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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

#31

Post by Retric »

cableshaft wrote: post #22

My pain started coming back this year. One thing that always helps my mouse hand, is to rest my arm on a raised surface (currently a portfolio), but I've used a textbook before. This caused my hand to drop down to touch the mouse, instead of being pushed up, and changed the body part that gets anchored and pivots when moving the mouse from my wrist to my elbow. That really helped a lot. I still had issues with my lef…

One useful approach is to use dramatically different mice on different PC's. I find focusing on the one true way, sets you up for RSI in your new setup.

Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career

#33

Post by 300bps »

nileshk wrote: post #26

I used Sarno's book to cure myself back in 2002 and this approach has been successful ever since. Occasionally I will have some issue (though rarely wrist pain), and I can make it go away quickly by addressing the psychological root cause. I highly recommend reading his book "The Mindbody Prescription"

Same here. More info here: http://www.rsi.deas.harvard.edu

And here, related to back pain but same root cause as RSI https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vsR4wydiIBI

Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career

#34

Post by overcast »

AJ007 wrote: post #9

I'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…

I've been saying this for years to my colleagues. Pushups is key to basic overall muscle health. A simple exercise, can be done anywhere, and works your entire body. You'll no longer have lower back pain either. Take a break every hour or so, bang out ten pushups, go get some water. Get back to work. No big deal.

Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career

#35

Post by DougN7 »

I had a friend who had problems and discovered through research that reversing your mouse buttons does it. The tunnel/tendon used by the middle finger is much better for some reason with the constant clicking.

This resolved it for him, my wife and me as well. I hope it helps someone else.

Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career

#36

Post by ejcx »

I have light wrist pain that is worse some days than others.

What helps me. 1. Heavy deadlifts. This helps grip strength a lot and strengthens my wrists. 2. Posture. I removed the arms from my chair, like SwellJoe mentioned. 3. Posture. Keeping my hand positioned on the keyboard properly. Don't rest the wrists on my laptop. 4. Stretch.

Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career

#37

Post by corysama »

Nerve damage is serious business kids! If you feel it coming on, you need to pay attention and take action. Don't wait until you start randomly feeling needle stabs all day like I did while in the middle of a year long, high pressure, large code volume project. Doc told me to get surgery. I cured it myself the hard way instead. Huge inconvenience for many months. Very happy with that decision today. Here's what worked for me:

* Two keyboards and two mice. One set on my desk. The other keyboard on my lap and the other mouse on a pedestal at my side. I would switch up which keyboard/mouse I was using every 10 minutes or so.

* Typing like I couldn't move my hands. Literally letting them hang limp and moving my arms a lot.

* Stretches and massage before, during, after typing. This "Essential Hand Stretches for Guitarists" video helped me a lot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSrfB7JIzxY

* Pay attention. Take breaks. Notice what feels bad. Notice when you need to change up what you are doing --probably many times an hour. Take off your watch/rings. Watch out for resting your forearm/wrist on anything.

Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career

#38

Post by lutorm »

cortesi wrote: post #25

Here's my anecdote. I had painful but not debilitating RSI-like symptoms for a couple of years. For me, fixing this came down to a set of fairly simple things: the Kinesis Advantage keyboard mentioned in the article, setting a timer to force myself to take rest breaks, focusing on posture when working. At least in my case, the issue seems entirely mechanical, and I'm sceptical of psychological and emotional explanati…

This was the case for me too, although I think there's something to psychological issues causing tension which definitely can exacerbate the problem.

I know that the fact that I constantly pick at my nails (which I count as a psychological issue) is aggravating the stress on my hands.

Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career

#39

Post by elviejo »

For me tho soluton was switiching to the Dvorak Keybeard. The reduced travel of my hands has really helped.

All it took to switch was: 1. Practice in KP Typing Tutor 1 hour a day for 3 weeks. 2. Change my computer configuration. (The first week of change was the hardest, I was at 50% my normal speed). 3. Done.

Changing to another keyboard has a price you won't comfortably use other people's computers. And they won't be able to use yours.

But the benefit of being without pain is so worth it.

If you suffer in your hands... make the change.

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