Hands-Free Coding: How I develop software using dictation and eye-tracking

The eye tracking looks great, just as a regular additional way of using the mouse for things like focusing windows or tapping dialogs. I'm very tempted to get one of those.

Does anyone with experience of them know what the multi-monitor support is like? I have 3 screens side be side and one below, so quite a large range to cover that requires some head movement to go across all of them. Will it work with viewing over that wide of a space where I'm not always directly facing the primary screen?

What microphone are you using?

Reminds me of this story I encountered the other day. I have been on the same track, successfully too, for other types of pain (neck, shoulder and back pain). I post this here because this is an evidence based technique and think people should at least know that this is a possibility.

10/23/2008

"Hi all,

I have been battling computer related RSI that runs from elbows to fingers for 10 years. It started 2 weeks into my first software programming job out of college, and has been a constant disability since. I went through ergonomics, biofeedback, drugs, acupuncture, physical therapy, 5 jobs, Carpal tunnel surgery, a year of rest, voice Software, foot pedals, hands free mice, you name it.

I finally gave up software and changed careers 2 years ago to a more Sales focused job and still couldn't keep up with the typing. The only thing that has worked is having a full time computer assistant who sits with me and does what I say paired with a tablet PC that does handwriting recognition. Its dreadfully embarrassing in the workplace, slow, frustrating and just plain no fun. I got a rhythm though, got back on my feet and all went well for the last 2 years until a few months ago my throat began hurting (i talk all day now) and I was diagnosed with acid reflux.

With no arms and no voice, my future looks bleak and it has already been bad for almost a decade now.

I have officially given up on western medicine (my parents are doctors) and begun to explore alternatives. I stumbled on to Sarno and this newsgroup on Monday, read Sarno's book today. Does it really work? I mean, I have had non-stop, permanent, 24/7, life altering pain for 10 years. It has been my constant nemesis, battle, and focus.

It seems too good to be true.

I definitely have the personality traits, the onset of pain coincides with a rough first job out of college and my history of back spasms, shin splints and now reflux seems to fit the symptom imperative. I want to believe but can someone recover after this long of continuous computer pain?

-Dan"

source: http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5187

=====================

12/12/2008 (8 weeks later)

"Hi,

I had 10 years of 24 hour a day, 7 days a week chronic pain in my fingers, wrists, forearms, arms, elbows from typing, mousing, and using a computer up until 12/12/2008 as a computer science student and as a software engineer. I believed I would live with it the rest of my life. It took me 8 weeks to fully recover.

I am an interesting case because I don't have any major trauma's in my childhood or daily life that led to TMS but just a generally stressful family and a high achieving, perfectionist attitude.

I grew up with a solid family unit, a very close identical twin brother, I was good at sports, school, had high self esteem. I went to college and was the captain of the track team. I found computer science and loved it. Things were on the up and up.

My parents got divorced when I was in college but it didn't seem to bother me and transitioning to the working world. I was in a cubicle typing away and I didn't like it but I "sucked it up" and did my job the best I could. I started getting pain while typing/mousing and nothing ergonomic, or medical seemed to help. I plowed through the pain and kept working. I tried everything for 10 years. It was awful, bad, horrific and depressing all wrapped up in one. I finally gave up and left computers behind to be a project manager, and then a headhunter. But the pain was permanent and it still followed me no matter what job I did and how little I used a computer. My quality of life was pretty low. I found TMS 6-7 weeks ago and the recovery began.

I wrote an entry the day I found the TMS diagnosis and checked in along the way so the best way to learn my story is to read it below:

http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5187

I think I have a personality conducive to this type of pain defense mechanism. I am high-achieving, I have an intense and high achieving family, but I have a sensitivity to what others are feeling/thinking that governs much of my decision making.

I think the key is reading enough information (posts, books, etc) that you are 90% sure that this is possible and could be your diagnosis and then get ready to do some serious crying. Its a personal journey that ends really well and it starts with writing down or talking about all the crap that has ever happened in your life. I started with when my twin brother got surgery when we were 4 years old - my earliest memory - and ended with my boss telling me that the phone system I installed sucks. And it had 1500 items in between. I feel flushed out now and clean and ready to tackle the world. This newsgroup has been helpful and the process is hard but I honestly believed I would have to live with this my whole life, and now I don't. My phone number is at the end of my thread listed above. Call me, I would be happy to tell you about it live.

- dan"

source: http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5301

Unfortunately the conventional route can end up in unnecessary surgery and a hopeless cycle of disappointment. I would recommend trying this crazy-hard-to-believe (but is legit) route first, as there is no risk in learning about it and trying it. No drugs, no diet changes, no surgery etc. Just retraining the brain.

I recommend rsa25519 to give this a read, http://www.satori.org/rist/ (pasted below, keep in mind the cause is slightly out-of-date and not current thinking in this field, but the solution is the same)

> Welcome! The Seattle Repetitive Injury Support Team is a group of individuals who want to wipe out chronic Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSIs) such as tendinitis, thoracic outlet, and carpal tunnel. After many years of meeting to discuss treatment and coping approaches, share stories and ideas, listen to invited speakers and discuss good ergonomics, we are excited to announce that we think we have finally found a cure for most RSI cases! We know that sounds too good to be true, but please read on.

Over the years our members have tried just about everything to cure their RSI, yet we saw the same faces at meetings. People were finding coping mechanisms (massage therapy being the most recommended), but every month there we were, still in pain and not recovered -- and this went on for literally years.

Then, out of the blue, Nate McNamara contacted us about the approach he had used to cure his RSI problem. He graciously flew up to Seattle at his own expense to speak to our group. Here was someone who had been in the same situation as ourselves, and now was back to a normal, pain free life, even back working at a computer.

The essence of his approach was to recognize RSI as a form of TMS (Tension Myositis Syndrome). TMS, coined by Dr. John Sarno to describe common back pain, has a variety of possible physical symptoms. The theory is that the subconscious discovers that by reducing blood flow to various body parts it can cause pain and achieve its goal of suppressing unwanted emotions (through distraction). Sarno talks about suppressed anger, but stress and other related emotions can be a huge factor. Once you are in pain, the fear of becoming permanently disabled produces a vicious circle of fear and pain.

RSI probably starts with a case of physical overuse, which leads to pain. Normally the body would heal within about 48 hours, but the subconscious, by reducing blood flow to the areas involved prolongs this. The pain and tightness are real, but the cause is not physical but mental. It's important to stress that the sufferer is completely unaware that the subconscious is causing the problems.

As you may have guessed, the treatment is not physical, but involves foremost becoming convinced that you just have TMS and not a physical problem. This liberates you from your fear of hurting yourself further. Stopping all other treatment is also important to prove to yourself that you really believe in this solution. Various visualization exercises can help change your subconscious reactions (since you don't have direct control over these).

Amazingly, some people recover within a few hours, but most take a few weeks or months.

After Nate's talk, a number of us began to take this mind-body approach to our RSI problems. The current score to our knowledge is three cured and one doing much better! That may not sound like much, but to our knowledge, no other treatment has cured any of our members, although it is certainly possible they just never let us know.

We followed up on Nate's talk with videos and meetings on this topic, but it's now been more than a year and we feel that most of our members aren't taking these important steps to cure themselves, for whatever reasons.

Therefore we have decided to stop meeting, and instead focus on a mentoring program where those who are pursuing the TMS approach assist others directly who also want to follow this treatment philosophy.

If you are interested in seriously pursuing this approach, please contact us. To be honest, we aren't sure how good we can mentor, but we feel that it's the best way to get people cured.

To start this approach do as much research as you can to truly convince yourself that you have TMS. See the recommended background information below. The Amir book is highly recommended for it's visualization exercises.

All we have is years of personal experience to go on here, but we really believe we have found a solution to RSI. Our challenge is to figure out how to turn this into large numbers of cases cured or prevented. If you can help in any way please contact us!

I believe GP was talking about elbow-hand being completely straight. That would make sense if their elbows are on arm rests or some such thing.

It does sound interesting. I did type this comment trying it, and it was pretty comfortable, with the exception of my right wrist. That being said, I've got kind of weird seating set up.