You got the programming fatigue?

Watch you get downvoted for being unhelpful, unsympathetic and trollish.

Maybe that’s where my appreciation of what a physically intensive job means, stems from?

Why are you talking on and on about physically intensive jobs when the OP is not saying "It's too much effort", he's saying "it's wrecking my wrists and it should not, what am I doing wrong?".

Yea no shit nobody on here digs fence posts... they wouldn't be bloody winging about sitting in a chair all day if they did ahahah

They would if their family survival depends on income from sitting typing and they can't type because of knackered wrists.

But I fail to understand ...

That's a failure in your understanding.

An eye exam will also rule out something like cataracts, which usually hit when you're a lot older, but may arrive early if you made a particularly unlucky draw from the gene pool.

Big mistake. A day after the launch I could not type, mouse, anything with my right hand as my muscles would ache and lock up.

At work I had a desktop, at home a laptop. The laptop was on a desk that violated every law of ergonomics known to man. The chair was a cheap $79 chair I got in college from the local office supply store. More mistakes.

Fast forward a year, I'd begun to notice that my right arm/hand ached all the time and the area between my shoulder blade and spine constantly held a knot.

My PCP prescribed pills and sent me to physical therapy. That helped a little but the side effects from the pills made me feel drunk all the time. The PT used a technique called "traction" that I later found out was chiropractic in nature. That stretched my neck and seemed to help the symptoms. That an excercises and an occasional pill when I had a bad flare up seemed to help manage things.

Fast forward another year and after an ergonomic makeover (explained below) I was hurting again and figured I'd go see a Chiropractor which my family (all Chiro success stories) suggested I go to. Wow! I've just celebrated 1 year of Chiropractic care and feel amazing! It's not solved all of my issues and I still have to manage my time in front of the computer, but it forces me to use it wisely.

Here's a list of items that have helped me:

- Read everything you can about Ergonomics

- Buy an Elevator for your laptop - www.griffintechnology.com/products/elevator - By itself it isn't high enough for me so I have 2 thick text books under that as well to keep my eyes at a 90 degree angle from my screen

- Buy a good chair. I broke down and bought an Aeron chair from a used office supply store. One of the best moves I could have made.

- Take loads of breaks, stretch, excercise. Push ups, lateral pulls, "give yourself a hug" all relieve tension and strain. Find any and all stretches for your neck and upper back.

- Sleep. Really, look at the code you've written when you're fatigued and look at code you've written when rested. My CTO says that "every programmer has 4 good hours of code in them a day". That doesn't mean to work 4 hours, but that you need to listen to yourself when you're "spent". Accomplish the toughest tasks first thing, then once your "spent" do the menial tasks that take effort but little critical thinking.

- Go to a Chiropractor. I kick myself for suffering literally for 2 years! For the wrist pain, they can pop your wrists and relieve the pain.

Good luck and I hope my suggestions help someone.

It works, but after sitting for > 10 hours I have to take a fairly long break.

move my desk up (or down) 2 cm and I end up with very had shoulder pain. It took a lot of trying to get it right.

Chair is a fairly cheap office chair but it has lots of stuff I can change to force changes in position during the day.

I removed the armrests because they make my arms hurt like hell.