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Dealing with Wrist Pain

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Re: Dealing with Wrist Pain

#21

Post by kamechan »

richardw wrote: post #18
kamechan wrote: post #3

been using dvorak for > 15 years. switched because of pain from coding 12-14+ days at startups. also used a kinesis advantage for ~10 years. am now on a topre realforce, which i very much prefer over the kinesis, and have been for 6 months without the pain returning. so, half-splitting the problem, i don't think it's the keyboard. worth mentioning: i can't imagine typing in qwerty now. it just doesn't have that butte…

One datapoint: I used to get sore wrists if I didn't take breaks, changed to a Dvorak variant, haven't had sore wrists since then. Used notebook keyboard for years, now have a MS Natural, both fine. Used similar before Dvorak, had issues. Have Herman Miller Embody, which I adore, but it hasn't magically improved my posture - still some work to do.

how's the desk position? i found this was actually the most important thing...crucial to get those elbows so that the angle from bicep to forearm is about 105 degrees.

Re: Dealing with Wrist Pain

#22

Post by tkirby »

Get vim/emacs and learn it inside out so you do a minimum of mousing and keystrokes. Also learn to code in your head as much as possible and only sit down at the computer to dictate your design. This is surprisingly effective once you get the hang of it. I spend about 60% less time in front of the computer now and I'm way more productive. Also get something like StayFocusd for your browser and add in all your distraction sites. If you have downtime while compiling or whatever, get away from the computer and rest your eyes/hands.

Re: Dealing with Wrist Pain

#23

Post by [deleted] »

steve8918 wrote: post #12

I've found that the biggest reason for neck and wrist pain is actually the mouse. The position that most people use the mouse, off to the right side (if you're right-handed), causes your arm and your hand to twist unnaturally, since it needs to be flat to the table. This puts pressure on the nerves running down your arm, and for me, this is what caused the most amount of pain, to the point where I was worried my care…

[deleted]

Re: Dealing with Wrist Pain

#24

Post by gcv »

I suggest building some muscle in your arms. It's amazing how much strength does to combat the physical horror of sitting at a keyboard all day. Wrist curl, reverse wrist curl, overhead press, bench press, deadlift, pull-up. All these helped me immensely.

PS: steve8918 is right about the mouse. Build some strength, and stop flicking your wrist sideways to reach the mouse. A laptop's trackpad is a huge improvement.

Re: Dealing with Wrist Pain

#25

Post by henrik_w »

csallen wrote: post #19
steve8918 wrote: post #12

I've found that the biggest reason for neck and wrist pain is actually the mouse. The position that most people use the mouse, off to the right side (if you're right-handed), causes your arm and your hand to twist unnaturally, since it needs to be flat to the table. This puts pressure on the nerves running down your arm, and for me, this is what caused the most amount of pain, to the point where I was worried my care…

As another data point, I use the mouse in a normal position (off to the right), plus I don't have an ergonomic keyboard, a special chair, or perfect posture. I've spent at least 5-6 hours a day on the computer since the 90s (and played an inordinate amount of video games), and I've yet to experience any wrist or neck pain. An ergonomic specialist would reject everything I do, and you probably should too, regardless o…

Yet another data point. I coded full time at work for 14 years without having any problems at all (an therefore not paying any attention to ergonomics either).

Then in 2005 I started having problems with my arms. It got so bad I thought I had to quit programming all together, but I managed to sort it out, and today I can work without problems.

The most important part of the solution for my was to start using a break program to force me to take regular breaks (preventing the problem in the first place instead of treating the symptoms). I also started to use a split keyboard without a numerical pad, and using a penclic pen-mouse.

I wrote about it at http://henrikwarne.com/2012/02/18/how-i-beat-rsi/ and it was dicussed here at HN here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3635692

Re: Dealing with Wrist Pain

#26

Post by peteretep »

Only solution I found (after trying almost everything else) was installing AntiRSI/WorkRave. They are intensely irritating, forcing you to stop typing every three minutes. But, you get used to it, and, it saved my wrists.

Re: Dealing with Wrist Pain

#28

Post by lusr »

gcv wrote: post #24

I suggest building some muscle in your arms. It's amazing how much strength does to combat the physical horror of sitting at a keyboard all day. Wrist curl, reverse wrist curl, overhead press, bench press, deadlift, pull-up. All these helped me immensely. PS: steve8918 is right about the mouse. Build some strength, and stop flicking your wrist sideways to reach the mouse. A laptop's trackpad is a huge improvement.

This is what worked for me too. Natural keyboard, moving mouse position, seating position, etc. all helped a bit, but after a day or two in gym my wrists simply stopped hurting and felt "healthier". When I stopped gym for 2 months and the pain returned, once I resumed my gym routine the pain stopped again within one or two sessions.

Re: Dealing with Wrist Pain

#29

Post by __alexs »

steve8918 wrote: post #12

I've found that the biggest reason for neck and wrist pain is actually the mouse. The position that most people use the mouse, off to the right side (if you're right-handed), causes your arm and your hand to twist unnaturally, since it needs to be flat to the table. This puts pressure on the nerves running down your arm, and for me, this is what caused the most amount of pain, to the point where I was worried my care…

+1 to mice being evil. I'm not convinced by ergonomic mice despite having used one for the past 4-5 years. They are less painful to use but I find they just hide the problem. Using any normal mouse these days becomes painful within a couple of hours for me.

Instead I use a Trackpoint basically all the time now. I have ThinkPads at home and a MacBook Pro with one of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lenovo-ThinkPad-Travel-Keyboard-Trac... at work. The best features are less waving my arms around and a much more convenient location for note paper to live that doesn't require stretching or sliding things around when I need to write stuff.

Sadly (due to what I assume is a patent issue) there aren't very many hardware options for static pointing stick devices and they are all either ex-IBM hardware or current Lenovo hardware.

Re: Dealing with Wrist Pain

#30

Post by sebilasse »

i tried many things, herman millers, gym, creams, massage, antiRsi tool. They all helped and i'm still using them, but everytime i fixed one thing 2-3 months later i got pain again. it travelled from backpain to neckpain, wrists, underarms and now to shoulder/arm-pits.

i'm now practicing alexander technique. i've got my 6th lesson and i start to understand how all these things that i've been doing were simply work-arounds. alexander technique shows you how to get a proper and relaxed posture. i now see how tensed up i am in many areas (keyboard, some projects more some less, eating, walking, everything).

i can recommend it. and it's cheaper then being forced to work half-day for a few months.

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