Last night, I noticed that I had developed some really horrible pains in the joints of the fingers on my left hand. By lunchtime today, both hands were in pain. But I have too much to do to stop typing. By now, I have stabbing paints in the finger joints, wrists and forearms of both arms.
This sucks. I know I ought to stop typing, but I keep thinking "I have to do this, I have to do that". I should just have a beer or two and go to bed and read, see how I feel tomorrow.
Maybe it's the keyboard; I haven't been using the TiBook keyboard that long, so maybe the wrist position doesn't work for me. I'll try using the HHKB at work tomorrow, since that's never given me any problems in the past.
Isn't it scary, though - what would you do if you could no longer type? For many of us, that would take away our livelihood at a stroke. I'm suddenly very glad I'm doing a lot of classroom teaching this term.
I had chronic pain around 1994. I couldn't type properly for a month. It was hell--I'd slowly hunt and peck with one finger to avoid aggravating the condition. It was caused by bad posture--typing on the laptop in the evenings, slouched on the couch.
The cure was three-fold: stop doing what aggravated it, get a better setup for future work because now my hands are very sensitive to even minor desk/chair misconfigurations, and get massage and exercises to regain strength and undo as much of the damage as possible.
To this day it still bothers me. I have pins and needles occasionally, and I know to stop and stretch. It takes me forever to get a comfy setup in a new location. But I'm aware of what I have to do to prevent my livelihood from vanishing. My mother got RSI from quilting and had next to no strength in her hands by the time she was 45--taking something from her is as easy as from a baby.
Blah blah, so much to do. You're not so important you can't use the phone to communicate and suspend work on your projects for a month. If you think otherwise, it's just ego. Pull your head out of your hole and get yourself to a doctor, on the double.
--Nat
Re:RSI
kit on 2002-04-16T20:59:32
I have to second Nat, STRONGLY. Seek help now before it's too late(run don't walk). I was fairly lucky, my tendonitis was caught early enough not to require surgery, but late enough that it still bothers me from time to time if I'm not careful(read this to mean I did not seek help immediately, I honestly can't stress this enough). Also, I happen to know a former programmer who had to retire at age 46 because he could no longer type. Yes, it does happen.
Posture is going to be the major change. I would suggest trying to find someone who can help you set up an ergonomically correct work area. Look into some of the ergonomic keyboards and mice(or is that mouses?). Also, there are various wrist supports which will help keep wrist position correct.
I have some handouts from our ergo dept, that I can scan, for stretches and proper desk/computer positioning. If anyone is interested they can email me at kaan at worldnet dot att dot net and I will send copies.
Karen
Re:RSI
TorgoX on 2002-04-18T13:31:22
A note of Brian Eno's (in Year with Swollen Appendices) on how to achieve good typing posture:"The computer [he was using some Mac and presumably MacOS 7.0.0.0.0.0.0] crashes so regularly, taking with it all the work since the last crash, that I have to find a way of reminding myself to save all the time. I do this by balancing a book on my head while I'm working. It falls off so often that I remember to save. Interesting spin-off – in order to keep the book there at all I have to sit well, and move my eyes more than my head. Now I'm starting to think this is the way to always use a computer."
Some of the books are very good.
