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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

#121

Post by cgvgffyv »

cfraenkel wrote: post #92
cgvgffyv wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

It's not so much the key travel as the overall 'feel' relative to how your muscles learned to type. Everyone's different and react differently to different keyboards. What's most likely the issue is the not-conscious feedback loop that tells your fingers when to stop pressing. With some keys you type lightly, other types of keyswitches lead you to mash the keys with a high force until you're bottoming out on the pcb.…

Does that mean that if I type very hard and I feel there's no hope for me to learn not to bang on the keyboard, the most, well, healthy keyboard for me will be the one with the longest key travel?

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

#122

Post by fredley »

westoncb wrote: post #115

I had to quit programming for six years because of an RSI. In attempt to get around it, I even spent a year and half (painfully) writing a new kind of 'higher level' text editor better for use with motion sensors [1]. Now it's been ten years, and I still don't exactly know what the cause was/is, though I've got it to a point now where it's at least tolerable. I think the most confusing factor here is the (potential)…

I am another Dr Sarno advocate. I had been out of my startup for two months, in utter despair. I happened to bump into a friend who recommended the book and free online course. It changed my life.

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

#123

Post by fredley »

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"

Me too. It was a big cognitive leap to accept that the pain could be psychological, but once I'd made it and accepted it it worked. Still get pain from time to time, don't worry about it and instead try and work out what's bugging me that I'm not engaging with, and this nearly always gets rid of whatever it is.

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

#124

Post by dvtv75 »

tcoff91 wrote: post #10

I 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 mu…

Just under half of the exercises prescribed by my physio are in that last link, and I expect that many of the remainder are coming up in a future appointment.

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

#125

Post by omtinez »

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.

Actually, I had a similar experience. For that reason, I decided to work on a side project precisely to encourage people to get started lifting weights and lose the fear of going to the gym: https://ezworkout.org

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

#126

Post by Rallerbabs »

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 with this from first hand experience.

I started working out with machines. It helped.

I started working out with barbells. It helped more.

I started working out with free weights. It helped even more.

I started boxing. It fixed my RSI right up.

The pattern: the most intensive and freeest exercises have the greatest effect.

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

#127

Post by jdormit »

omtinez wrote: post #125
r_smart wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Actually, I had a similar experience. For that reason, I decided to work on a side project precisely to encourage people to get started lifting weights and lose the fear of going to the gym: https://ezworkout.org

That is slick! I'll be using this next time I go to the gym. One of the big problems it solves for me is boredom - I lifted for a couple years but couldn't stand doing the same workouts week adter week. I do realize you're supposed to switch it up, but your app makes it easy :)

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

#128

Post by dvtv75 »

TYPE_FASTER wrote: post #75
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.

The fact that it comes back after an hour or two of laptop keyboard use strongly suggests that you've not addressed the underlying issues. That's one of the key things I see cropping up repeatedly here - "I've found something that helps with my pain, if I stop the problems come back."

I regularly use laptops, standard keyboards, and have no problems. When I had RSI, it was bad enough that I couldn't hold a fork for almost three months, and typing was an exercise in agony.

Seek help from a good physiotherapist, but you'll need to do some research to find a good one.

Also, see if you can find the bad habits you have that promote your injuries. I have upper body muscle tension and poor posture, and when I first recovered from my RSI I was having problems all the time with writing, typing, absolutely everything. It turned out that those problems weren't bad feelings, my hands and forearms had lost a significant portion of their strength, yet I was working just the same as I had been beforehand.

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

#129

Post by aninhumer »

pmcollins wrote: post #51
cgvgffyv wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

I'm using the Microsoft Sculpt keyboard at work at the moment, which has a similar ergonomic layout but less travel than my old Natural. It's also really nicely made (magnetic stand + battery cover, and fairly sleek design).

However, one fairly significant issue is that the top row uses buttons instead of keys. It doesn't bother me too much, but I can imagine that would mess with some people's workflows. Also the corresponding "ergonomic" mouse was the worst I've ever used. It's like a large ball that forces me to stretch and grip constantly to keep my fingers on the buttons. I replaced it almost immediately.

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

#130

Post by tyrust »

r_smart wrote: post #93
overcast wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I bought a power cage and a barbell so I could lift in my basement. Wasn't a huge fan of the gym either. Never enough squat racks, and I felt bad locking one down for an hour.

What are you doing at a squat rack for an hour?
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