151–160 of 245 posts
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>This article is totally missing the basics. Exercise. I promise it will make ALL the difference. After I had my tennis elbow due to overwork at the computer, and many months in PT, I learned my lesson: Go work out regularly. It's worked out great. Better health metrics, stronger muscles, etc. And then I had ergo pains again. And again. So I unlearned my lesson. Exercise does great things for me. Solving my ergo rela…
Exercise is the perfect cure if the problem is lack of exercise. In this guy's case, he tried exercise. Various types. He biked to work. It still didn't fix things. His problem was cold. There's probably not much else that could fix that.
What I've learned in the past two years of intense PT is the most important thing is to focus on fixing muscle imbalance through strengthening (specifically, avoiding upper crossed and lower crossed syndromes). These put the body in a better position and reduce the load on neck muscles, which in turn reduce referred pain and muscle tightness into the arms and wrists. Most RSI-like symptoms are actually problems starting in the neck.
Having a well-balanced body that is durable is an amazing protector against all sorts of poor physical environments. The article alludes to this by saying 'improve your posture', but that's not very specific - posture improves when you have better balance between muscle groups.
Of course, improving ergonomics, body mindfulness, getting adequate rest, temperature, etc are important as well, but those alone don't do it, nor does cardio.
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 started having back issues about five years ago. It got so bad that getting out of bed in the morning was a struggle. I was diagnosed with a herniated disc at L4/L5. I tried chiropractic, acupuncture, and massage therapy to no avail. Then I came across one of Sarno's books. I remembered Howard Stern singing his praises years ago on his show, so I decided to at least give it a shot. I was very skeptical, but within…
e: Also the Sarno book this guy recommends has always struck me as pseudo-scientific nonsense. I like Pascarelli and Quilter's Repetitive Strain Injury and Damany's It's Not Carpal Tunnel Syndrome!
e2: Also if your first impulse is to go buy a wrist brace that is completely wrong.
To 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've found the "Time Out" mac app helpful to force myself to take breaks and stretch/stand/rest-eyes periodically. I disabled the Skip button recently which has been a bit annoying but valuable. Also, years ago I started using a trackball mouse instead of a normal mouse (or the laptop trackpad which is the worst for my wrist). It has helped a ton.
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I personally do squats, OHP, and pullups in there, and have seen people bench and deadlift in a rack as well. Easy to fill an hour in a rack.
Sounds like a poor use of a shared resource since the only one of those exercises that requires a squat rack is a squat. I guess it's fine if there's no one else at your gym.
But yes if you're using a squat rack for anything other than squatting, and the gym is busy, give others a turn. Or at least let them work in with you.
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…
One note - you can't just do pushups and call it a day. You need to work your back muscles to keep balance between those muscle groups. Pushups alone will cause your shoulders to roll forward, exacerbate forward head posture, and lead to upper crossed syndrome, which is already a major cause of many computer related RSI issues. Personal experience speaking here.
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…