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.
I mainly use ergonomics. I got a chair that works for me, I switched to a Kinesis Freestyle Pro, I switched to a trackball mouse, I raised my monitors up, and if I’m going to be doing a bunch of typing, I throw on wrist braces with aluminum stays.
The split keyboard and better posture were the biggest wins for me. The whole mechanical keyboard fad has been terrible for people’s wrists.
Other things I’ve heard worked for some people that are worth trying: warm gloves or compression gloves. Apparently some people get pain in their wrists from typing in cold environments (like an office). Taking breaks, doing wrist stretches, and having hobbies that use your hands differently can certainly help.
I don’t have a source for the efficacy, but I’ve been doing rice bucket training, which seems to help, at least in the short term. I think the idea is that RSI is often caused by or exacerbated by muscle imbalances in the hand, so working the muscles you don’t use for computer work can alleviate and prevent problems.
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.
Is there anyone with RSI or a carpal tunnel? If so, at what age did it start to develop, and does it comes suddenly or is there a warning you may miss or ignore?
I’ve spent most of my life in front of a PC. Since most of my hobbies are on a computer, and I work at a computer with which I started at a very young age (basically ever since I got a dreamcast when I was 4), and aside from also thankfully being forced to do sports at least once a week for most of my life (which I unfortunately stopped a few years ago, apart from ballroom dance from time to time - and I’m 27 now), I’m literally almost all the time in front of a PC. I never had problems with any kind of pain regarding wrists or hands, but from what I’ve heard carpal and RSI is something that can come pretty suddenly and it’s not a good time. Is that true and should I start worrying, or will I probably notice when the time comes?
I have carpal tunnel in my right wrist at the age of 29. It seemed like it started fairly quickly a few years ago. One week I started noticing my wrist was really stiff and would get pretty uncomfortable if I left it in the wrong position for too long. Looking back, there may have been a few warning signs that I needed to take more care of my hands and wrists, but I didn’t really think about them when they happened. For example, I had noticed a couple times when a certain movement (specifically, holding modifier keys) would be a little painful for a day or two then it would go away.
As far as what to do to prevent it, most of the other posts have good advice, make sure to take breaks consistently and stretching is important. I also ice my wrist a few times throughout the day now, and that definitely helps.
I don’t think you need to actively worry about it, but trying to change some of your habits now before anything starts to hurt is probably the best way to avoid having any trouble.
