RFI: Help with Repetitive Strain (RSI) and Computers

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

I have RSI, in my right hand especially, and it's flaring up this week...can you recommend cool computer software/exercises/weird ergonomic things i should buy to make it less horrible? It's also making it tough to post on ILX :(

I have a G4 laptop that I use at home, and at work I have a PC. I use a mouse at work, and a trackpad (gah!) at home...

And has anyone had any luck seeing a doctor about this? Obv. there's no medicine (I was told to take some ibuprofen) but is there something they can do?

Thanks!

― geeta (geeta), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 23:14 (nineteen years ago)

Get yourself a yellow and a blue one of these

― k/l (Ken L), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 23:19 (nineteen years ago)

It's also making it tough to post on ILX :(

consider that a blessing.

(i miss your posts though!)

― mies van der rohffle (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 23:20 (nineteen years ago)

this book is pretty helpful

― k/l (Ken L), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 23:26 (nineteen years ago)

1. Stop using that trackpad RIGHT NOW. Go and get a mouse. NOW. I mean it!
2. Learn to use your mouse with both hands, and then swap between them every so often. This takes a couple of days to master at most and will dramatically reduce the strain on your hands.
3. Get a separate keyboard for your laptop and use it whenever possible. This allows you to position the laptop screen at a level which is comfortable for your neck and back without straining your arms. Plus crappy laptop keyboards aren't the best things to type on anyway.
4. Consider buying a decent trackball. These are actually slightly worse than mice if you use them as your only pointing device, but can be useful if you want to give your hands and wrists a change from continually exercising the same muscles.

― RickyT (RickyT), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 00:07 (nineteen years ago)

Presumably seeing a doctorb is not an immediate resource?

Wrist support.

I have tendinitis in both wrists, and I use a series of stretches and warm-up exercises before I use the computer. Extend your right arm with the top of your forearm facing up; with your other hand, bend your right hand down so that it's perpendicular to your arm (i.e. palm facing towards you), and pull gently for a 30 count. Do it again, but with the underside of your forearm up this time/palm facing away from you.

Also, make a fist with your hand and rotate about 20x, clockwise and then anticlockwise, then up and down, then side to side.

Ice is also extremely useful.

― Keep the juices flowing by jangling around gentleee as you move (Leee), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 06:19 (nineteen years ago)

thanks dudes! keep those ideas coming in...

― geeta, Wednesday, 7 December 2005 18:56 (nineteen years ago)

Actually, I know a really good acupuncturist in the West Village, if you want to go that route.

― k/l (Ken L), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 18:58 (nineteen years ago)

Actually, the most effective way of getting over your RSI is probably the most impractical: amputation and bionic replacement.

That, or a cessation of computer activity.

― Keep the juices flowing by jangling around gentleee as you move (Leee), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 19:20 (nineteen years ago)

Also, make sure that you don't overcompensate with the other hand, unless you want a matching pair of wrists!

― Keep the juices flowing by jangling around gentleee as you move (Leee), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 19:57 (nineteen years ago)

one year passes...

Owwwww, mousefinger! Anybody else in this joint ever get stabbing pains in their right index finger from mouse clicking? I had to go back to a one-button mouse and my old style of clicking with middle and ring finger.

― Rock Hardy, Monday, 2 July 2007 15:29 (eighteen years ago)

Yes. :(

Try not to use mouse-finger outside of work.

― Ms Misery, Monday, 2 July 2007 15:31 (eighteen years ago)

With a name like Rock Hardy, I suspect that it ain't your comp mouse tha's the cause. ;-)

― nathalie, Monday, 2 July 2007 15:32 (eighteen years ago)

change mouse hands.

― koogs, Monday, 2 July 2007 16:16 (eighteen years ago)

I've tried basically every style of mouse ever made, and this one is the most ergo:

http://i4.ebayimg.com/07/i/000/a7/98/cac3_1.JPG

― libcrypt, Monday, 2 July 2007 17:28 (eighteen years ago)

They go for $50-$100 on eBay, and if you want to use one with a Mac, you have to get this, since generic PS2->USB adapters won't work with it:

http://imagescl.ziotek.com/images/prod_main/P10134a.jpg

― libcrypt, Monday, 2 July 2007 17:30 (eighteen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.