I got RSI after a few years of steadily increasing computer time, culminating in a year of 14 hours per day at the computer, almost every day.
The first thing is that having never had RSI, there were signs that I ignored during that last year, notably that my nerves gave me small electric shocks in the armpits from time to time, which I interpreted as a quirky oddity. Then just one day it felt like my arms nerves were literally burning, and the pain just became unbearable.
After medical examination, my nerves were fairly damaged, so the specialists I saw advised to either worsen the situation enough to make surgery the only choice, or find a way to get better.
I chose the latter, which included every solution that can be suggested. More rest, more exercise, I tried a few device change, and most importantly changing posture.
It took almost 2 years before computer use become "generally not painful" again.<p>Device of choice did not make a big difference, except for one: having a secondary standing desk with a treadmill. I took that from an old Linus Torvalds interview, it's a small monetary investment, but a big health one. The biggest downside is that it takes a lot of space. In my case, the main problem was linked to prolonged pressure on a few key points, a problem that doesn't really occur when moving.<p>Before that, I used to have a laptop so that I could spend the work day in different postures, move to a couch, etc.<p>Regarding the article, I can confirm that pain was in different modes during these different periods, but that also matches the risk of physical damage.
I feel that as long as you're just doing a half-hearted effort that is just an attempt to deceive your body, pain will only worsen.
It's only after you learn to listen to the pain that the real progress is made.