31–40 of 58 posts
1) Kinesis keyboard 2) trackball on left and right side of keyboard, to balance mousing 3) lift weights 3 times/week 4) fish oil supplements once a day (mild anti-inflammatory) 5) standing desk
Having trackballs on both sides of the keyboard while standing lets you CODE LIKE A BOSS.
Upon graduating college and entering the workforce, I was debilitated by awful wrist pain. It was so bad, I could barely shift my car on the way home. Over a decade later, my wrists hardly ever bother me. Physical therapy taught me to regularly stretch my wrists, and how to strengthen them. I began pursuing other activities which further strengthened my wrists (rock climbing is particularly great, so long as you avoi…
> 2) Sit up straight, dammit. In every photo we ever see of new startups, how many people are sitting with good posture? None of them. Do you have data that indicates that contributes to RSI? My personal experience is that trying to "sit up straight" and maintain "good" posture is the fastest, most direct route to wrist pain. Like, less than a half hour. By contrast, if I slouch my body, my wrists can maintain a grac…
Well, I have horrendous neck and shoulder problems from years of sitting improperly. I had no issues whatsoever for decades of uber-nerdy computing, then blammo, I went from, "my neck seems tense" to "my left index finger is numb and I can't sit at a computer for more than an hour" in a couple of months. An ex, who had previously been a massage therapist, even specifically warned me that I had problems in the upper back area, but since I felt no discomfort I ignored her.
Here's the really bothersome part: while this awful neck/back injury was developing, things that were terrible for me actually felt good. For example, having one leg crossed over the other, left arm on my knee, slouching forward with my chin resting on my hand. It felt like a great neck stretch but, wow, was it ever demolishing my neck!
As for RSI with regards to the wrist and hands, I don't see how proper posture could exacerbate wrist pain. If it does, I would suspect that you need to examine other factors, like keyboard height and hand placement width (e.g. my Kinesis puts my hands much further apart than a standard keyboard, which makes a huge difference in wrist pain).
By the way, did you know that modern shirts are actually cut differently than decades past, because the average person's shoulders have rotated significantly forward? If you try to maintain posture in a typical, modern shirt, you'll have bunching in weird places because it's not cut for that!
I've found setting my mouse sensitivity (pointer speed) to maximum helps reduce wrist movement. It takes just a little getting use to, but once you adjust to the increased speed your wrist moves very little. This is especially good for large displays (I have a triple monitor setup).
It feels much more natural on my wrist than one in the normal orientation ... and its always amusing to see people try to use it for something.
Then for an unrelated reason I went back to the gym and started deadlifting. It hasn't returned.
Upon graduating college and entering the workforce, I was debilitated by awful wrist pain. It was so bad, I could barely shift my car on the way home. Over a decade later, my wrists hardly ever bother me. Physical therapy taught me to regularly stretch my wrists, and how to strengthen them. I began pursuing other activities which further strengthened my wrists (rock climbing is particularly great, so long as you avoi…
> 2) Sit up straight, dammit. In every photo we ever see of new startups, how many people are sitting with good posture? None of them. Do you have data that indicates that contributes to RSI? My personal experience is that trying to "sit up straight" and maintain "good" posture is the fastest, most direct route to wrist pain. Like, less than a half hour. By contrast, if I slouch my body, my wrists can maintain a grac…
For a brief period in 2007 it looked like hand, wrist and elbow pain was going to part of my life. Then for an unrelated reason I went back to the gym and started deadlifting. It hasn't returned.
Upon graduating college and entering the workforce, I was debilitated by awful wrist pain. It was so bad, I could barely shift my car on the way home. Over a decade later, my wrists hardly ever bother me. Physical therapy taught me to regularly stretch my wrists, and how to strengthen them. I began pursuing other activities which further strengthened my wrists (rock climbing is particularly great, so long as you avoi…
Upon graduating college and entering the workforce, I was debilitated by awful wrist pain. It was so bad, I could barely shift my car on the way home. Over a decade later, my wrists hardly ever bother me. Physical therapy taught me to regularly stretch my wrists, and how to strengthen them. I began pursuing other activities which further strengthened my wrists (rock climbing is particularly great, so long as you avoi…
About 13 months in, the only kind of pain I get now is from sitting for _too long_ in a static position, which is already established as problematic in other ways.
Upon graduating college and entering the workforce, I was debilitated by awful wrist pain. It was so bad, I could barely shift my car on the way home. Over a decade later, my wrists hardly ever bother me. Physical therapy taught me to regularly stretch my wrists, and how to strengthen them. I began pursuing other activities which further strengthened my wrists (rock climbing is particularly great, so long as you avoi…
> 2) Sit up straight, dammit. In every photo we ever see of new startups, how many people are sitting with good posture? None of them. Do you have data that indicates that contributes to RSI? My personal experience is that trying to "sit up straight" and maintain "good" posture is the fastest, most direct route to wrist pain. Like, less than a half hour. By contrast, if I slouch my body, my wrists can maintain a grac…
The thoracic region of the spine is supposedly very sturdy and resilient to injury. But sitting hunched over with head forward over many years can catch up to you.