

Ask HN: Have you had RSI? - talloaktrees

If so, how did you deal with it?
What do you do to prevent it from coming back?
======
Sealy
I used to get RSI problems when I was younger. You have to understand that it
is directly related to the amount of time you spend doing the repetitive task.
In this case I'll assume its typing. (This affects a lot of people such as
pianists and guitar players too)

When the pain was worse, I had a velcro wrist brace with a metal support, this
helped as it limited movement. Ultimately, the solution to your problem is to
simply reduce the amount of repetition if at all possible. Back in my most
problematic years, I was a web developer who spent 9-5 coding and would return
home every night to clock up 4-5 hours gaming.

Stretching movements do not help either, ie a lot of use from Shift + Control
keys is bad - learn how to touch type properly using the action key on the
opposite side of the keyboard to perform these operations.

Gaming is very bad. I would love playing FPS games and MMORPG's. FPS games
force your finger movements to be very precise which is very straining.
MMORPG's are notoriously bad for repetition. Give these up if you are
suffering that badly, trust me, its not worth it.

Other things that might help? Well I personally have spent a lot of money
finding the most comfortable keyboard + mouse setup. Don't buy based on what
looks cool or gets the best reviews, get what is comfortable for you. For me,
it is a small bluetooth apple keyboard (low travel laptop keys that have a
light touch are MUCH less straining) and a Logitech MX anywhere mouse. Yes its
a mobile mouse with no tail, this fits me much better and allows me to use a
single battery which also makes it lighter to move about.

Good luck, and take a break!

------
relaunched
I worked with a developer that had RSI. He used exercise, both grip strength
and stretching / yoga to deal with it. He also switched to using a Dvorak
keyboard. His situation did get better, but his recovery couldn't be
definitively attributed to a specific change he made.

We had an interesting discussion around the theory and the math behind the
Dvorak construction of the layout. The gist of it is that there are some
natural and unnatural hand movements made while typing. The standard keyboard
was constructed to statistically minimize typing letters that would cause the
typewriter arms from getting tangled, from overlapping / locking. The Dvorak
keyboard was optimized to place the most commonly typed letters in places that
your hand could comfortably get to (reducing the frequency of stressful
motions on the hand). However, the scientific evidence wasn't conclusive.

Good luck.

------
caw
I haven't had full blown doctor diagnosed RSI, but I have had pain before down
my wrist when I moved my thumb.

Static stretching, as well as use reduction worked to get rid of the pain. For
me I think it was mostly mouse movements with my wrist and not my arm, so
getting a trackball mouse to periodically switch with besides enforcing good
habits helped.

Now I take breaks while on the computer or playing video games. Work takes
their part and enables this arguably annoying program:
<http://www.workpace.com/>

It always pops up at the most inopportune times, but something simple like
this should help you reduce use.

------
HedgeMage
I have a predisposition to RSI. My carpal tunnel was so bad by my late
teens/early 20's that one doctor recommended bilateral surgery. Then I:

* Started taking large doses of B12 and B6 * Switched to Dvorak layouts on all my computer keyboards * Got a good buckling-spring keyboard * Gave up ballpoints, gel pens, etc. in favor of fountain pens * Gave up writing looped cursive (the way almost all American children are taught to write in school), learning to instead use Getty-Dubay Cursive Italic hand

Now I'm 30, and have no problems with carpal tunnel despite never having had
surgery.

------
mattbaker
Pushups. Something about the large body movements, maybe the strengthening,
kills any RSI issues very quickly. This has made a huge difference for me and
I've had others mention the same thing.

You don't need to do a ton, just some regularly. The
<http://www.hundredpushups.com> program is actually very good for this, it
provides a schedule and ramps up slowly. And hey, you're improving your health
in the process.

------
SamReidHughes
Got a nice digital piano, started playing vigorously on it. All problems went
away.

