Ask HN: How to avoid sore wrists

Don't screw around. Carpal tunnel surgery seriously sucks. I got both of my wrists fixed a couple of days before my 21st birthday.

Things that have helped me... Make yourself aware of your posture and wrist location. Don't type with your wrist bent at funny angles. Run something like workrave or xwrits and force yourself to take breaks. Exercise. I switched from emacs to vim because I couldn't train myself to use opposite hands for the ctrl key and the letter key. Stretch. Try out different keyboards. Try out different keyboard heights.

I owe my lack of wrist problems to playing piano. I learned to keep my wrists straight and NOT rest on the desk or the keyboard. And I second the comments about getting an external keyboard for that reason - laptop keyboards pretty much force you to bend your wrist downward to rest on the laptop. I also have my chair set to a height where I can rest my forearms on the desk but keep my wrists floating. I've never had a problem with pain.

Fifteen years ago I had numbness in my fingers from lots of hacking. I ended up talking to the dr who invented the "pilosplint": http://www.painreliever.com/IMAK_IMAKPilo.html who suggested the problem may be in how my wrists are positioned when I sleep. You need 6 hours a day in a neutral "at rest" position for swelling to subside. I was often sleeping with my hands curled up. Eventually, I retrained myself to sleep with my hands in a more relaxed position and all symptoms have gone away.

Wear wrist splints for awhile, learn to move your arm instead of bending your wrist. I got used to it by doing an ergo keyboard.

Additionally, be careful how you support your weight during sex and pushups, it also is a potentially damaging instance.