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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

#51

Post by pmcollins »

cgvgffyv wrote: post #41
pmcollins wrote: post #8

I 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 keybo…

> Using an Apple keyboard, which even though it doesn't look ergonomic, the reduced key travel has helped immensely. I thought the conventional wisdom was that Apple keyboards caused RSI?

Maybe for some? I had been using an "ergonomic" Microsoft keyboard for years, but found that it was the amount of force and distance to depress a key that was causing me problems.

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

#54

Post by tcoff91 »

lutorm wrote: post #50

I'll put in my constant plug for the Trigger Point Therapy Workbook: https://www.amazon.com/Trigger-Point-Therapy-Workbook-Self-T... It was recommended to me by my PT when I had hand pain, and it's helped me not only with that but back pain, headaches, and plantar fasciitis. Probably a few more, too. If you ask me, it's the best $16 investment you can imagine.

Within 2 days of using the techniques in this book my pain started to improve significantly.

Once you address the trigger points, tools such as the Powerball, captains of crush grippers, and thick rubber bands can be used to strengthen the flexors and extensor muscles of the forearms.

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

#55

Post by AnimalMuppet »

DougN7 wrote: post #35

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.

I have off-and-on pain in my right index finger. (Arthritis is one possibility.) Some of the time, I turn my mouse hand a bit and use the middle finger for the left button.

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

#56

Post by arrakeen »

my pain issue stemmed from my neck which i eventually realized was due to poor posture/forward head position. i'd highly recommend reading this article [1], which finally made it click for me. turn off your adblocker since there's a bug on the page which will hide the content, and ignore the amateurish presentation. there's some very good information on the site which helped me finally rid myself of pain

[1] http://www.drbookspan.com/NeckPainArticle.html

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

#57

Post by hugozap »

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…

This worked for me! , but with pull-ups. I was told I needed surgery but after a few weeks of doing some calisthenics the pain went away.

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

#58

Post by matt_m »

cookiecaper wrote: post #12
tom_wilde wrote: post #2

This 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...

Wish there was more competition in ergonomic input devices. Was just searching for a new mouse and couldn't find a vertical mouse with acceptable reviews. Ended up forgoing the vert. mouse altogether and buying a Logitech MX Master to replace my Logitech G500 (which I've used for many years and is now discontinued) and I'm pretty happy with it so far. I'm even pleased with its gaming performance (probably not OK for…

The Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic mouse is semi-vertical (this might depend on how you hold it) and tracks better than the Evoluent mouse I was using before, although the ergonomics are probably not as good. The build quality is also better IMO than the Anker / Sharkk vertical mice popular on Amazon.

Haven't tried the DXT mouse mentioned in the other comment.

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

#59

Post by phes »

robertcorey wrote: post #15

In this thread there will be many people with many different degrees of RSI who have solved it using a variety of different solutions. That is because the symptoms can be caused by a variety of different things. The defacto standard high level overview is https://www.amazon.com/Its-Carpal-Tunnel-Syndrome-Profession...

This and the book in the comment previous have both been helpful to me, along with good physiotherapists who understand trigger point release.

I use a split keyboard with a graphics tablet in the middle and a mouse either side of the keyboard - this gives me a good variation of hand position. Right hand mouse is vertical.

I find stretching, weights and cardio to be beneficial. The stretching helps to keep the nerves free from impingement, the cardio keeps a good blood flow, and the weights are rebuilding strength and muscle that atrophied during the year where it was too painful to use my hands & arms.

Thanks everyone in this thread for sharing your techniques - it's always good to hear what other people find effective.

The real solution is we should only work 30 hour weeks. Try telling that to your boss though, it's often hard enough to get an ergonomic pencil.

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

#60

Post by ninjakeyboard »

I bought a kinesis advantage, learned colemak, and started using a cheap wacom bamboo tablet w/ my left hand (I'm right handed.)

The latter was the best thing I think. I tried a trackball for a while. Switching hands entirely and getting used to a tablet where you only move your arm coupled w/ the kinesis advantage cured my rsi symptoms.

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