How I Cured my RSI Pain • Hacker News Board

Re: How I Cured my RSI Pain

#51

Post by sandGorgon » Fri, Apr 16, 2010, 1:31 PM UTC

ErrantX wrote: post #11

Im still sceptical :) Less, though, than when I opened the article; I have independently noticed my RSI worsens when stressed. Im not sure I buy the mumbo jumbo about the solution as much as I buy the explanation of why stress could affect it. I use a powerball daily which has really helped. Saw the same issues with massage that the article writer had (short term fix) but it feels really great so I stuck with that=.…

upvoted for powerball... it should be standard working equipment along with a Microsoft ergonomic keyboard (quit typing on that laptop RIGHT NOW) and a good mouse.

These exercises (http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2009/04/exercises-that-protect-...) also help though they are for carpal tunnel.

Re: How I Cured my RSI Pain

#52

Post by mattchew » Fri, Apr 16, 2010, 1:41 PM UTC

Tichy wrote: post #9

What has helped me is Yoga.

I used Sarno's methods to get over my RSI. But I could see yoga addressing some of the same underlying issues (anxiety and chronic tension) and solving the problem from a different angle.

Re: How I Cured my RSI Pain

#53

Post by Terretta » Fri, Apr 16, 2010, 1:53 PM UTC

sshumaker wrote: post #5

I too, encountered crippling RSI pain, and eventually switched to a kinesis keyboard ( http://www.kinesis-ergo.com ). While the keyboards are crazy expensive, and a bit flaky, they completely cured my carpal tunnel. The downside is, I'm now stuck hauling around this weird, non-standard keyboard. :)

I'm partial to the GoldTouch keyboards:

http://www.goldtouch.com/p-133-goldtouch-for-mac-adjustable-...

Because they're close enough to the regular keyboards, while offering both the split (match natural forearm angle) and the tilt (match natural forearm rotation) to better align natural wrist position.

I also like that they ditch the numeric keyboad, so I can put the Kensington ExpertMouse just to the right of the return key and not have to move my hand as far.

Re: How I Cured my RSI Pain

#54

Post by carbocation » Fri, Apr 16, 2010, 2:00 PM UTC

mikeklaas wrote: post #42

His experience matches mind as well. Horrible RSI persisting for years, with non of the conventional treatments effective beyond a short amount of time. After doing a _lot_ of research into this, I experienced an almost complete short-term recovery. It wasn't just lack of pain... muscles that felt perpetually taut and ropey were suddenly softened, and I became extraordinarily thirsty for a couple of days as healing s…

Being a medical person, I am skeptical by nature, so I looked into Sarno's academic publication record. According to NYU, at least, he hasn't published in a journal for 7 years. That doesn't mean anything necessarily; it just calibrates my expectations.

His explanation for what is going on is not credible - but that does not mean that I don't find his solution credible. Biofeedback techniques are noninvasive and always merit a try.

In the absence of actual evidence, I cannot conclude that the technique works any better than placebo - but I am certainly glad that your pain is gone. The placebo effect (if that's what this is, which it may not be) is quite real.

Re: How I Cured my RSI Pain

#55

Post by slmbrhrt » Fri, Apr 16, 2010, 2:40 PM UTC

It may seem small, but adding these lines to my vimrc have entirely broken my habit of scrolling with the arrow keys.

    map  
    map  
    map  
    map  
    imap  
    imap  
    imap  
    imap

It may seem irritating at first, but in the end I argue it's worth it.

Re: How I Cured my RSI Pain

#56

Post by spudlyo » Fri, Apr 16, 2010, 3:00 PM UTC

slmbrhrt wrote: post #55

It may seem small, but adding these lines to my vimrc have entirely broken my habit of scrolling with the arrow keys. map map map map imap imap imap imap It may seem irritating at first, but in the end I argue it's worth it.

That's a good way of training yourself, I weened myself off the left-pinky control key by doing the same thing. I now press it with my left thumb - which is easy on my new Kinesis keyboard. Moving your hands off home row to hit arrow keys also slows you down. It adds about 500ms latency to your workflow every time you do it.

Re: How I Cured my RSI Pain

#57

Post by DrSprout » Fri, Apr 16, 2010, 3:05 PM UTC

zefhous wrote: post #17

Typing in dvorak decreases finger movement significantly. I recommend it.

Decreasing finger movement reduces the number of distinct motions you make without reducing the overall number of distinct motions (though it does reduce overall motion.) I'm not convinced this is as good a proof against RSI as it's often considered, since it only ensures that you will type faster (keeping overall motion more or less static) or type less (which will weaken your muscles due to less use.)

Re: How I Cured my RSI Pain

#58

Post by snth » Fri, Apr 16, 2010, 3:26 PM UTC

tome wrote: post #21

tigerthink wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't work with Vim as well though.

I'm sure anyone with the thoughtfulness to enjoy reading Hacker News can think of a solution to the Dvorak/Vim integration problem :)

For a while I used Qwerty for insert mode and Dvorak for command mode, but eventually I ended up using Dvorak for everything. My particular hand pain didn't show up until years after I took up Dvorak. My problem is mainly with my pinky fingers, and Dvorak actually seemed to be worse than Qwerty for me, so I've switched back to Qwerty.

Re: How I Cured my RSI Pain

#59

Post by jonstjohn » Fri, Apr 16, 2010, 3:32 PM UTC

I had an interesting experience with pinky finger RSI. After well over a year of pain and experimenting with different keyboards (such as the Kinesis, which I highly recommend), I discovered that part of the problem was resting my elbows on my arm rests. By restricting some of the blood flow to my fingers by pressing on the elbow nerve, I was developing cubital tunnel syndrome. Within a week or so after lowering my arm rests, I felt a ton better. Several months later, pain returns only rarely.

I also love my Kinesis keyboard, too. It is well worth the price if you want to continue programming for decades. After discovering what was causing the pain, it helped me recover quickly and prevent it from occurring again.

I haven't read many posts on this solution, but want to remind people to examine all aspects of their ergonomic setup, not just the source of the pain (e.g., hand/fingers).

Re: How I Cured my RSI Pain

#60

Post by viggity » Fri, Apr 16, 2010, 3:45 PM UTC

rabidgnat wrote: post #33

If you have RSI typing pain and haven't treated it, spend a whole day typing with wrist braces. It convinced me to switch CTRL and CAPS LOCK on my keyboard. I love keyboard shortcuts, and bending my wrist to hit CTRL was causing my left pinkie to go numb. I also have 'evasive action' that works well. When I feel pain typing, I immediately stop and give the offending hand a workout with a stress ball for 5 minutes. Th…

I've had really good luck with switching most of the shortcuts I use to use ALT instead of CTRL. ALT is much easier to reach with your left hand than CTRL.