1) Moving from C/Java to a scripting language can reduce typing enough to alleviate RSI.
2) Also changing from an editor that requires alt keys to vi.
How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
191–200 of 245 posts
Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
#192RSI is one of those things (ADHD, autism and dyslexia are other examples) that start as a label some scientist puts on a specific set of symptoms that cannot (currently) be linked to a specific condition [1], becomes popular and then get used for a zillion things with more or less the same symptoms (Wikipedia lists edema, tendinosis, tendinitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, cubital tunnel syndrome, De Quervain syndrome, t…
When faced with these symptomatically classified issues without a case-specific identified root cause, it still is nice to have a stable of simple (and medically believable) options to try.
Even the methods that didn't work for the author might be more applicable to others, if they have different root causes. In a situation where there's typically no precise clarity as to the root cause, shotgunning solutions is reasonable self-experimentation.
In fact, that's often how doctors prescribe treatments; shotgunning starting from suspecting the most common root cause and working down, testing to see if that's the root cause by seeing if the treatment for said root cause happens to be working.
Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
#193I was a bit paranoid about this in my mid 20's, so I learned touch-typing the Dvorak layout (well supported on all major OS's, so no problem using it everywhere), got myself a decent mechanical keyboard a few years later and I use vim for editing since forever (fewer key-combos is good against RSI, so modal wins out here). Most recently I have switched the Ctrl and Caps keys on my layout, which reduces a lot of stres…
How big of a difference did Dvorak make for you? While I feel no pain at all I'm pretty paranoid about getting any pain/RSI in the coming years (recent graduate now working full time)
I had horrible wrist pain working long hours in Silicon Valley, and switched to Dvorak. No major issues since, over a decade later. It's just better.
Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
#194After 6 years of struggle with this career ruining pain, I finally found my remedy in Homeopathy. Medicine name is "Bellis Perennis". In olden days it was a popular medicine to treat RSI of Pianists and Stitching workers. I had taken "Belllis Perennis, 1M potency" 3 times(about 20 small pills each time) in only one day. That's it. No need of taking it again. If pain doesn't go away in a week try 1 more day after 1 week. No side effects, since it is Homeopathy. Since I am not a doctor, Please check with Homeopathy doctor before taking it. Thanks..
Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
#195This 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…
This. What I discovered from my own RSI pain was that RSI is not caused by bad computer posture or doing any thing too much. It's caused by not doing other things enough.
For me, it was not exercising my wrists in any way. When I'd code, my wrists would be in one position which would eventually start to hurt. But then I took up rock climbing. In climbing, my wrists were forced to strengthen and be put in many other positions. And my RSI pain just went away. I wasn't coding any less than before. But in the time I wasn't coding, I was doing the exercises necessary to keep my wrists healthy.
Also, as an aside, most people's pain tolerance is also terrible. They let their mind take minimal pain signals from their bodies and magnify it tenfold until its excruciating. Some basic meditation training will teach people to minimize what little actual pain they have, which could also allow most to continue working through the pain.
Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
#196After 6 years of struggle with this career ruining pain, I finally found my remedy in Homeopathy. Medicine name is "Bellis Perennis". In olden days it was a popular medicine to treat RSI of Pianists and Stitching workers. I had taken "Belllis Perennis, 1M potency" 3 times(about 20 small pills each time) in only one day. That's it. No need of taking it again. If pain doesn't go away in a week try 1 more day after 1 we…
Or check a licensed Medical Doctor who understands biology.
1M potency in context: > 30C (diluted 30 times), 200C (diluted 200 times), 1M (1000 dilutions), and 10M (10,000 dilutions).
> A popular homeopathic treatment for the flu is a 200C dilution of duck liver, marketed under the name Oscillococcinum. As there are only about 1080 atoms in the entire observable universe, a dilution of one molecule in the observable universe would be about 40C. Oscillococcinum would thus require 10320 more atoms to simply have one molecule in the final substance.
Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
#197[deleted]
Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
#198I had it pretty bad and thought my career might be over. Then by mistake, I bought a truck with no power steering, and then started doing push ups first thing in the morning. Also I spent hundreds of hours making my desktop mouse free and have dozens of flux-box macro, and various IDE key board sequences memorized so that I never had to move my hand to the mouse and back.
Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
#199About 15 years ago I made the decision to halve my mousing strain by becoming equally adept at mousing with either hand and either with a mouse or a trackball. I have both plugged into my computer all the time, and I swap hands and devices a couple times a month.
A great keyboard is important too. I only use IBM model M's made around 1984.
And as is discussed at length in this thread - exercise! I hit the gym for 2 hours between 5 and 7pm and let almost nothing interfere with that.
I have RSI pain yes - it comes with the job - but it's reached a steady-state that I can deal with.
Re: How I stopped the RSI pain that almost destroyed my programming career
#200I can not stand keyboards with high pressure threshold on the keys. My constant Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+F, etc.. was causing tremendous pain on my pinky finger, from having to press down on the Ctrl key so many times.