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.
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.