Repetitive Strain Injuries

[Sir Vivor]

Either my forum searches were incompetent, or nobody ever raised the issue of RSI while writing..?

I'll just share a very unpleasant experience I had after I had written a book, many years ago (in this galaxy, btw). I managed to give myself RSI that was so bad I had to stop using the computer for almost an entire year. Not handy if you're supposed to make a living out of writing stuff.

The good news is that RSI can be avoided, or kept under control, by reasonable ergonomic counter-measures. For the past 20 years, I type on a Microsoft Natural (old model, with bulge in middle) keyboard. That gives me the proper wrist angle (namely, there should be no angle: wrists should be an extension of lower arms). Then there's the wretched mice.. during my RSI clicking a mouse was pretty horrible, like receiving an electrical shock each and every time. So the mouse got replaced by graphics tablets. Been using those for 20 years too, now. No more mouse clicks. And - touch wood - RSI symptoms that rarely resurface.

As a grey-haired (wise?) owl, I'll add to the younger folk here: sitting all day long in front of a computer, and doing lots and lots of mental lifting.. is not what the human body was designed to do. It is incredibly unhealthy.. and is often due to being addicted to one's own intellectual travels and general mental fun. I'm sure RSI could be avoided altogether if we just got up and walked a lot more regularly, but I haven't found a way to impose that on myself.. :-(

 

[HareBrain]

So the mouse got replaced by graphics tablets.

Same for me -- it was the mouse rather than keyboard that caused my problems (though in my case the mouse usage was work-related rather than writing).

I've also found using the graphics tablet to be much more efficient than using a mouse.

 

[tinkerdan]

I'm 66 years old and have been at my present job for almost 30 years and that means I sit or stand at a computer all day at work and then come home and sit at the computer to write. I use a standard keyboard and mouse and have tried various other methods and prior to this job I worked for a number of years with an old intergraph workstation that had a keyboard and mouse and a huge(size of E size drafting paper)digitizing table. I do miss that table.

But to get back to the OP, I learned typing on a standard typewriter(they started getting electric the same year I was beginning to learn) I wrote my first two novel attempts on a standard Smith Corona. I have no trouble with standard keyboards, I tried that ergonomic one from Microsoft and gave it back. I've tried various types of mouse type instruments from trackballs to one with a resistive crosshair loop that had 9 buttons. Right now I wouldn't trade my optical mouse with scroll wheel for anything else. If I ever go with a digitizing pad it will have to be quite large and those are beyond my means.

As for repetitive injuries; I've come close to having those especially when I was using a trackball and have found that exercise with various available tools helps.(Squish balls are great.) At work I have a desk I can stand at and a high stool for when I want to sit at that desk.

I do about one hour and 15 min of isometric exercises every morning before running off to work and once or twice a week a bit more vigorous exercise. Despite the fact I slouch a lot when I sit I have no RSI.(Except perhaps to the brain.)

 

[Sir Vivor]

Since my RSI had such an impact on me, I looked into this in some depth, and found that RSI definitely doesn't curse everyone that spends 8+ hours at a computer. If you've got a nervous or tense disposition, then the odds of you getting it, are much higher. I guess people with a more relaxed physical posture can stay clear of RSI. The best article I ever read about it even pinpointed the problem in the brain, and not any muscles or nerves or joints or anything classically physical. The article claimed the brain can get its own knickers in a twist, so to speak, while trying to optimise the instructions of highly repetitive, *accurate* moves. Hence pianists, tennis players, and so on, can also get RSI. The solution, according to the article, was to do physical exercises with the same body parts, but trying to do very different manipulations, e.g. playing dominoes blind folded. I tried that for months, and didn't noticeably help.

 

[Mike Donoghue]

Since my RSI had such an impact on me, I looked into this in some depth, and found that RSI definitely doesn't curse everyone that spends 8+ hours at a computer. If you've got a nervous or tense disposition, then the odds of you getting it, are much higher. I guess people with a more relaxed physical posture can stay clear of RSI. The best article I ever read about it even pinpointed the problem in the brain, and not any muscles or nerves or joints or anything classically physical. The article claimed the brain can get its own knickers in a twist, so to speak, while trying to optimise the instructions of highly repetitive, *accurate* moves. Hence pianists, tennis players, and so on, can also get RSI. The solution, according to the article, was to do physical exercises with the same body parts, but trying to do very different manipulations, e.g. playing dominoes blind folded. I tried that for months, and didn't noticeably help.

Do you have a name or link to that article? I have my own chronic pain condition that I have found little relief from. The best remedy so far has been only to do things that I am willing to stand the pain for.

 

[sknox]

The mouse did me in as well. For me, it was Photoshop, around version 3 or so. The web was new and I was utterly captivated with making graphical menus and that sort of nonsense. Drop shadows! I spent hours and hours moving the mouse in tiny increments and after months of this ... oh, hey, my hand hurts.

So I taught myself to use the mouse with my left hand. That saved the muscles and nerves in the right, I'm convinced. Also it lets me tell people I'm ambi-mousterous.

What gets me now is my phone. I play games on my phone, more than I ought or will confess to, but I also read on my phone. The result is I might hold that critter for a couple of hours at a stretch. That last is the key word. The current gen of phones is just big enough that I have to stretch my hand to hold it, and after a while the wrist really begins to ache. I've thought about switching to this alternative medium called print books, but I dunno. I'm old (hey, tinkerdan, I'm 66 as well) and resistant to change. Except spare change.

 

[tinkerdan]

For myself--since I haven't read much on the subject--when it comes to mousing around and the aches and pains. I've noticed that when I'm working on something that requires total concentration on the subject matter, that's when I'm prone to feel the onset of pain and it's less repetition than it is freezing or holding the hand rigid in one place while occasionally mousing around and clicking or wheeling.(It really is as though all my mental tension has been transferred to that spot where the wrist rests on the table or mouse pad.) To alleviate that I've left a large enough sphere of surface for moving my mouse pad around and that change relieves the buildup of tension that seems to be the real problem for me.

I was worse with trackballs because then It was the wrist and the fingers with one trackball and the thumb right at the wrist with another.

Whenever I become aware that I'm hyper focused and my hand is tense, I move the pad and the mouse and flex my hand and if I have the squeeze ball handy I use that for a moment. Getting up for coffee helps too.

It never ceases to amaze me that I still catch myself clutching the mouse hard when I'm hardly using it at all and I have to force myself to chill for a moment.

@sknox I'm with you on the resistance to change and spare change; however don't short change me--I can still change my own shorts, at least for another few years.

 

[Mike Donoghue]

I

For myself--since I haven't read much on the subject--when it comes to mousing around and the aches and pains. I've noticed that when I'm working on something that requires total concentration on the subject matter, that's when I'm prone to feel the onset of pain and it's less repetition than it is freezing or holding the hand rigid in one place while occasionally mousing around and clicking or wheeling.(It really is as though all my mental tension has been transferred to that spot where the wrist rests on the table or mouse pad.) To alleviate that I've left a large enough sphere of surface for moving my mouse pad around and that change relieves the buildup of tension that seems to be the real problem for me.

I was worse with trackballs because then It was the wrist and the fingers with one trackball and the thumb right at the wrist with another.

Whenever I become aware that I'm hyper focused and my hand is tense, I move the pad and the mouse and flex my hand and if I have the squeeze ball handy I use that for a moment. Getting up for coffee helps too.

It never ceases to amaze me that I still catch myself clutching the mouse hard when I'm hardly using it at all and I have to force myself to chill for a moment.

@sknox I'm with you on the resistance to change and spare change; however don't short change me--I can still change my own shorts, at least for another few years.

Years ago (2012), I found great help in an ergonomic mouse. The Orthomouse was the best option for me and continues to be.

 

[Lumens]

So I taught myself to use the mouse with my left hand. That saved the muscles and nerves in the right, I'm convinced. Also it lets me tell people I'm ambi-mousterous.

I have done this as well. It works for me too.