Comment by lordnacho | Hacker News Reader

Comment by lordnacho | Hacker News Reader

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Weirdly I don't seem to have the two main problems that coders report: back pain and hand/wrist pain.

I always keep a straight posture. Either I'm standing, or I'm sitting with my back straight. I make sure I don't slouch, because that's what causes pain. Used to feel natural to slouch, but now it feels natural to puff my chest out. Also, walking on a treadmill while reading makes it impossible to slouch.

With my wrists, I'm not sure I get it. Surely people are not actually typing all the time? I spend a lot of time looking at the code by using the touchpad. A lot of slidey-two-fingers to scroll the text. But also I hardly type much when coding. I type in something, let smart complete fill in the line, hit tab. But it's not even that much text to type in. Most of the work is looking at things and thinking. Perhaps it's the height of the table, I have a movey-up-down table that I adjust so I'm not uncomfortable. But basically I never have wrist pain, whether I'm standing or sitting.

I stopped having back pain when I started working out. Hand pain I don’t actually get from typing, but trackpad use is rough. I use a mouse now and it’s much better.

I've found some wrist stretches from yoga practices that have helped after a day of too much trackpad use, but I agree avoiding it as much as possible is better. If you have to use a laptop frequently, getting used to doing everything by keyboard will save your wrists some work.

I've had both.

The back pain was instigated by moving, driving across the country, helping someone out with yard work slinging rock, and then going for a post-thanksgiving run, which broke this camel's back. Lumbar shaping is very, very important for the lower spine. You can do it with muscles, or you can do it with things. I used a 10 dollar IKEA chair + grippy bottom + a rolled towel. You roll the towel until it's the right size to create a slight arch. No rulers or drill sergeants necessary. It's also important to note that the drive to/from work is doing just as much damage as being at work, so using the towel in the driver's seat is a godsend.

The wrist pain was instigated by working on a laptop during a 1+hr train commute. I kind of looked like Groot (Despicable Me) prancing around, minus the prancing. I tried pretty much everything, but what stuck was the Evoluent mouse. It allows you to use the mouse without arm pronation (pronation forces the carpal region into a binding/constricted position). It's ~100 bucks but a single doctors visit costs more than that.

Happy coding.

Some people are certainly more predisposed to things than others.

> I make sure I don't slouch, because that's what causes pain

For you? It doesn't for me.

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