I've had a lot of trouble with RSI through the years, sometimes to the point I couldn't button a shirt. Here are some tips--
First, though, see a doctor! If you ignore it, you risk making symptoms permanent. Treatment will speed recovery time. Keep an open mind, too-- naturopathy and massage therapy have helped me more for this than the standard HMO treatment.
As for input devices, I've had a lot of luck with the Datahand Keyboard. It's a lot of money up front, and it has a very steep learning curve, but it's absoultely amazing. Their website is http://www.datahand.com and I have only good things to say about them.
I've played with various voice recognition, including Dragon NatSpeak for Windows and iListen for Mac. They're only useful for standard conversational writing. iListen's correction utility is very dependent on mousing, too, so it may cause more trouble than it's worth.
Someone above mentioned guitar-- I play guitar quite a bit, and it actually helps my hands quite a bit because it's a much lower level of repetition, uses different motions, and larger muscle groups. (On the other hand, piano-playing makes things worse for me.) Consider some sort of hobby, but keep a close eye on how it makes you feel.
Finally, re-consider your computer use. I'm quitting my job and going back to school. Plain & simple, humans aren't designed for this. And with tech jobs going offshore, you'll have a jump start on other ex-techies.
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The IT depts. of public institutions are eroding from within.
My boss makes twice as much as me, yet he needs help using the insert key. God forbid he should try to make a new folder on the network.
I've had a lot of trouble with RSI through the years, sometimes to the point I couldn't button a shirt. Here are some tips--
First, though, see a doctor! If you ignore it, you risk making symptoms permanent. Treatment will speed recovery time. Keep an open mind, too-- naturopathy and massage therapy have helped me more for this than the standard HMO treatment.
As for input devices, I've had a lot of luck with the Datahand Keyboard. It's a lot of money up front, and it has a very steep learning curve, but it's absoultely amazing. Their website is http://www.datahand.com and I have only good things to say about them.
I've played with various voice recognition, including Dragon NatSpeak for Windows and iListen for Mac. They're only useful for standard conversational writing. iListen's correction utility is very dependent on mousing, too, so it may cause more trouble than it's worth.
Someone above mentioned guitar-- I play guitar quite a bit, and it actually helps my hands quite a bit because it's a much lower level of repetition, uses different motions, and larger muscle groups. (On the other hand, piano-playing makes things worse for me.) Consider some sort of hobby, but keep a close eye on how it makes you feel.
Finally, re-consider your computer use. I'm quitting my job and going back to school. Plain & simple, humans aren't designed for this. And with tech jobs going offshore, you'll have a jump start on other ex-techies.