here is another good link:
http://www.rsi.deas.harvard.edu/handout.doc
Google cache of the above if you don't want to view a Word document
Everyone should read this stuff, whether you have pain or not. It really makes sense more than anything else.
Sorry to reply to myself here, just wanted to add something...
Reading all the messages in this thread, I see a lot of people with RSI symptoms. I think everyone should read the links I provided because it might help them. Also, I see a lot posts from people who have been typing a lot for many decades and have never had RSI symptoms. These people should read the links to understand why they don't have any problems, and why they shouldn't expect to have any problems in the future.
The ideas are something that can help with many things besides RSI (for example back pain) and can maybe prevent these things as well, so give it a read, it might help you.
I'm only suffering from pain in my wrists when i'm stressed, and I think it is *the* cause for it. If it was computer-over-useage, i'd have no wrists left....
I very much agree with this. Though in my experience, its not necessarilly stress on the concious level. I had RSI for a year and a half that was bad enough that it kept me from working, but I found a solution and no longer have any incidence of it. And these days I use my hands/arms all day long without a break and don't restrict myself in any way. Here are some links to the solution I used:
http://www.rsi.deas.harvard.edu/handout.doc
http://www.premierhealthonline.com/tms.htm
For more info, Google for: sarno tms
I normally get flamed for posting this stuff, but that's expected. That first link gives a great summary. Read ALL of it and pay attention to what it says before forming an opinion.. I'd try to summarize the ideas myself, but I really can't explain it as well as that document does. For those who don't want to view a Word document, here is a link to the Google cache.