
Ask HN: Do you have wrist or hand injuries? - brian-armstrong
I&#x27;m curious how prevalent wrist and hand injuries are amongst programmers. I haven&#x27;t come across good statistics on this, and it seems like it could be a moderate professional risk. It&#x27;s hard to tell who has hand&#x2F;wrist pain but doesn&#x27;t talk about or just ignore it, who&#x27;s had corrective surgery, etc.<p>Also, do you use preventative measures like ergonomic keyboards and mice?
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tbirrell
I'm more concerned about constant keyboard use exacerbating existing injuries.
I don't have any _caused_ by computer use, but all my fingers are double
jointed and have a tendency to get hyperextended and hurt doing other things,
such as playing american football (though I have injured my hand doing
something as trivial as tucking a bedsheet in), so I'm carful about what
keyboards I used since the tap-tap-tap all day will hurt otherwise.

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accrual
I've been a computer user since age 3. I only started developing RSI when I
began computing as a profession.

Within the first year I experienced prominent wrist pain, primarily in the
mouse hand. I had to deal with many applications across three 1920x1200
monitors.

Things that helped:

> I used a Wacom Bamboo tablet for several months to completely replace the
> mouse. I became pretty skilled at using it and it helped a lot with the RSI.
> It was a good experience and it's nice hardware for the cost, too.

> I bought a pair of wrist braces from Amazon. I used them while working and
> while sleeping. They provided excellent pain relief by keeping my wrists
> fixed and stable.

> A mechanical keyboard. I've bought and used several, but an old Das Keyboard
> with MX brown switches remains my favorite and most comfortable keyboard.
> I'm sure an ergonomic variety would be even better but I'm comfortable with
> the standard QWERTY.

> I gradually increased my mouse sensitivity. This was one of the most
> important changes, as my hand no longer needed to travel as far to
> accomplish the same tasks. My window configuration was already pretty
> optimal for me.

My RSI resolved within a year or so. I stopped using the braces and Wacom
tablet but keep them on hand just in case.

I haven't had any problems since.

