I suffered from intense pain on wrist/arm. After starting the gym (weight lifting + cardio), the problem ended. Zero. I mean, it's been 10 years without ANY pain. The benefits are many for those who work sitting all day long.
How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
221–230 of 245 posts
Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
#222RSI is a category of problems, and everyone will have their own specific flavor of problem. While there is a lot of good advice out there, just ask a doctor. They can diagnose exactly what is wrong, and filter the advice down to the problem that you actually have.
Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
#223I've had this specific problem and solved it with Dr Sarno's book. It changed my life. I was able to create a startup (that I longed to do..) and I've never been happier.
Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
#224I've had this specific problem and solved it with Dr Sarno's book. It changed my life. I was able to create a startup (that I longed to do..) and I've never been happier.
And its NOT RSI. It's TMS.
Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
#225Earlier quoted context omitted.
Buying one of these http://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/model-d worked for me. Full body workout I can do at home.
I love rowing for conditioning. It's up there with prowler/sled for puke factor if that's what you're going for, and it's great for general cardio if you don't like uncontrollable body tremors.
I've got the same Concept rower. Rowing is the only exercise that will completely annihilate you every single time.
Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
#226To anyone who has ever had pain or soreness or numbness after a prolonged coding session and it went away after some rest, pain is the first sign. Eventually what happens (and what happened to me) is that you need more recovery time to get back to a baseline normal. And eventually that baseline normal becomes a combination of symptoms: residual numbness, soreness, or pain. Please don't take your ability to "pound" aw…
I mostly agree with you but I don't think swimming will necessarily help with hand and wrist problems.
There is no definite answer. It can and sometimes it can't. Hand and wrist problems are not always just hand and wrist problems. Sometimes they are a symptom of improper alignment and/or stress on the shoulder joints. If that is the case, swimming, a zero-impact (to your joints) activity, through exercising the full-range of motion of your shoulder and related joints can help relieve some of that stress/tension that filters down to the hand and wrist.
Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
#227I've found that there are a number of different prescriptions for RSI pain, and that you have to experiment until you find what works for you. But that's complicated by the fact that it's hard to run experiments on yourself because there are so many confounding variables.
In any event, to add to the anecdata, someone below recommends not resting your arms/wrists on anything and letting your hands float above the keyboard. I've tried this, and the small muscles in my back that keep the arms lifted would become sore bundles of fire that eventually would spread pain throughout my back/neck/arms/wrists.
I found, paradoxically, that totally resting my arms splayed wide on my desk combined with a Kinesis Freestyle so I can keep my wrists straight (this wouldn't work with a regular keyboard) is the ideal setup for me.[1]
Not saying this would work for everyone.
[1] I have a standing desk combined with a high chair oriented such that the desk comes a bit higher on my chest than a sitting desk would, such that I can just rest my arms on the desk. The keyboard is not elevated and is basically flat to the desk surface, and is separated and angled such that my wrists are not bent.
Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
#228I also bike to work every day. I was not having chronic pain, but mild discomfort and one thing that made a difference was changing my bike handlebars to more be more upright instead of a flatbar style. These are the handlebars I ended up with and couldn't be happier. http://store.velo-orange.com/index.php/components/handlebars... They Allow my wrists to stay straight instead of bent back.
Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
#229This 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…
lol can't even hang from a bar for over 3 seconds. I'm a coding machine regardless though.
Hanging from a bar, is actually the start of your path to doing a pullup. Next you jump up, and slowly lower yourself, over and over. Pretty soon you will be doing your first real pull-up.
Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
#230Exercise....