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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

#71

Post by r_smart »

overcast wrote: post #62

This article is totally missing the basics. Exercise. I promise it will make ALL the difference. Get yourself a pull-up bar, and if you're feeling extra fancy, a dip bar. Push-ups, pull-ups, dips, and sit-ups. Every day. You'll be a coding machine. At the VERY least, push-ups. Every hour or two, take a break, knock off ten push-ups, walk around a bit, get some water, get back to work. I'll do this right at the office…

Last year I got into lifting for the first time ever (I'm 35). I got on a program, just doing a couple of heavy compound lifts three days a week, and the change for me has been night and day.

It doesn't take much time to learn how to do it correctly, and it's a lot more fun than running. All those aches and pains have gone away. Seriously, I can't recommend enough getting into lifting.

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

#72

Post by slantedview »

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"

Similar story here. Sarno's book killed my RSI.

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

#73

Post by overcast »

r_smart wrote: post #71
overcast wrote: post #62

This article is totally missing the basics. Exercise. I promise it will make ALL the difference. Get yourself a pull-up bar, and if you're feeling extra fancy, a dip bar. Push-ups, pull-ups, dips, and sit-ups. Every day. You'll be a coding machine. At the VERY least, push-ups. Every hour or two, take a break, knock off ten push-ups, walk around a bit, get some water, get back to work. I'll do this right at the office…

Last year I got into lifting for the first time ever (I'm 35). I got on a program, just doing a couple of heavy compound lifts three days a week, and the change for me has been night and day. It doesn't take much time to learn how to do it correctly, and it's a lot more fun than running. All those aches and pains have gone away. Seriously, I can't recommend enough getting into lifting.

That's awesome! I can't be bothered to go to the gym, so all of my body weight exercises + rowing machine, are done in house.

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

#74

Post by plainOldText »

One of the things I did that made a tremendous impact on reducing the tension in my joints, was buying a good keyboard.

I don't typically recommend Microsoft products, but their sculpt keyboard is a product which is cheap[0], stylish and most importantly ergonomic.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CYX26BC

[0] Cheap relative to other ergonomic keyboards.

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

#75

Post by TYPE_FASTER »

plainOldText wrote: post #74

One of the things I did that made a tremendous impact on reducing the tension in my joints, was buying a good keyboard. I don't typically recommend Microsoft products, but their sculpt keyboard is a product which is cheap[0], stylish and most importantly ergonomic. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CYX26BC [0] Cheap relative to other ergonomic keyboards.

The original Microsoft Natural keyboard saved my career.

Two weeks out of school, I had unendurable pain in both hands. I bought a Natural keyboard, the pain went away immediately, and only comes back when I use a laptop keyboard for coding for more than an hour or two.

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

#76

Post by gtaylor »

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?

Their laptop keyboards in particular tear my hands up pretty good.

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

#77

Post by DougN7 »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #55
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.

Try actually reversing them so you always use the middle finger all the time. It takes a little getting used to, and using someone else's computer (or them using yours) is a pain. But I find it takes just a day or two to see big differences.

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

#78

Post by danieltillett »

The thing that I found works wonders in preventing RSI pain is those silicone gel keyboard wrist rests [1]. Get one (softer the better) and also one for your mouse. Since using these I have not had any pain.

1. http://www.staples.com/Staples-Gel-Wrist-Rests/product_SS103...

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

#79

Post by Jemmeh »

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…

It can contribute though. I typed at high speeds for years without issues, it wasn't until I took a stressful job typing all day and my muscles were constantly tense that I got RSI.

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

#80

Post by e40 »

overcast wrote: post #62

This article is totally missing the basics. Exercise. I promise it will make ALL the difference. Get yourself a pull-up bar, and if you're feeling extra fancy, a dip bar. Push-ups, pull-ups, dips, and sit-ups. Every day. You'll be a coding machine. At the VERY least, push-ups. Every hour or two, take a break, knock off ten push-ups, walk around a bit, get some water, get back to work. I'll do this right at the office…

I agree that exercise and sleep are keys, but I do believe chronically cold hands is a serious problem that needed to be remedied.
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