Fighting Repetitive Stress Injury
The Problem
About a month ago my right shoulder started feeling really sore. But I kept blogging, typing, programming away. And that night the pain was so bad I couldn’t sleep. My doctor diagnosed bursitis (Dictionary: “Bursitis: inflammation of a bursa, typically one in the knee, elbow or shoulder.”) (Dictionary; “Bursa: a fluid-filled sac or saclike cavity, esp. one countering friction at a joint.”) She gave me some exercises to do, a prescription, a mandated 4 day vacation from the computer, and strongly suggested a new office chair and mouse.
The Solution
New office chair, no problem, my old one was slowly falling apart. My entire desktop though was something else. I have piles of paper stacked on nearly every flat surface near the computer, books to read, manuals to help me, and lots of cables hooked to my Powerbook (power, speaker cable to my monitor, monitor cable, ethernet, firewire 800 cable to my hard drive, USB cable to my keyboard, then the mouse cable from my keyboard, iPod charger on firewire). So long term, I’m looking at getting a bluetooth keyboard and mouse. Maybe I’ll use Airport on my next computer if 802.11n is fast enough. That removes some clutter.
The Gear
I bought a Fujitsu ScanSnap S500M scanner. I’ve now scanned literally thousands of sheets of paper, and a huge part of the clutter on my desk, and kitchen table, and file cabinets, is gone.
I tried the Apple Mighty Mouse, and I hated it. I figured a trackball might be better anyway, so I ended up getting a Logitech Marble Mouse. The Marble Mouse is ok, definitely less strain on my wrist and arm. But I really miss the scroll wheel on my mouse. The scroll up and down buttons on the sides of the Marble Mouse are in a horrible position, so I think I am moving the mouse more to get to the scroll buttons on the top and bottom of the right scroll bar.
I also installed a cool little program called AntiRSI. AntiRSI simply keeps a countdown timer, and every 4 minutes, you have to take a 13 second pause. During the pause you can’t type or move the mouse. If you type or mouse, the pause timer resets. During those few seconds, I shake out my hands and wrists, or stand up and stretch. And then every 50 minutes, an 8 minute break is forced, although you can postpone the break if you must finish the thought you are working on. All of the times are configurable, so explore to see what works best for you. Sometimes the pauses or breaks are annoying, but it was much more annoying paying for medicine, X-rays, and not being able to use a computer for a few days.
For more on RSI, this Google notebook on Repetitive Stress Injury is useful.
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Dude, I’ve had a very similar problem. You have to get a riser for your MacBook Pro and get it off of the desk. You really want to avoid moving your head down to see the monitor and straining your neck. Get the computer at eye level. Griffin makes an excellent riser.
The nerves to your arms are between the c5 and c6 joints at the top of your neck. If you continually strain your neck to lower it so you can see your monitor better, you are rubbing that nerve causing problems in your arms. Rising my MacBook Pro off of my desk made all the difference in the world.
Plus, get Physical Therapy. The problem won’t just go away, but you they can show you exercises to strengthen your neck muscles.
Which chair did you end up going with? My cheap Aeron knock off is about to give up the ghost as well.
I think I am getting RSI in my wrist thanks to my new job as a photo retoucher. The desks are horrible to begin with but for some reason mine is three inches taller than the others. I have never liked trackballs but I am starting to wonder if I should give one a try. Some of the other people doing the same job have been provided with drawing tablets but no such luck for me. The chairs are also pretty bad but at the end of a 50 hour work week it is my wrist that is hurting more than anything else.
Twist – good luck trying to do photo retouching with a trackball. Seriously, try and push to get a Wacom tablet like some of the others you said have them. They’re heaven.
Welcome to the club. I use MacBreakZ at work and it’s very helpful for remembering breaks. Stretching is extremely important. I’d type more, but I have RSI. :-)
My desktop arrangement is proving to be comfortable. I use a trackball with one hand and a Griffin Powermate with the other hand. The latter is great for scrolling thru documents and web pages. The workload is divided between both hands, which seems to help for long computer sessions.
I agree that when using a laptop’s built-in screen on a desk, some type of riser is very helpful. My iBook is now perched on a Griffin Elevator stand and I’m trying out one of Apple’s new wireless keyboards along with a wireless Mighty Mouse. The keyboard is fine but the jury is still out on the MM. I miss my Powermate!!
Stretching, breathing and all of that do seem to help. I also wear wrist supports when working at the computer for more than a few minutes.
You might also like to check out my free break reminder product, Dejal Time Out. It has both micro-breaks and normal breaks… and did I mention it’s free?!
yep definately important to be comfortable when at your computer desk for hours on end.
Try the Logitech Trackman Wheel trackball. It has the ball on the left for the thumb (i.e., designed for a right-hander) and two buttons with a click wheel in between. I use it both at home and work and love it.
Technology won’t fix it, physiotherapy won’t do it either. Only one thing works:-
Stop doing what hurts.
I was developing RSI over 20 years ago, and about that time a consultant came through and gave us all talks about putting our monitors at eye level, elbows by our side, yada, yada….
I followed her advice and three weeks later the pain had got so bad I was nearly crippled, I certainly couldn’t continue work like that.
So I switched entirely and just listened to my body. I took notice of where the pain was and started doing things differently. After 6 weeks I was the poster child for bad posture, bad practice, yada, yada.
But I was pain free and have been ever since.
hey guys here is a link to some great free physiotherpay videos that can help you stay limber–
http://www.grangephysio.com/excercises
Been editing video for years using a Wacom tablet, and wouldn’t go back to a mouse for anything. Never had any wrist or shoulder problems from it.