How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
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How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
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Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
#2This may help someone out there. I had chronic tennis elbow for years, tried a huge array of options to fix it and failed... until: I found a _vertical_ mouse.
Turns out it was a micro-injury thing...
Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
#3This may help someone out there. I had chronic tennis elbow for years, tried a huge array of options to fix it and failed... until: I found a _vertical_ mouse. Turns out it was a micro-injury thing...
Yup, vertical mouse solves most of my right-side issues. It can't be one of those cool-looking vertical mouses either (e.g. Anker, Evoluent). While those do help, it's not enough for me. I get the most relief from an actual joystick vertical mouse.
Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
#4I was in pain for a year or more. I got a forearm massage to eliminate the knots. Then I changed my typing style to be more about comfort and less about what the typing instructors wanted. No problems in the 15 years since.
Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
#5Came here for Star Citizen news. Was disappointed.
Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
#6This may help someone out there. I had chronic tennis elbow for years, tried a huge array of options to fix it and failed... until: I found a _vertical_ mouse. Turns out it was a micro-injury thing...
Yup, vertical mouse solves most of my right-side issues. It can't be one of those cool-looking vertical mouses either (e.g. Anker, Evoluent). While those do help, it's not enough for me. I get the most relief from an actual joystick vertical mouse.
http://www.pckeyboard.com/page/product/UNI0476
Not a vertical mouse, but surprisingly good. Only miss mice when playing around with graphics software. I have it in PS/2 and USB, and they did a hack job with the USB hardware, it's very low resolution. PS/2 connector gives a very smooth and nice trackball experience if anyone is tempted.
Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
#7I was in pain for a year or more. I got a forearm massage to eliminate the knots. Then I changed my typing style to be more about comfort and less about what the typing instructors wanted. No problems in the 15 years since.
I credit my never having had typing-related stress with being a self-taught typist. My hands rest naturally with wrists straight, unlike "home row" position which would have the wrists bent, and there are several keys which I type with either hand.
(I have had mouse-related grip stress, which I solved by switching to a trackball.)
Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
#8I got an RSI injury on my left hand and was unable to type normally for a few years. I went so far as to learn Dvorak RH which, even though I got reasonably good at it after a couple of years, was still crappy for programming.
After a very dark period of taking jobs that required less typing (Kafkaesque jobs at mega-corps involving mostly fixing other people's bugs), I'm better now because of:
1) Using an Apple keyboard, which even though it doesn't look ergonomic, the reduced key travel has helped immensely. 2) Using JetBrains' IDEs instead of vim. If you are a bash/vim/tmux (or equivalent) user like I was, try coding in your favorite language in a JetBrains IDE. Automated refactoring and code completion are your friends. 3) Try drinking red wine. The resveratrol in red wine is a natural anti-inflammatory.
Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
#9I've made a few extensive posts about this here before too. Had 24/7 RSI paint for years. At the worst I couldn't hold a mouse.
Thousands of dollars of ergonomic chairs, keyboards, and so on made it so I could work but still had constant pain.
Started doing pushups (which I had avoided because I thought they made it worse.) Four weeks later I was using a laptop and suddenly it hit me I had been typing for 30 minutes with no pain. Life changing. Zero pain now and I can work 12 hours straight.
Definitely is some combination of the muscles and tendons tightening up in the arms and shoulders. The pain being in a different spot makes in misleading.
Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
#10I am currently rehabbing hand pain right now and the number 1 thing that is helping is this book:
The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook: https://www.amazon.com/Trigger-Point-Therapy-Workbook-Self-T...
I believe that the primary cause of my hand pain is my forward head posture. This can create trigger points in the scalene muscles of the neck which cause sattelite trigger points in my forearms (especially the extensor muscles) and in my upper arms as well. These trigger points then refer pain to the hands. Self-massage using a lacrosse ball has pretty much eliminated my pain and seems to significantly increase bloodflow to my hands.
NOTE: be very gentle the first time you do self massage of the scalenes with your fingers. I went too hard and my scalenes swelled up for 3 days and I experienced the symptoms of thoracic outlet syndrome, ie. I had numbness from my collarbone to my middle and ring finger on my left side. It went away once my neck healed.
It definitely seems circulation related: whenever I use a computer with cold hands, it causes tension and then pain. I make sure to never use a computer with cold hands. I recently purchased this Far Infrared heating pad to heat my hands. It really does work a ton better than traditional heating pads with resistive coils. https://www.amazon.com/UTK-Infrared-Electric-Therapy-19-Inch...
Also, it is critical to correct the weakness and structural problems in the body. I do yoga, strength training, and swimming and these seem to be helping keep the trigger points from coming back. I am also doing shoulder mobility exercises with a stick and following this guide to correct my forward head posture: http://posturedirect.com/forward-head-posture-correction/