Ask HN: Precautions for RSI?
I am a CS student and I rarely get wrist pain. I know it won't always be like that so has anybody got advice to prevent RSI before it happens? Any advice would be helpful.
Personally I use a https://shop.goldtouch.com/products/goldtouch-go2-wireless-b... keyboard at 30 degree angle , lowered desk and try to keep my arms at 90 degrees.
Since, I have gone to laptops. When I work, they sit [2] in my lap. Touchpad and Trackpoint mean no reaching for a mouse and no mouse hand pain. Something that I have experienced off and on since my first mouse in 1989.
I've never bothered getting diagnosed with RSI. When I have pain, I look for the ergonomic cause. My wrist pains have almost always been from wresting my forearm on an abrupt edge of a desk/keyboard/laptop. The first time I focused on ergonomics was around 2003. I bought a plastic topped folding table with a large radius corner to replace my desk. Worked like a charm. In environments I did not control, I have used a towel to dampen sharp edges. When I occasionally have aches theses days, I do the palm up, fingers pulled down stretch that can be found on the internet for carpel tunnel. As I get older, I appreciate stretching more in general.
Anyway, my big advice is that working hard often produces some level of pain. Don't necessarily ignore it, but don't immediately pathologize it either. Look at ergonomic factors in the environment first...the ergonomics of traditional computer use tend to be very poor...but they are slowly improving...except keyboards.
Good luck.
[1]: Microsoft Natural Egonomic 4000, which is cheap and reliable and works really well in the lap. Even before putting it in my lap it caused fewer periods of pain. Keyboards matter, http://xahlee.info/kbd/keyboarding.html
[2]: And I sit in a lounge chair with my feet up if at all possible...which it usually is.