How I Cured my RSI Pain (2010)

1. Pound away at the keyboard indiscriminately for years, no pain 2. Pound away, start to get pain but it goes away after some off time (could be as little as a night) 3. Pound away, get pain but it goes away after extended rest time 4. Pound away, the pain never really goes away, it just subsides.

It is much like the straw the breaks the camel's back, the frog in a boiling point of water - what you take for granted (the ability to input your thoughts into a machine) might not always be toll-free.

If you get pain, stop. Don't be macho or in denial. Go out and do some whole body exercise like swimming (http://totalimmersion.net rocks)

-Someone who has residual pain of 3 on a scale of 10, with spikes going higher. I've become very efficient and have long ago since started diversifying out of programming.

Overcoming my own physical pain was tough, but I eventually conquered it. Here's what worked for me.

* I learned to type Dvorak. Since learning how to type on a C64 at the age of 3, my typing form has always been terrible. If nothing else, Dvorak taught me how to put my fingers in the right places.

* I picked up a split-in-two-halves keyboard. The right half of the keyboard is rotated counter-clockwise to address the extreme ulnar deviation in my right forearm (following an old injury).

* It's also nice, with these broad shoulders, to spread out the two keyboard halves. This helps a lot with my neck and shoulders.

* I tented that keyboard to ease pronation in my wrists. I started at about 70 degrees (almost fully vertical) and eased down to 15 degrees over time.

* I grabbed a vertical mouse to match my vertical-ish keyboard.

* I stopped leaning my head toward the screen. Huge help for my neck.

* I started using a sit-stand desk. This is a great way to "take a break" without actually taking a break.

Some other important observations.

* Being in good physical shape reduces all my RSI problems/risks across the board. When I'm fit, I can type in any awkward position for days without pain. When I'm fat, I get RSI just thinking about my keyboard. Being fit at the moment, all my new equipment and good computing habits are making me far more productive.

* Good sleep and good food also help. Sometimes I lose focus and slip back into bad habits when I'm in a cheesesteak coma, for example.

It may be possible to fix your RSI physically if you pay really close attention to what your body is telling you, and earnestly experiment with possible solutions. Some big organizations in SV have ergo labs where you can go test out equipment for free. Use that resource if you can. Do what you must, but don't discount the physical solutions.

The wikipedia talk page is interesting.

Here's my personal story about how I conquered my RSI: stopped using Emacs. It helped that I moved from a developer to a sysadmin role.

When I do occasionally use Emacs, it's with viper mode.

I don't know what else to say. It still sounds like bullshit to me, but it worked when all of the other methods did not.

Maybe this won't be the case for you, but it certainly was for me. I can once again type on a normal keyboard all day with no pain. 2 years ago I would have never believed this possible. If you're in a similar situation, you should give it a shot. It costs nearly nothing, and has helped many people (read the book's reviews on Amazon).