
Look, no hands - jamesisaac
http://looknohands.me/
======
mvandy
I'm Michelle (the girl in the video). This thread is really fascinating to me.
I'll add some more details to the discussion below. I was diagnosed with
epicodylitis (tennis albow) and I tried a range of different treatments:
electrical therapy, accipunture, anti-inflammatory tablets and some kind of
light therapy(?) But without any results (probably why I can't remember the
last treatment).

Also notised there were some questions about neck pains, If I adjust the nose-
pad to the right level and angle it right it forces me to sit up straight.
However, in the video my back is arched quite a lot because I was sitting at a
table that was too low (but it was only a temporary setup).

~~~
liveoneggs
You might be interested to learn about John Ousterhout- a pretty famous
computer guy with RSI.

[http://web.stanford.edu/~ouster/cgi-
bin/wrist.php](http://web.stanford.edu/~ouster/cgi-bin/wrist.php)
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ousterhout](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ousterhout)

~~~
kristofferR
The guy at Ars Technica who writes the fantastic OS X reviews, John Siracusa,
also has RSI. He uses Dragon Dictate to write most of his articles.

He recently discussed RSI in length in an episode of the Pragmatic podcast:
[http://techdistortion.com/podcasts/pragmatic/episode-50-acci...](http://techdistortion.com/podcasts/pragmatic/episode-50-accidental-
clicking)

~~~
melling
@26m John explains that it's really hard to get a diagnosis for the actual
problem. You'll get all kinds of advice on the web where people will tell you
to go to a doctor. Unfortunately, it's really hard for a doctor to determine
the source of the problem.

About a minute later he explains how the problem might not even be in your
hands, it could be in your shoulder, for example, but you might feel the pain
in your hands.

@1:16:25 keyboard discussion

@1:26:00 keyboard layouts

@1:36:10 Is it all in your head?

~~~
melling
I added this information and others in this thread to my RSI org notes:
[http://thespanishsite.com/public_html/org/ergo/rsi.html](http://thespanishsite.com/public_html/org/ergo/rsi.html)

~~~
rndn
While we’re on it, here is a really good neck exercise:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT_dFRnmdGs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT_dFRnmdGs)

------
arjie
The elasticity of the brain is incredibly impressive. Very neat solution. My
parents are surgeons, and I know they worry at least a little bit about the
safety of their hands. While my hands are definitely very important to my
being able to work I know I don't worry as much as they do. That's funny,
because for the most part I think about Carpal Tunnel Syndrome as a career-
ending condition.

I recently suffered some amount of tendonitis in my wrist and it prompted me
to make quite a few changes:

* Better posture

* Better seat adjustment

* A nicer (mechanical) keyboard

* Practising touch typing more (i.e. correcting myself any time I use the wrong finger)

* Resting my wrists evenly

I made all these changes simultaneously so I don't know what changed it or if
it was a one-time thing and resting fixed it. An interesting thing is that I
found that I overuse my right hand.

`vim` binds simple movements to hjkl and that's fine because they're on the
home row, but it also means that a lot of the time I'm holding down one key
while reading code. I've switched to moving around code better now, using
larger jumps, and when scrolling a lot I use my left hand. I've also rebound
some other things so that they're easier with home row keys. Anyway, learning
to be faster at all this took very little time. I am very impressed with how
fast we learn new acts if they keep repeating them.

~~~
jeremiep
To me the most important factor is how relaxed your muscles are when working.
That is, even while frantically typing on my keyboard my fingers spend most of
their time resting. It's very easy to keep your muscle contracted the entire
time and that's where the danger is.

This is something I learned from my music teachers. I would get nervous while
playing and my muscles would get all stiff leading to missed notes and
sounding dry and whatnot. Most importantly, I was thinking about how to
position my muscles to get the sound I wanted rather than thinking about the
sound I wanted and letting the muscles do their thing. They made me realize
your muscles needs to breathe and to use the window between impulses to relax
them.

I could have the best posture, best keyboard layout and everything else but if
my muscles stay contracted the entire time I'm working I'll definitely feel it
at the end of the day. Be it on the guitar or computer.

~~~
melling
RSI can be caused by many things, and it can originate far from the pain.
There doesn't seem to be one magical fix. I've been keeping Emacs org notes on
RSI and I publish them here:
[http://thespanishsite.com/public_html/org/ergo/rsi.html](http://thespanishsite.com/public_html/org/ergo/rsi.html)

~~~
TheSpiceIsLife
I haven't read through all of your notes, but did click on a few links. I've
studied a bit of nutritional medicine along the way. Have you looked at any
research or anecdotes on anti-inflammatory supplements for RSI?

Any irritated condition is characterised by inflammation. The most common
medicines prescribed for RSI are anti-inflammatories. So it stands to reason
that RSI is tissue-damage, caused by repetitive strain, and anywhere tissue
damage is occurring immune mediated inflammation takes place.

Tenosynovitis is inflammation of the fluid-filled sheath that surrounds a
tendon.[1]

So, the treatment we were taught was to address the physical injury by
removing, retraining, or engineering the problem away, then give nutritional
supplements that support tissue repair and help down-modulate the inflammatory
response: Omega 3 EPA / DHA (fish oils), Quercetin, Rutin, Vitamin C,
Bromelain, B12 & Folate, Magnesium (as citrate or diglycinate, or both), plus
Turmeric and Ginger. And also give supplements that target musculoskeletal /
connective tissues: Silica, proline, lysine, cysteine, glutamine, Manganese,
B5, B6, Iron (as iron amino acid chelate), copper, zinc (as amino acid
chelate). Where the condition has progressed to considerable over-all wear and
tear of a join the also throw in Glucosamine and Chondroitin.

The theory goes: remove the mechanical cause of the condition (repetitive
strain causing tissue damage) and the condition will resolve itself. Put in
the nutrients the body needs to repair the damage and the condition will
improve faster. Sometimes the damage is so far progressed it will respond much
better if the nutrients are taken too.

Once the condition is under control we then direct the patient to look in to
seeking advice to strengthen the affected joint.

I don't know about the state of nutritional medicine outside of Australia, but
here we have some really good formulations available off the shelf and others
as practitioner only formulas - so you need a consult.

I'll pre-empt the "supplements don't work" argument and say: yes, taking iron
oxide or magnesium oxide doesn't do anything. There are formulations that are
poorly absorb and poorly utilised by the body. Have a look in to, for example,
magnesium diglycinate and magnesium citrate vs. magnesium oxide. Look in to
mixed ascorbates with citrus bioflavanoids (Quercetin and Rutin) vs. pure
Ascorbic Acid. High does Turmeric and Ginger work so well as anti-
inflammatories and blood thinners they are contra-indicated if a person is
taking blood thinners / blood pressure medication, eg Warfarin.

Anyway, getting carried away. Thought you might be interested.

1\.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenosynovitis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenosynovitis)

 _This does not constitute medical advice. Please consult your physician /
nutritionist / pharmacist before taking any nutritional or herbal
supplements._

Edit: formatting

~~~
melling
If you have any good blogs that discuss this, I'll add it to my notes. I'm
always skeptical of supplements but I want to aggregate all thoughts on RSI.

~~~
TheSpiceIsLife
Not off the top of my head. I'll keep it in mind.

------
_ZeD_
Sincerely... all I can think about is not that she found a good solution to
her problem, but the fact that she "achieved the same level of accuracy" (and
I suppose speed).

This is not something about her capabilities, but about the limitation of
current input devices regarding our hands.

This is the proof that using a touch pad with your nose is not worse that
using it with your hand. There is something wrong in this: try using any real-
world interface with your hand, how the shapes, the stiffness, the flexibility
of any handle, pen, button, spring you interact with give you some kind of
information and let you operate with a superior kind of consciousness.

~~~
mirkules
Or you can look at it from an optimistic-almost-narcissistic point of view and
say that the interfaces that we have are so well-deaigned either by accident
or on purpose that the same level of accuracy can be achieved with whatever
appendage.

Personally, I think we stumbled onto a design that works well after years of
trials. When you look at children using tablets, for example, you quickly
realize that they don't have the same dexterity as adults, yet they are able
to use the device with almost the same capability as adults. With tablets in
particular, I don't think this was an accident...

We could make input devices/interaction paradigms that are highly specific to
one domain usable by only certain people because of learning curves or
physical limitations, or input devices that can be used by anyone with
sacrifice in speed and productivity.

~~~
vanderZwan
That's a false dichotomy, saying that it's one or the other.

We could have much higher precision, and add highly sensitive pressure
sensitivity. For most tasks touch sensitive surfaces would be identical and
equally easy to get into, except that they would allow for much higher
ceilings of mastery and skill than they do now.

------
userbinator
I wonder if her neck started getting tired from all that movement.

It seems that it's mostly people who grip their mouse _really_ tightly/type
with tense fingers that experience the most problems - I remember when I first
started typing, my fingers tired too easily because the keys were heavy, and I
was exerting a lot of force trying to get the fingers to exactly where I
wanted them to go. Later, when I got a "looser" keyboard and discovered that I
didn't really need to hit the keys _exactly_ in the middle but whatever could
actuate them worked, my speed more than doubled and I could type for hours
without feeling tired at all. The relaxation really helps. Same with mousing -
if you find that you have to grip your mouse tightly to make precise
movements, turn down the DPI and try lubricating it so it requires as little
effort as possible to move. Personally, I don't really like using trackpads
because of that friction.

~~~
grimman
People's mouse grip varies immensely. But the one thing that should be easily
controlled, in any reasonable case, is the surface.

A mouse mat will often reduce friction greatly, and you can augment your mouse
with custom teflon "feet". Gamer peripherals, basically.

I see a lot of people who just run their mice across their desk, which no
doubt works, but is sub-optimal in that it's not a particularly durable
surface in most cases. This will lead to scratches, and thus increased
friction on top of the noise and now ruined surface.

Another thing I've seen is a really nasty build-up of gunk (for lack of a
better term) underneath the mouse. All of this adds up to increased friction
and a "sticky" feel at times, which results in erratic movement and possibly a
need for tighter grip.

Then, of course, there's always the option to switch the mice out. A wired
option will obviously forgo the batteries, lowering the weight of the unit, at
a negligible convenience price.

~~~
eru
I switched to a thumb-operated trackball. My fingers like it.

------
noonespecial
File in the "for what its worth" file:

When I started to get some pain in my wrists, I noticed it most when I was
using photoshop and clicking a great deal. I tore apart an old USB mouse and
wired a pair of foot switches in so I could click with my feet as well. It
helped quite a bit. Now I rather prefer it, especially the right click action.

~~~
tomblomfield
That's a really fun idea. I wonder how you could control programs differently
with 2 or even 4 input devices?

Ie, twin cursors on the screen, each controlled by a separate mouse? Tablets
introduced a number of interesting new interface mechanisms - double tap,
pinch, stretch etc. Could we bring these to non touch-screens?

~~~
roma1n
Sure, have a look at ICon (for instance) if you want to add custom input
devices to your setup :
[http://inputconf.sourceforge.net/](http://inputconf.sourceforge.net/)

------
PL1
Have you checked Dr. Sarno's approach for RSI and related problems. If you
have tried all those options and they didn't work you should definitely give a
try.

You can check a story very similar to mine: [http://www.pgbovine.net/back-
pain-guest-article.htm](http://www.pgbovine.net/back-pain-guest-article.htm)

Disclaimer: I am CS PhD student in a top tier US school. Suffered from RSI,
tried everything. Was cured by Dr. Sarno's technique.

~~~
westoncb
I can second this: I spent years looking in utterly the wrong direction with
things, even making this: [http://tiledtext.com](http://tiledtext.com) so that
I could program with motion sensors instead—then someone recommended to me
(for a second time, since I ignored it the first time) Dr. Sarno's work.

BTW: that you're left hand started in so soon after is probably a good
indication that this isn't entirely physical!

Sarno's stuff works (as you'll find plenty evidence of on the internet (e.g.
[http://www.satori.org/rist/)](http://www.satori.org/rist/\))), but the theory
it's framed in is pretty bad, so be prepared for that...

An alternative talking about the same stuff without annoyingly trying to
theorize so much is (check out the reviews, you'll see the title is quite
misleading): [http://www.amazon.com/Rapid-Recovery-Back-Neck-
Pain/dp/09669...](http://www.amazon.com/Rapid-Recovery-Back-Neck-
Pain/dp/0966982614)

------
rebootthesystem
I stopped using mice, knobs (IBM/Lenovo) and touchpads (built-in or external)
probably twenty years ago. A few months into an intense design project I
started to feel burning pain on my wrists. I was working 18 hour days, 7 days
a week. Yes, if I was awake I was in front of the computer.

This was a hardware and software project and I was doing it all. This meant
lots of precise motion at times. Running Solidworks or Altium Designer often
meant very accurate tiny movement while pressing down on a button. Horrible
stuff for your wrist.

I had been exposed to just how bad this could get. I was friends with several
people who did visual effects for motion pictures. Same kind of work. They ran
3D workstations for a dozen or more hours per day, every day. One fellow had
to have surgery on both wrists due to the damage he caused. His was always in
pain after that.

I decided I had to deal with the situation. I didn't want to end-up like that.

First decision was that mice and touch pads where horrible input devices. I
tested everything and concluded that low friction thumb-operated trackballs
were the best.

Beyond that, the relative angle of the hand to the forearm seemed to have a
HUGE effect on causing inflammation, pain and injury. The flatter and more
relaxed,the better. In fact, the most relaxed position had my hands drooping
over the keyboard and trackball with virtually no tension on the upper
tendons. This meant my standard desk had to go.

What I needed was a desk with a cavity into which my hands would droop and
meet the keyboard or trackball. My forearms had to be fully supported in order
to remove pressure from shoulders and posture.

I welded together a few iterations of the idea and ended-up with a desk that
was just fantastic. I could work on this thing for 16 to 18 hours a day and
have no wrist burn whatsoever. Of course, I also implemented regimented breaks
and exercises, but the desk, as well as switching to a trackball, made the
most difference.

I can't help but think this girl did herself huge damage by using the touch-
pad for long hours. I particularly dislike touch-pads on laptops (of any make
and model) the are in the wrong place and add tension to your tendons
precisely where you don't want it.

As for Michelle, wow, what an amazing person she must be.

~~~
bsimpson
I'd love to see a photo of that!

~~~
rebootthesystem
Image posted, see comment for link.

------
melling
She mentions being excited about the Leap Motion. That's not very accurate so
she probably had to give up. There is better hand tracking software under
development. This company's Kickstarter project got canceled when Oculus
bought them: [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nimblevr/nimble-
sense-b...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nimblevr/nimble-sense-bring-
your-hands-into-virtual-reality?ref=discovery)

And Control VR uses gloves but might prove to be very accurate:
[http://controlvr.com](http://controlvr.com)

The VR headsets are driving the development of this technology.

------
IkmoIkmo
Beyond the obviously admirable content of the story, just wanted to say:
beautiful website, the pacing of the story was really well done. Loved the
animations, the optional extra reading, breaking up the story with pictures.
Very simplistic but well done.

------
jacquesm
That's got to be tough on the skin at the tip of the nose, that's not exactly
the most rugged spot to be rubbing on something all day long.

Related:

[http://www.mfpa.uk/](http://www.mfpa.uk/)

~~~
learc83
The surface is very smooth glass, so it's probably not that bad.

------
arafalov
I had RSI 3 times. The first time I did not know what it was and ended-up not
being able to hold a pen. Took many months of recovery and I was lucky my
doctor knew what it was. I had heat treatment, some sort of laser and
vibration therapies and a couple of other things. Don't know which of them
helped, but they sure did.

The second time, I was in a different country and was sent to a surgeon. He
had no clue what RSI was and said that I should not worry until it gets worse
and ready for Carpal Tunnel surgery. I said "no thanks" and found a sports
therapist instead who was ready to help.

The main lesson here is that "see a doctor" does not always work. I am sure if
I saw surgeon the first time, I'd be having some stitches on my wrists right
now. Back then, RSI was not well known thing at all. Hopefully, it is more
easily recognized now.

~~~
melling
Is this Cold Laser Therapy?

[http://www.rsitips.com/cold-laser-therapy/](http://www.rsitips.com/cold-
laser-therapy/)

[http://www.brooklinephysicaltherapy.com/page4/page18/](http://www.brooklinephysicaltherapy.com/page4/page18/)

I've never heard it mentioned before.

~~~
arafalov
It may well have been, though I don't remember any glasses.

------
felixg
SmartNav by NaturalPoint
([http://www.naturalpoint.com/smartnav/](http://www.naturalpoint.com/smartnav/)).
I'm using it for over 8 years for moving the cursor. Clicking is via a regular
mouse, though voice and switches are supported. All typing is done through an
on-screen virtual keyboard (Hot Virtual Keyboard). After short self-training
the speed and accuracy are above of a regular mouse. Neck fatigue is a rare
issue even after 8-10 hours of daily usage, the "trick" is calibrating the
settings for minimal movement. I'm using this setup for everything from
programming to some light gaming (RTS). Adjusting and configuring the
environment can bring substantial improvement. For example, using ReSharper
for Visual Studio vastly reduces typing.

------
JosieRC
Hi, your article was really inspirational, very well written and indicative of
your amazing motivation and passion for your career. Dystonias are
neurological disorders that can cause muscle spasms and cramping and do not go
away with rest, anti-inflammatories, trigger point therapy, etc. Unfortunately
dystonias are often misdiagnosed and untreated, even sometimes by well-trained
specialists. The main treatment for dystonia-related conditions is Botox. I
have cervical dystonia and have had wonderful success with Botox. To correctly
diagnose a dystonia you need to see a neurologist that specializes in movement
disorders.

------
auvi
I remember CMU (or a site that was linked from a links page in CMU vision
site) had a project called Nouse where you can operate the computer with a
video camera using your nose. The nose doesn't touch anything.

~~~
melling
This product? [http://www.nouse.ca](http://www.nouse.ca)

~~~
auvi
yes this one! it didn't show up in the first 10 in my google search for
"Nouse".

------
fillskills
Great example of adaptability and resilience. I understand a little bit about
her pain as I had to move to my left hand after experience pains in my right.
Though I did nothing as extreme as the OP.

Thanks for the inspiration Michelle

------
meepmorp
Just reading the responses here - am I the only person who has zero problem
using a trackpad and keyboard with my hands for >=8 hours a day? Maybe it's
that I'm not a designer and so the precision of my motions isn't such that I'd
experience problems like this. I think the only problem I've ever had was back
when I tried using a Microsoft Natural keyboard, and my hands were sore after
an hour.

Also, good for her, finding a solution that works well for her, strange though
it seems at first blush. I like her work, too.

~~~
dendory
Same, using computers every waking moment, no wrist issue. Personally I
attribute it to the way I type. I never learned to type 'properly', instead I
use two fingers and my hands move all over the place. I still type very fast.
No issue, tho.

------
EsotericSoft
I've tried head tracking devices and found my neck and shoulders get stressed.
I imagine the same thing would happen hunched over a trackpad with the nose.
The small neck movements are similar to head tracking.

Check out the Imak SmartGlove with Thumb, I can't use a computer without it.
Well, of course I can but it is much less comfortable. The glove plus a
Kensington Expert Mouse (which is actually a trackball with a scroll ring)
plus a good chair (eg Steelcase Leap) will help a LOT.

------
johnny99
Dominic Wilcox created something similar to this in 2011, I think as a satiric
art project. It looks like a plague doctor's mask:
[http://dominicwilcox.com/portfolio/finger-nose-
stylus/](http://dominicwilcox.com/portfolio/finger-nose-stylus/)

To see a proper implementation, which allows someone to work at a high level,
is awesome.

------
qwerta
My cousin was born without hands. He is using his feets for most things. Today
he is 22, he drives a car, handles computer and tablets... His typing is ok,
so he could be programmer if he chooses to. And he wants (and probably will)
to move to his own place.

He does not use special devices, just big mouse and large AT/IBM keyboard.

------
Morphling
I just wonder if she could've easily fixed all the issues by changing her
mouse or how she hold it instead of opting for this nose-touch-pad.

If she is still doing thous 11-15 hour work days and her neck doesn't get
tiered, I really think she might have had too hard of a grip on her mouse or
just a bad mouse in general.

------
bilalq
This is really amazing and inspiring to see. Every now and then, I get scared
when thinking about what would happen if my eyes or my hands started to lose
functionality.

I sometimes feel pain in my pinky fingers when typing, forcing me to adapt to
using only my other fingers.

~~~
samatman
If it's your right pinky, remap your backspace key immediately. Caps lock is
my choice, and I make backspace into a proper (forward) delete key. This has
eliminated all typing pain for me.

~~~
bilalq
It's impacting both of them, but mostly my left. I only ever hit the Shift key
with that one, and usually use my right middle finger to hit backspace.

------
arihant
This is something that might sound tangential, but using nose as an input
medium is not the worst idea, even with perfectly capable hands.

I've been using my nose awkwardly a lot on Android Wear, and honestly, this
article makes me much better about it. We have so many screens, so many
interfaces, yet only two hands. Anytime I'm typing, driving, running, my nose
does the job on the smartwatch. I'm sure a lot of people have been doing it.

I wish there was more studies regarding these, most that I find keep talking
about gestures, which I think is overdoing things, which humans tend to do at
first with every problem we try to solve.

------
unclesaamm
Or: how I developed carpal tunnel in my neck

Just kidding. Glad to see such resourcefulness.

------
owenwil
This is awesome. Fun to see someone trying something new and pushing the
boundaries of how computer interaction is done, considering how stressful on
the body it can be to use a mouse.

------
sdfjkl
Upon watching the video, my first thought was: I should try this! Not because
I have RSI (used to though), but because it seems an excellent solution for
keeping my hands on the keyboard whilst having a third "hand" for the pointer,
thereby increasing overall speed and efficiency. If it is possible to achieve
the same accuracy, this should be great.

I even happen to have one of those touchpads.

------
acqq
Also worth taking a look:

"The Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists of the World"

[http://www.vdmfk.com/worldwide/en.html](http://www.vdmfk.com/worldwide/en.html)

"VDMFK supports and promotes artists who, due to disability or disease, cannot
create their works of art with their hands, but have to use their mouths or
their feet."

------
m48
I also have hand problems. I use speech recognition to type everything,
including code, and a game controller to move around the mouse. The controller
I'm currently using, a PS4 controller, has a trackpad in the middle, so I was
able to mash that against my face and give her technique a shot.

It works better than you'd think. The PS4 trackpad isn't exactly brilliant,
but I can move around the mouse and click on what I want to with some
accuracy. Of course, the trackpad on the controller is very small and not very
accurate, so it's not really practical for artwork or anything. But, with a
better, larger trackpad, I can imagine this technique actually working. I
might give it a shot at some point.

I am a bit worried about the inevitable neck and nose pain, though. I wish she
had gone into a little more detail about how she avoids that. Maybe she just
has a neck of steel?

For the curious, these are some other resources I've found about people
working around RSI. Most of these are about using Dragon NaturallySpeaking to
code by voice, since that's what I'm most interested in, but I think it's
still interesting.

There really needs to be a list somewhere for open-source workarounds to
disabilities. To the best of my knowledge, there really isn't one.

Natlink + Dragon NaturallySpeaking:

(NatLink, which lets you make custom speech commands for Dragon in Python, is
currently being developed at
[http://qh.antenna.nl/unimacro/index.html](http://qh.antenna.nl/unimacro/index.html),
but that site's pretty incomprehensible. The original author's site is at
[http://www.synapseadaptive.com/joel/welcomeapage.htm](http://www.synapseadaptive.com/joel/welcomeapage.htm).
It's pretty out of date, but explains the fundamentals of the system better, I
think.)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SkdfdXWYaI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SkdfdXWYaI)
(don't bother looking around, the source code of this was never released)

[https://github.com/simianhacker/code-by-
voice](https://github.com/simianhacker/code-by-voice)

[https://github.com/tgrosinger/aenea-
grammars](https://github.com/tgrosinger/aenea-grammars)

Libraries for using Dragon NaturallySpeaking on Linux with VMs:

[https://github.com/dictation-toolbox/aenea](https://github.com/dictation-
toolbox/aenea)

[https://github.com/russell/damselfly](https://github.com/russell/damselfly)

It seems a post about this kind of thing pops up about every other month or
so. I'm thinking of showing off my system here when I polish it up a bit. It's
not nearly as complicated as some of these other ones, but I'm beginning to
get pretty close to normal typing speed coding by voice.

~~~
iamcreasy
> don't bother looking around, the source code of this was never released

But the video like has a comment(1 week old) from Tavis Rudd linking github
repository of his code : [https://github.com/dictation-
toolbox](https://github.com/dictation-toolbox).

And about your setup, please do post it! :)

~~~
m48
I'm not completely sure it's his code. In his comments, he says it is for
"those who are interested in trying something like this," and the readmes of
most of the repos thank Tavis Rudd for inspiration, which would be a little
strange if he wrote them. It might be based on his system, though, since he
said he had privately sent some people his code. I haven't looked into it too
much, though.

You can find my setup on GitHub fairly easily right now (my screenname's the
same), but at the moment a good portion of the code is embarrassingly
terrible. Making voice commands to code while using those voice commands to
code is predictably awkward. Besides, I want to write some documentation on
how to get it working and stuff.

------
Kluny
Great story, and great reminder not to let minor pains progress to the point
where they cripple you. I say this as someone whose right thumb is in a brace
due to deQuervain's tendosynovitis, brought on by banging too hard on
spacebars.

------
zameerb
Speaking as someone who has done quite a few of these Carpal tunnel surgeries,
the story do not fit very well with it. The symptoms are worse at night and
tremors are unusual. Common complaints are pain, pin and needle sensation,
weakness

~~~
berdon
Carpal tunnel symptoms present in many different ways. For instance, I have no
pain at night, only "buzzing" and numbness in my fingers with decreased grip
strength.

------
malkia
Reminds of this TED with Phil Hansen: Embrace the shake -
[http://www.ted.com/talks/phil_hansen_embrace_the_shake?langu...](http://www.ted.com/talks/phil_hansen_embrace_the_shake?language=en)

------
colordrops
I know that this is off topic, but what a beautifully designed website!

~~~
imron
Beautiful maybe, but in my opinion, multiple columns for continuous text makes
for a bad UX.

I've seen this starting to popup in a few websites recently and it always
annoys me.

~~~
sebie
On my tablet it does look good-ish, with two columns, but still, two columns..

~~~
imron
Multiple columns would be fine if the page scrolled horizontally, or if all
the content fit nicely on one screen and didn't need to be scrolled
vertically, but having columns with vertical scrolling just breaks how I
typically read websites.

Typically when reading something on the web I scroll as I go which means that
when I get to the end of column one it's in about the middle of the screen.
Now I need to scroll back in the opposite direction because the top of column
2 is now off the screen and then read back down again.

It really breaks the flow of reading.

------
quantgenius
Hi Michelle, I was wondering if you had tried the Tyler Twist or the reverse
Tyler Twist. I had tennis elbow and golfer's elbow and nothing worked until I
tried those exercises.

------
djloche
This is an excellent modern example of the tenacity of humanity.

------
ballpoint
You obviously have a nose for good design.

Seriously though, that is awesome.

------
deepGem
And here I am complaining about the weather. You are a true inspiration. Great
going Michelle and I hope that one day your epicondilytis gets cured.

------
kirk21
Wow, impressive!

Had pain in my arm as well in the past (it was not very severe but annoying).
Using a mouse with a trackball solved the issue for me.

------
enigami
A need or problem encourages creative efforts to meet the need or solve the
problem - Necessity is the mother of Invention. Kudos!!

------
owenversteeg
Am I the only one that can't load the site? There are just blank spots
everywhere. Chrome 39.0.2171.95 (64-bit), Arch Linux.

------
yourad_io
Just FYI - if you're interested, make sure to read the full story in No.2.
"Read more" shows the rest of it.

------
brandonhsiao
Wow, I bet The Setup would love to interview you:

[http://usesthis.com/](http://usesthis.com/)

------
plicense
I just went "Holy shit" when I read this article and realized what a lazy
dumba*s I am.

------
bhaumik
This, my friends, is a good ole fashioned "hack."

------
known
I salute your perseverance.

------
thisjepisje
Don't we all use our nose for a keypress or swipe every now and then? :P

------
caser
This is amazing.

------
bbarn
Only one mention of a doctor, once in the whole page, and he says to give it a
rest and she'll be ok. Then she says she spends 50% of the time using her
hands normally? No mention of further deterioration, or further attempts to
figure out the problem? It seems like it's more important to her to say "look
I am clever" than actually solve the problem here.

~~~
michael_nielsen
The article is about the amazing things she's doing, how she's doing them,
and, more broadly, all the fun she's having with design. It will benefit many
people. She's under no obligation to report the details of her medical
investigations.

~~~
nailer
Adding medical information would benefit those people more.

------
brianbarker
Integrate a tissue on the nose pad and you're ready for any season!

------
Tombone5
tl;dr. Young ambitious person gets first chance at job she is trained for,
feels pressure to work long hours without complaint. Because of too much work,
now she can't use her arms half of the time, instead draws with nose and made
portfolio site with nose-drawing as central focus.

~~~
stefantalpalaru
There's also the part where she moved to a country with very expensive health
care.

------
roseperrone
RSI is curable almost always! Read "Pain Free at Your PC" or "Pain Free" by
Pete Egoscue. Message me and I'll gift either to you.

------
IanDrake
Neat, but something tells me this won't be catching on.

~~~
sfeng
If you think this is about that specific accommodation, I think you're missing
the point a bit.

------
sukilot
Most people tend to get RSI when they first he very active in computer
work,and after a year or so they find a healthy posture and their hands
strengthen and it isn't an issue.

This article seems like a gimmick by someone who wants to be special instead
of using perfectly effective solutions. Or it is a joke.

~~~
jakobegger
I think it's pretty presumptuous to claim that this person is suffering from
RSI and should just "find a healthy posture".

There are very many causes for wrist pain, ranging from carpal tunnel syndrome
to osteoarthritis. A bad posture might contribute to wrist pain, but even the
best posture won't cure someone suffering from gout.

The author hasn't shared the reason for her wrist pain, most likely because
she doesn't know the reason herself. She knows that her wrists hurt when she
uses them too much.

Please don't belittle other people's ways of coping with imperfections.

~~~
andyfleming
Not defending the original commenter, but to be fair, she did mention RSI
specifically in the article.

    
    
        I'd somehow managed to complete my first project course without making my RSI worse

~~~
jakobegger
The way I understood the story was that she didn't know what the problem with
her hands was, but she called it RSI for lack of a better word. I didn't read
that line as stating she was actually diagnosed with RSI.

But even if she had meant it that way, it's still presumptuous to claim a
better posture would cure her.

