Re:Ask YC: What to do with repetitive strain injury problems?
by mtrimpe on Sunday May 25, 2008 @05:42PM
(#199745)
One thing that has always worked for me is increasing your awareness of the muscles and tendons in your hand and arms. Whenever I feel RSI coming up I start typing more slowly and make sure that every movement becomes very soft and gentle.
You'll also learn that when you type more slowly you can still get as much done because your mind has more time to think the problem over while you're typing the code you've already decided you are going to type.
You'll start to notice the little stresses you've learned to ignore and every time you notice a little bit of stress you'll adjust your movement into a more gentle way of interacting with your computer.
As you do this more and more you'll find that your shoulders start relaxing, your neck becomes more relaxed; your breathing slows down and you adjust your computer so that your arms feel featherlight and then your wrists start moving in more fluid movements and your fingers start moving across the keyboard with less resistance until the point at which you might notice that the only stressor left is the tactile pressure of your keyboard and the curvature of your wrists; and then you're ready to try out the keyboard that works best for you and your problems are gone.
When you do this it will become automatic and you'll learn to speed up and slow down back into this mode whenever you feel stress building up again.
You'll also learn that when you type more slowly you can still get as much done because your mind has more time to think the problem over while you're typing the code you've already decided you are going to type.
You'll start to notice the little stresses you've learned to ignore and every time you notice a little bit of stress you'll adjust your movement into a more gentle way of interacting with your computer.
As you do this more and more you'll find that your shoulders start relaxing, your neck becomes more relaxed; your breathing slows down and you adjust your computer so that your arms feel featherlight and then your wrists start moving in more fluid movements and your fingers start moving across the keyboard with less resistance until the point at which you might notice that the only stressor left is the tactile pressure of your keyboard and the curvature of your wrists; and then you're ready to try out the keyboard that works best for you and your problems are gone.
When you do this it will become automatic and you'll learn to speed up and slow down back into this mode whenever you feel stress building up again.