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Dealing with Wrist Pain

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Re: Dealing with Wrist Pain

#41

Post by baddox »

siege wrote: post #34
tkirby wrote: post #22

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 distrac…

Emacs with its shortcuts is actually a major wrist-killer - just see what happened to RMS... (disclaimer: I absolutely love emacs, but had to switch to vim just because of strain it puts on my wrists)

I've only been using Emacs as my exclusive editor for about 3 years, but with my Caps Lock key set as my primary Ctrl key I've never noticed any stress or pain.

Re: Dealing with Wrist Pain

#42

Post by ErrantX »

The first, and really critical, piece of advice is go see a professional

I was skeptical about this, a friend eventually all but carried me to an osteopath. It is instant and amazing relief.

BUT the most important thing about seeing a professional is that they will be able to tell you specifically what is causing your problem - wrist pain, in particular, has numerous causes and comes in many forms. An expert will be able to diagnose the cause and recommend ways to avoid it - in my case it was largely posture based, and getting a better chair has basically eradicated my problem.

Re: Dealing with Wrist Pain

#43

Post by richardw »

kamechan wrote: post #21
richardw wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Main issue is that I slouch forward. I just have to remember to just sit normally.

Re: Dealing with Wrist Pain

#45

Post by DanBC »

barrkel wrote: post #44
colonelxc wrote: post #11

georgieporgie: It appears you have been hellbanned (as of this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4026814 ). You might be able to appeal it by emailing pg, or just create a new account.

And DanBC too.

Thanks, I'm aware of this.

I think I triggered a "posting URLs too rapidly" algorithm.

I've emailed info, but I'll use this as an opportunity to get some stuff done.

Re: Dealing with Wrist Pain

#46

Post by __alexs »

jarek wrote: post #32
__alexs wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+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…

Some reasonably recent Dell or HP laptop models also have a trackpoint (though personally I didn't like either of them as well as the Thinkpads').

Most of the imitations have movement in the stick it's self (and even a dead zone in the center sometimes) while the Thinkpads one is totally static and has only a rubber moulding to provide a little play.

Re: Dealing with Wrist Pain

#47

Post by mironathetin »

My solution step 1: check seat position. Is the chair high enough, too high, same with Display, are my shoulders relaxed, are my wrists straight

My solution step 2: Apple external keyboard with low key action

My solution step 3: Logitech MX revolution: gets rid of mouse wheel action, which cause for me the most significant wrist problems - more or less solved the problem

My solution step 4: Apple magic trackpad.

Maybe don't work too long without a longer break. The company gets all the benefits while you get into the hospital, eventually.

Wrist problems did not come back since three years now.

Re: Dealing with Wrist Pain

#48

Post by larsberg »

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.

If you go the weight route, make sure you don't just train grip strength (wrist flexors) but also balance a bit with wrist extensor exercises or you'll just move the pain around. It can be as simple as wrapping a rubberband around your fingertips and expanding your hand a few times.

I found this balance issue important when I started working on my deadlift and my grip got a bit out of control. Also, if you have wrist problems, you might consider avoiding alternated grip deadlifts and just pulling hook grip.

Re: Dealing with Wrist Pain

#49

Post by stuaxo »

This will seem really wack... however:

I saw some youtube videos of Dr Sarno [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_E._Sarno] and read some testimonials on his technique.

At that point I could change the pain in my wrists into a feeling of anxiety in my chest.

I then bought the book (this step isn't nessacary) - "The Mind Body Experience), and now when I get pain I can sort of concentrate on the area it happens and it will dissapear - it also helps to think of things that might be stressing me at the time.

His theory is along the lines that the mind tries to distract you from stress by making you get pain at the site of old injuries, or RSI etc.

I'm sure that it doesn't work exactly like he says it does, however after about 10 years of RSI I can pretty much control it by just concentrating on the area in pain, whic is pretty cool.

Still, this will probably sound pretty odd.. note: I don't ascribe to any other alternative medicines and am pretty sceptical in general.

Re: Dealing with Wrist Pain

#50

Post by rwallace »

I found the only real solution is to eliminate the need to exert mechanical force. Thus, a combination of:

1. Dragon NaturallySpeaking, which works pretty well for text.

2. Zero force keyboard http://specialneedscomputers.ca/index.php?l=product_detail&#... for writing code.

3. Replacing the mouse with a trackpad.

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