Hi fellow programmers.
How do you ensure to prevent RSI and/or manage RSI? Especially with your hands and arms.
For those who don’t know, RSI is a disorder that occurs when repeating the same movements too much for a long period of time. This frequently occurs when sitting behind a desk and using keyboard and mouse the entire day.
I personally have a great (but expensive) chair with arm rests and have a slightly ergonomic mouse (it has a curve, to make it more comfortable for my thumb).
Honestly, I dislike having to disrupt my computer activities every hour, because I’m usually quite immersed / invested into whatever I’m doing. Whether that’s watching a movie, developing an app or simply playing videogames. However, I’ll probably have to start taking frequent breaks, in order to prevent RSI from taking a hold in my body. Unfortunately, we only get one body, one chance, so let’s not mess it up with neglecting breaks and acquiring RSI.
Two things.
- And the most important one. My guitar teacher taught me that. Whenever I feel pain in my wrists, hands or fingers I stop, no matter what. I take a break, see how it goes afterwards and if it’s not better I stop doing what I did for the rest of the day. Of course sometimes it’s important work stuff that needs to be done. As for me, most of the times it’s my right hand that hurts from mouse useage, I switch sides and get urgent things done, but still stop afterwards.
- Sports, as usually, building up muscles in my hands and arms helps me personally. Not sure if there is scientific evidence for that.
But yea, number 1 is the most important thing, no job is worth having pain for the rest of your life.
I got a Logitech M570 wireless trackball mouse because I do a lot of CADD work. It allow me to keep my shoulders and arm at a comfortable neutral position and reduce strain on my mouse hand’s wrist. Also allows me to work from basically anywhere on my laptop without the hassle and limitations of a trackpad or traditional mouse that requires a flat surface. One flick of my thumb and I can send my cursor sailing across three monitors. Obviously all of your advice is still very applicable. And people do mock me for my funky mouse, but I don’t care because my wrist doesn’t hurt any more. And, I will absolutely crush anyone in a thumb war now, so I got that going for me.
Split keyboard is what worked for me. I started with a hand built ergodox, but now think that that’s huge. I currently only use my crkbd keyboards. It really is astounding that the “normal” keyboard is what people decided is best with how absolutely terrible it is in just about every way. Minimizing finger movement and splitting your hands apart should be your main priorities.
I think the thing that helped my wrist paint the best is getting a split keyboard. I also ended up learning how to mouse with my left hand, and for me that’s helped, too. (And actually with how I set up my layout on my keyboard makes me a little more productive.
I had a scare a while back with numbness in my pinkies and ring fingers. Did some research and that’s ulnar nerve issues, not carpal tunnel. It’s a big nerve that goes all the way from your shoulder to your pinky/ring finger, so I addressed all the places it could be getting pinched.
Chest: Split keyboard helped me a TON here. I keep gaining weight as I get older and realized holding my hands close enough together to type on a normal keyboard requires constant tension in my chest. Split keyboard not only relieves that tension but makes it easier for me to keep my shoulders rolled back. I read all about the ergodox and the benefits of columnar layouts etc. etc. Bought an ergodox and work was too busy to take the time to relearn typing on it, so I got a kinesis freestyle edge RGB which is just a standard keyboard that’s split. Is it as good for you as the fancier options? No. But did it solve my chest tension issues with zero downtime to relearn typing on a new layout? Yes.
Elbow: Invest in a good chair, with good adjustable armrests.
Wrist: Got an MX Vertical mouse and have been very happy with it. Took me a little bit to get used to, but after a day it feels pretty natural. This keeps you from twisting your forearm, and kept me from wresting the corner of my wrist on my desk. I keep a vertical mouse and a standard mouse on my desk, standard for gaming and vertical for everything else. If you don’t want to spend the $$ on the logitech, Anker makes a vertical mouse that’s like $25 or something.
Re-iterating what a lot of other people said: Just listen to your body and don’t ignore stuff. Not a Dr. but I’ve heard a lot that this is the kind of stuff that if you respond to it as soon as it starts you can stop it from progressing, but if you ignore it for months it can become permanent damage that surgery may or may not even help with.
Ergo keyboard and vertical mouse.
I’m currently using the Logitech K860 and the Logitech MX Vertical. Easy rec - cost effective, easy to get comfortable with as opposed to the more intense/expensive options.
Made a huge difference for me.
Yeah, it’s a lot to pay for a keyboard that might not work out for you. That’s why I suggest the Logitech.
I’d prefer one without the numpad, personally like the old Microsoft Sculpt, but for some reason MS refuses to update that keyboard to a more modern, lower latency wireless tech.
I’m currently flirting with some of the mechanical options like the Moonlander, but haven’t yet pulled the trigger on that one.
As for the mouse, seriously the vertical mouse made a HUGE difference for me. More than the keyboard honestly.
