
A programmer’s guide to healing RSI - aditya
http://blog.evanweaver.com/2012/09/05/a-programmers-guide-to-healing-rsi/
======
hesdeadjim
I've been an avid climber for three years now and the amount of strength I
have built up in my upper body, wrists, and fingers has proven to be the best
guard against my relatively horrid posture at work. About the only thing I am
careful about when coding at work or home is making sure my keyboard and mouse
are at a comfortable, even-level height to my chair's armrests.

Additionally, the mental component can sometimes not be ignored. Short story
-- friend of mine had back pain all through his life, saw doctors,
chiropractors, no help. I am randomly listening to the radio, hear Howard
Stern comment that a Dr. Sarno completely cured his chronic, debilitating back
pain and that it had been all mental. I recommend Sarno's book to my friend,
he reads it, boom, back pain gone. Now whenever his back or neck starts acting
up, he knows to check his mental health and make sure he is addressing
stressors in his life.

~~~
trjordan
I'll provide the other side of the coin.

I've been a climber now for at least a decade, and programming for just under
that long. I only started getting pain in the last 5 months, almost directly
coinciding with the startup I'm working for raising a round, moving cities,
being acquired, and a personal decision to go from development to technical
sales. It's probably been the most chaotic 5 months of my life, and I'm
getting wrist pain for the first time ever.

I think this post will probably put me over the edge -- more vacations, and it
may actually be time to go talk to a doctor.

~~~
hesdeadjim
Doctor, and maybe a therapist? :)

I'm a huge advocate of treating the full condition, not just a single aspect
of it. I personally see a therapist once a week, and pay out of pocket for the
privilege of gaining some clarity about my life and my actions. I've tried
various different modalities and settled on contemplative psychotherapy as a
great fit for myself (it helps that I'm at the epicenter here in Boulder):

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contemplative_psychotherapy>

I will say that my experience has not emphasized the "religious" aspect that
the article mentions, and instead focuses on the non-linear, ever-changing
perception of self and how that relates to my actions and experiences.

------
m104
Just a note for those who suffer from RSI-related symptoms of some sort or
another (because this article doesn't say a word about it): pay attention to
your sleeping positions!

I started suffering from pins-and-needles in my fingers a few years ago. As a
programmer, I was totally terrified that my typing was ruining my wrists and,
despite my best workplace ergonomical efforts, it wasn't getting any better.

After a few months of sporadic symptoms, I noticed that the bad days were
really bad in the mornings and got progressively better over the course of a
workday. Huh, why would that be? I started paying more attention to how I
slept (pillow positions, spine positions, restlessness, temperature, etc.) and
noticed that I was curling my wrists pretty badly when I got cold at night or
when life was more stressful. I'd literally wake up with both my fists curled
into a ball.

So, really, I was spending many nights with my wrists curled for hours at a
time. That can't be good! To fix this, I started spending a few minutes each
night consciously laying my hands flat with my arms at my sides and getting
comfortable with a better sleeping position. It took a few months to make this
effort a habit, BTW.

Here I am a few years later and guess what? No more pins-and-needles feelings
in my fingers. I haven't read any other literature covering this type of
sleep-related injury, but I know it exists and I'm sure there are others who
suffer needlessly.

~~~
untog
I discovered the exact same thing. I had previously bought an RSI wristguard
to use at work, with limited success... started wearing it overnight and the
pain went away very quickly. Lesson learnt!

~~~
TheFuture
Same here. Well worth spending $20 on wrist braces just to try.

------
awolf
I think he touches on a lot of good points, but has his priorities a bit
wrong.

In my opinion, the most important factors to consider are actually your diet
and your lifestyle. RSI and similar types of issues can usually be traced to
high levels of general inflammation in the body. It's not the usage you're
putting on your body that's the culprit - it's how your body is reacting to
that usage with an inflammatory response.

Programmers are very high risk group for factors which cause inflammation:

1) Toxic diets. E.g. high sugar, high processed carbs, high industrial seed
oils, high intake of meat from unhealthy animals. Low intake of high quality
fats and omega 3s. Poor gut health.

2) Lack of sleep / poor sleep quality.

3) Lack of movement.

4) Chronic stress.

~~~
strlen
Re: "General inflammation in the body" -- genuinely curious, do you have a
source available for this? Not implying this is wrong, merely this seems
rather strange to me and out of the mainstream (similar to the claim that
autism is caused by inflammation).

Again, I am not claiming this wrong -- merely I've yet to hear any actual RSI
suffers, MDs, or ergo specialists bring up this theory.

I can see some indirect link, e.g., high calorie diet and great deal of
processed carbs leading to type diabetes-II which leads to general aches and
pains, however.

~~~
awolf
Sure, here are some references for you to dig through.

First, by definition RSI is an inflammatory response. So, here's a good
overview of what is meant by "inflammation" in the body:

<http://www.marksdailyapple.com/inflammation/>

And here are studies related to the causes of inflammation I mentioned:

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17402291?dopt=Abstract>

<http://jn.nutrition.org/content/135/3/562.full>

[http://www.nature.com/ajg/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/ajg20104...](http://www.nature.com/ajg/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/ajg2010487a.html)

[http://scienceblog.com/40178/poor-sleep-quality-increases-
in...](http://scienceblog.com/40178/poor-sleep-quality-increases-inflammation-
community-study-finds/)

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20036931>

~~~
jsjsks
It is not by definition inflammatory. It is a pain syndrome that MAY have an
inflammatory component.

You have a point, but this is the kind of single-cause, worked for me attitude
the article warns about it and does people a disservice.

------
dthunt
We actually got a quick primer on RSI in college. There are a lot of tools and
equipment out there. But the simple fact is that you need to do at least one
of two things to avoid RSI:

Stop stressing your poor wrists and hands. Vary it up.

Stop stressing your poor wrists and hands: If you take your hands off of your
damned keyboard when you're not using it, and use your brain instead for a
bit, you will not stress your hands. You can reduce stress to your hands by
getting special keyboards, varying your sitting height, adding padding, etc.
But just remove your hands from the keyboard, and there is no repetitive
stress from keeping your fingers hanging in the air.

Vary it up: Don't keep a static posture for too long. Doing exercise, etc,
will strengthen your core and your arms, or whatever, but actually having
something different going on as far as your body kinematics throughout the day
is probably better. Drape a leg over that armrest. Squat. Lean back. Lean
forward. Type with one hand. Humans are not meant to be statues.

And, the unspoken third rule: If you are experiencing RSI, you need to ramp it
down or take a vacation. RSI gets worse over time. You can treat inflammation
with drugs in the short term, and you can point to mental components if you
like, but the first two points don't mean very much if you don't give yourself
time to heal, which means not hovering over a keyboard for an extended period
of time.

------
skrebbel
I'm glad you included the mind. It is so often forgotten, very often the most
by people who suffer from RSI, who prefer to acknowledge physical problems
over mental problems. After all, a physical problem is something hat's broken
and can be fixed. A mental problem is, like, that you're _nuts_! Right? Well,
of course not, but it still feels that way.

More anecdotal evidence here: I believe that many cases of RSI are in fact
simply the first manifestations of a burnout. Not all, I bet, but many. If
your RSI may be stress related, consider this possibility and discuss it with
your doctor.

------
ComputerGuru
I can't expound on this enough: Dvorak, Dvorak, Dvorak.

Just try it. I know it was never designed to solve RSI, but it really does
work wonders. I had RSI in my mid-teens (18 hours a day on the PC since I was
8 years old), and I switched to Dvorak because I thought I'd type faster with
it, and because I thought it'd be cool to type different from everyone else.
Silly me. But glad I did, because I have never suffered from wrist problems
ever again, 10 years down the line.

Don't just take it from me. There are thousands of people out there with a
similar experience. The layout of a Dvorak keyboard presents much less strain
for your tendons and muscles, and is far more relaxed and natural. Your body
will thank you. It is worth the hassle, it is worth the inconvenience, and it
is worth the the time it'll take to re-learn to touch type.

~~~
shrughes
I've had wrist problems with the Dvorak layout, in fact I didn't get any until
well after switching. The real benefit is probably that relearning how to type
will change your posture or other behavior while you type, relieving you of
the habits you got that caused your wrist problems.

I managed to solve my wrist problems by getting a piano.

------
peteretep
Don't see a mention of it there, but by far the biggest thing that helped me
(after getting a reasonable keyboard) was software that stopped me typing
(AntiRSI for Mac, WorkRave for everything else).

It is by far the most annoying software imagineable, but saved my career, and
is worth considering.

~~~
kickingvegas
Let me second the recommendation for the software mentioned. An added side-
benefit to these apps: walking away from the keyboard gives you the
opportunity to think more clearly about whatever you're trying to do.

(Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with either AntiRSI nor WorkRave, but use
both.)

------
Sander_Marechal
I suffered from (mild) RSI a few years ago. Mostly in my right hand and arm
from using the mouse. At first I switched my mouse for a Logitech Trackman.
That helped a lot. Then I decided to use the keyboard as much as possible,
which helped even more. The things I use:

\- Vim for coding

\- Vimperator in my Firefox

\- Muttator in my Thunderbird

\- Awesome WM as my window manager

Now I only need to use the mouse for graphics applications like Inkscape. It's
been a dream so far.

~~~
raverbashing
Yes

Switching to using the keyboard instead of mouse helped me _a lot_ (even for
browsing: Ctrl-L, switching tabs, etc)

And also this: <http://www.powerballs.com/>

------
exDM69
I have recently tried to pay attention to the ergonomics of my computer using
habits. I have invested time and money on hardware, software, practice and
exercise. All of which have paid off but the overall effect has been greater
than the sum of the parts.

On the hardware side, I invested on a quality 27" screen that is at a good
height w.r.t. head position. I use it with my laptop and my desktop computers.
I also got myself a nice, more expensive keyboard, although I'm not quite sure
it's the one I want to stick with.

On software, I invested time on finding an ergonomic keyboard-only user
experience. I can live without the mouse but I need the keyboard for
programming so the choice was obvious. I have almost completely changed the
software (desktop, editor, browser, terminal) I use, but I did it gradually,
one software at a time.

Regarding practice, I actually spent time practicing typing. I normally use
qwerty-fi layout (the least ergonomic of all layouts) but I learned more
ergonomic typing with the dvorak layout. I haven't used it before or a lot
since, but I spent about a month doing dvorak exercises almost daily and in
the end I wrote some boring documents with dvorak.

Finally, exercise. I play the guitar, which makes excellent exercise for the
muscles in your fingers, palms, wrists and all the way up to the elbow. The
bad thing about guitar playing is that it's asymmetric. I don't always play
something musical, sometimes it's just geometric patterns when I'm watching
the TV. Piano playing must be good too. Practice instensely until you can feel
like your muscles have been exercising, and do stretching and mobility
exercises in the end and remember to rest afterwards. (I like fast metal
guitar so to build up speed and strength I do my exercise drills until my hand
hurts like after gym all the way up to my elbow when doing strength training).

~~~
elviejo
I've used dvorack for around three years... after I started to develop pain in
my hands. The paind would like one or two weeks and then go away then come
back after a couple of months. Since I changed to dvorack, no more pain...

The first 3 weeks were really difficult... but after that, no more pain ever!

------
basdfe
Surprisingly, the best thing I ever did for my RSI was doing pushups on my
fists instead of my palms.

Another thing that seems to help a lot is keeping a natural arm pose on the
keyboard despite not having a natural keyboard. My only problems these days
are with the thumbs, for some reason they don't like the way they're resting
on the keyboard.

------
henrik_w
Great article! I also had severe RSI, which I eventually overcame in similar
way. I also switched to an ergonomic keyboard, and I'm using a pen-like mouse.

However, for me the most important component was to start using a break
program. I get so into programming that I completely forget to take breaks, so
the break program is crucial for me.

I've written about my experience here: <http://henrikwarne.com/2012/02/18/how-
i-beat-rsi/> and I have also reviewed different Mac break programs here
[http://henrikwarne.com/2012/02/26/mac-os-x-break-programs-
re...](http://henrikwarne.com/2012/02/26/mac-os-x-break-programs-review/)

Discussion on HN: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3635692>

------
sebilasse
If everything has failed for you, check out the alexander technique:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_technique> All kinds of professionals
(musicians, programmers, even actors) love it. Basically it improves your
posture and gets rid of all the (unconscious) tension in your body. Main cause
for many is that they unconsciously pull their head/neck back, which has
effects all over your body. It greatly reduced my RSI. The symptoms basically
travelled over time, I had RSI on left, right, both arms, wrist, fore-arm,
ellbow, and arm-pits. Downside to Alexander Technique is that you have to see
a practitioner for a few sessions. You cannot self-teach you with books (i
tried).

~~~
owurkan
I double on this one. I've had very bad chronic pain in wrists and back for
more than 10 years. At times, I was forced out of work for long periods, or
had to convince my wife to type the code I was dictating her... I tried pretty
much every possible physical and chemical help and visited tens of doctors and
therapists. I had variable results with these therapies, sometimes null and
sometimes decent, but never decisive. Two years ago, I began with Alexander
technique and followed approx 30 sessions over a year. I have discovered how
bad I was using my body and therefore why I would not improve my condition
with any chemical or chiropractic therapy. I have now reduced pain to very
acceptable levels and have a normal working life. Healing requires definitely
more than visiting a competent therapist, but Alexander technique was a very
important piece of the game.

------
brendoncrawford
A while back I made a drastic recovery from pretty bad RSI. Here are some tips
based on my experience and fairly extensive research, including many
conversations with doctors and chiropractors.

* Use a REAL ergonomic keyboard, such as the SafeType (<http://safetype.com/>), which addresses 3 major causes of wrist pain: extension, deviation, and pronation. The slanted keyboards, such as the one mentioned in the article do not really help all that much, as they do not properly address the 3 major causes.

* Work standing up. This contributes to better blood flow, and improved posture, which can alleviate RSI.

* Decrease caffeine consumption.

* Decrease alcohol consumption.

* Get proper sleep

* Eat healthy. Avoid junk food.

* Exercise at least 30 minutes per day.

------
jeremyt
Having suffered with RSI for over 10 years, and at one time or another dealt
with: carpal tunnel, wrist flexor tendinitis, wrist extensor tendinitis,
rotator cuff tendinitis, and upper extremity numbness.

I've been around the block a few times – enough to practically A/B test the
various treatments out there.

I think this post covers things pretty well, although I have not had any luck
with the psychosomatic approach, despite trying that too.

For the past 10 years, I've been retreating, so various things have worked at
various times. I can't praise the kinesis keyboard enough, but unfortunately
I'm too far gone for that. I currently use Dragon NaturallySpeaking for
practically all of my typing, a bamboo tablet for mouse input, and a
capacitive touch keyboard called a "cleankeys" for typing (it's made for
dentist offices), although this is forcing me back to hunt and peck typing.

I've also had some limited success with some herbal and vitamin supplements at
various times (and some definite failures).

However, my issues have not really improved a great deal until about nine
months ago when I started a real strength training program (starting
strength), although I have a few caveats for that program if anybody decides
to pick it up.

I also believe that my upper extremity numbness is coming from some sort of
thoracic outlet syndrome exacerbated by tight pectoralis minor muscles (I
recently injured my pectoralis minor lifting weights and have noticed that my
upper extremity numbness has gone away while I have been doing rehab
stretching). I also had a nerve conduction test which came out perfect, so
there's no impingement in the extremity itself.

Be careful with standing desks, because my shoulder tendinitis developed after
switching to a standing desk and typing with my arm unsupported for a few
months.

Not be self-promotional, but as a hobby I put together a website where I do
reviews of RSI equipment for beer money: www.RSIinformation.com Most of what I
would write in this comment is already elaborated quite a bit on the site.

The one thing that I would pass along is that tendon injuries do not heal
correctly without stress. This means that tendinitis/tendinosis and a lot of
other RSI issues will not heal simply from rest; you must "rehab" the tendon
with exercise, but make sure it's the right kind.

I only wish that I knew 10 years ago when I know now, so if anybody is having
issues, hit me up via email and I'm glad to help. I probably know more than
your doctor does about RSI at this point.

------
mhartl
The RSI treatment in _The Mindbody Prescription_ by Dr. John E. Sarno worked
for me. See YC partner Aaron Iba's blog post for more information:

[http://aaroniba.net/articles/tmp/how-i-cured-my-rsi-
pain.htm...](http://aaroniba.net/articles/tmp/how-i-cured-my-rsi-pain.html)

My experience has been virtually identical to Aaron's: after years of
struggling with RSI, my symptoms disappeared within a few weeks of starting
the treatment in _The Mindbody Prescription_ , and they haven't returned in
over two years. To quote Aaron: "Now I can type for as long as I want, on any
keyboard, in any position, without stretching or taking breaks, all without
any pain."

------
doktrin
This is a good guide. While I have not yet had to contend with serious RSI
(knock on wood), I have colleagues who have been plagued by it.

The Kinesis keyboards are very popular, and with cause. However do note that
some have reported problems due to the _lack_ of motion that is necessary when
using one. Making good use of breaks to stretch and move is absolutely
crucial.

For my part, my mild problems were in large part alleviated by switching to an
upright mouse as well as a tenkeyless keyboard, reducing the distance the arm
needs to travel to reach the mouse. The keyboard also happens to be superb
(Filco mechanical), but it is not built or marketed as an ergonomic product.

~~~
zrail
I use a Kinesis keyboard plus a Magic Trackpad stuck to the middle above the
modifier keys. It works really well there as long as you don't mind tap-to-
click.

I've found that with this setup my wrist pain basically disappears. I haven't
run any kind of controlled experiment to see if it's that or just getting up
and switching to laptop-on-the-couch-mode every few hours, though.

------
colanderman
I tried using the Wacom Bamboo before, and did NOT like it. The buttons are
too far away from the touch surface for one-handed use, and "flicking" motions
do not generate any pointer momentum, like flicking a mouse or trackball does.
I find a trackball much easier to use, and doing so completely eliminated the
pains in my wrist which came from gripping a mouse.

The Kinesis is ONLY useful for "home-row" typists. If you are a "sprawl" (and
likely self-taught) typist like me, not only will the Kinesis be next to
impossible for you to use, it likely won't fix whatever issues you're having,
as "sprawl" typing does not require bent wrists like "home-row" typing does.

~~~
freditup
Hmm, what exactly do you mean by "sprawl" typist? I've never really considered
too many different typing styles, and wondered if some are easier on your body
or not.

~~~
colanderman
My wrists are straight when I type on a standard keyboard, placing my hands at
an angle to each other. My fingers are "sprawled" across the three alphabetic
rows, and I have no particular discipline regarding which finger (or even
which hand) hits which key.

Because of my typing style, it is very difficult for me to type on a non-
standard keyboard. For example, on any split keyboard, fingers either hand
will often strike the center divider in an attempt to strike a key which is in
fact on the opposite side of the divider.

However, I credit typing in this manner with a near-total lack of keyboard-
related RSI after 20 years of active computer use. (I _have_ had issues with
using a mouse, due mostly to grip stress, but switching to a trackball cleared
those up.)

I've met at least one other person who types this way (and I haven't asked
that many people) so I figure it must be common enough, especially among those
who grew up with access to a computer (like I did). I don't know how easy it
is to learn if you first learned home row typing.

~~~
zach
I also type this way. I never took a typing class and evolved directly from
hunting and pecking, to hunt-and-peck without looking, to typing in the way
you describe — if I extend my fingers, my thumbs and index fingers form a
triangle.

I rarely type at the manic rate I see in home-row typists but have never had
RSI symptoms in 18 years. I did cause myself temporary soreness by constantly
using Ctrl-Z, Ctrl-X and Ctrl-C by holding Ctrl and doubling my left thumb
under my palm. That was the one conscious adjustment (switching to my little
finger for Ctrl) I have ever made, and once I started using Mac keyboards
(Command instead of Ctrl), I switched back.

I'm interested in your editor choice. I've always used CUA editors (currently
TextMate) and recreational Emacs. Also, I have no interest in the Dvorak
layout since I already get by being wildly inefficient. My only doubt is
whether I'm missing the flow state in vi that is accessible to home-row
typists.

~~~
colanderman
I use JOE, a WordStar/Borland-esque editor that is heavy on the Ctrl key,
purely out of familiarity with the interface. However I also grew up typing on
an Apple //e, on which Ctrl is where Caps Lock is these days, and I have
reconfigured all my keyboards since to have Ctrl where Caps Lock is. This has
the nice side effect of alleviating the thumb-under-palm problem that the
modern Ctrl position creates.

------
cortesi
I used to suffer from quite acute RSI. I am naturally suspicious of anecdotal
reports of miracle cures, but for me at least a Kinesis keyboard pretty much
solved my problem entirely. I'm much more conscientious than I used to be
about posture, taking rest breaks and stretching, but none of that was as
important in my case as having the right Keyboard.

I'm so paranoid about the company going out of business - they seem sort of
small and niche - that I keep TWO spares at any time.

------
corysama
The doc recommended surgery for my RSI, but I managed to get myself out of it
with a few months of very careful changes to my work environment.

1) Pay attention. Frequent stretches. Frequent breaks. I highly recommend this
"Hand stretches for guitarists" vid
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSrfB7JIzxY> Once you learn the routine, it's
fast, easy and feels noticably better.

3) I was 1-finger hunt-n-peck typing the whole time. Hands pretty much
hovering and lax for minimal tension. Careful about not touching the desk with
my arms.

2) 2 keyboards and 2 mice. One keyboard on my desk and one on my lap. One
mouse on my desk on the right. Other mouse under my desk on a platform on my
left. Changing postures very frequently.

It was a pain in the ass. But the random, shooting pain in my hands eventually
went away. Totally worth the hassle to avoid cutting my wrists.

------
pnathan
My anti-RSI measures:

* I started using a nice keyboard - MS4K - and my hands started to feel far less 'stressed' after working on a keyboard for a long time. I don't plan to switch from this.

* I use a thumb-based trackball at work, but I'm not wholly satisfied, it makes my thumb tight.

* I spent a lot of quality time reworking emacs keyboard bindings for maximum finger-ease and happiness. This way I don't stretch my hands in funny ways when coding. This actually is something that has to be iteratively examined as your hands and typing habits change.

* I've found that laptops are really _really_ crappy for ergonomic typing. Serious work should be done with a keyboard if at all possible.

I also find that doing other things with my hands - guitar for instance - will
help relax them.

------
spenrose
I permanently fixed my wrist RSI and chronic back pain by a simple course of
weight lifting. When I started, I maxed out at 8 or 10 pushups and couldn't
bench 1/4 my weight 10x. Once I reached about 15-18 pushups (~1/2 weight 10x),
RSI and debilitating spine misalignment requiring regular chiropracty went
away. On the one hand, your RSI may not respond -- on the other hand, a LOT of
programmers need to better maintain their upper body strength.

BTW, I was a dedicated yoga follower during my RSI/back pain period; switching
to weights was a huge win.

~~~
tomjen3
I don't see why a programmer should care about his strength. I don't need to
lift anything heavier than a laptop or a monitor.

------
dpeck
On topic of RSI, but not related to the article really.

Does anyone else have outer shoulder/lower shoulder blade pain from using
laptop keyboards? I seem to have issues starting and I believe that a narrower
keyboard combined with my wide shoulders is leading to it. Does anyone have
similar experience, and if so, did you have any solutions?

I've got a twiddler2 that I've been trying to use, but its a bit slow learning
it. And it sucks for vim keybindings which I tend to like a lot, but may need
to be abandoned if its going to lead to pain.

------
falcolas
I suffered from hand pain, and solved it with a mechanical keyboard. With a
decent mechanical keyboard (I use ones with Cherry switches - blue and red),
you don't have to bottom out they keys to get them to register a keystroke.

Getting rid of this shock makes my hands pain free, whereas if I have to move
back to a membrane style keyboard, my hands start to ache after a few minutes
of typing.

It's an incremental step in a positive direction, at about 1/3rd the cost of a
Kenesis, and without the odd key layout the Kenesis imposes.

~~~
blackguardx
What brand/model are you using?

~~~
falcolas
Both a Das Keyboard with cherry blues for work, and a Rosewill with cherry
reds for play.

------
lackbeard
Related: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1269951>

Interestingly, that article recommends a different book by John Sarno.

~~~
MichaelGG
I'll update one of my comments. The book IS crap. He may have stumbled onto a
phenomenon, but his explanations are crazy. Deepak Chopra and Freud. Not
scientific at all.

That said, despite the utter silliness, somehow I believed his premise that
"there's no actual physical problem there, it's just in your head" and
_magically_ I stopped having RSI issues. I can type curled up on a chair on my
ThinkPad with no pain - before, I needed all sorts of fancy tables with nice
ergo keyboards.

So, it's worth starting to read his book (Mindbody Prescription), even though
you'll toss it in disgust after an hour, just on the off-chance that you, too,
end up tricking yourself into not having pain.

~~~
Zarkonnen
I agree. He does himself a massive disservice by dragging Freud and whatnot
into it. Ultimately, what he's saying is "Stress, especially stress you're not
aware you have, causes pain. Process the stress and the pain will leave." And
that works for at least some people, which is what counts.

------
makmanalp
I think the point being made here is very good and deserves being stressed
again: It's usually a combo of workplace, stretching and psychological fixes
that works the best.

Also, this book is very good and covers a wide variety of bases to help you
understand your problem:

[http://www.amazon.com/Its-Carpal-Tunnel-Syndrome-
Professiona...](http://www.amazon.com/Its-Carpal-Tunnel-Syndrome-
Professionals/dp/0965510999/)

------
Xavi
When I used to work on windows I created a little AutoHotKey script that
remapped my keyboard when ever the capslock key was on:
<https://github.com/xavi-/Keyboard-Remapper>

It mapped I,J,K,L to the arrow keys, U to the home key, O to the end key, N to
backspace, M into the del, and etc... Did wonders for my wrists.

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lignuist
I'm using mostly notebooks only (sometimes with an additional display) for
some years. So I'm using no mouses, but trackpads or trackpoints. Never had
problems with my wrists. I think mouses are very nonergonomic devices. The
increasing distribution of new input devices like touchscreens might change a
lot, as hands are more in motion than with traditional devices.

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jseims
I was suffering from RSI for a few months, and nothing seemed to work. I tried
rest, physical therapy, anti-inflammatory drugs, and acupuncture.

Then I read [http://www.amazon.com/Its-Carpal-Tunnel-Syndrome-
Professiona...](http://www.amazon.com/Its-Carpal-Tunnel-Syndrome-
Professionals/dp/0965510999), which led me to trigger point massage therapy.

And that worked. YMMV :)

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dizzib
I used to suffer from RSI until I bought a 22 inch touchscreen monitor and put
2 happy hacker keyboards vertically each side (I can touchtype). Got rid of
the mouse and trackballs and now can code again for hours a day with hardly
any pain!

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PaulHoule
I had a bout with tendonitis ten years ago and was worried I'd have to quit
coding, but I found the problem cleared up after doing push-ups for a week.

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shell0x
Got the same and fixed it by switching to a mechanical keyboard(cherry
keyboard with mx blue switches). It's really loud, but totally worth the
money.

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thibaut_barrere
What worked for me (after numerous issues):

\- using Divvy and Alfred on the Mac (reduce the mouse)

\- switching the mouse (left/right hand) when it starts to hurt a bit

\- yoga once a week

\- making sure I'm properly seated

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eli
Switching from a mouse to a Wacom tablet made a _massive_ improvement in my
life. There's a learning curve, but it's totally worth it.

------
Evbn
My RSI only flares up when people talk about RSI.

