The Functional Programmer – Keeping Repetitive Strain Injury at Bay [video]

Having been through several bouts of RSI-type injuries, here&#x27;s my advice:<p>1) take up active hobbies that strengthen vulnerable body parts. Rock climbing did wonders for keeping my De Quervain&#x27;s tendinitis from returning.<p>2) stretching is an enormous part of recovery, if you&#x27;ve already developed tendinitis.<p>3) fix your posture. I didn&#x27;t realize that I was craning my head forward over the years to compensate for poorly corrected astigmatism.<p>4) vary your environment. A convertible sit&#x2F;stand desk along with an adjustable monitor arm should allow you to change up your position many times per day.<p>5) never spend extended periods with your arm extended to the mouse, resting your arm&#x27;s weight on your wrist. This is probably the single worst thing for your wrists (aside from impact injury).<p>6) invest in a decent mechanical keyboard. Consistent, light key resistance is more important than ergonomic layouts, not that I have anything against properly executed ergo.<p>7) WALK! Get up, stretch your head back and your arms up. Go for a walk around the block while maintaining proper posture. No staring at your phone. It does wonders to reset your body and would have saved me years of pain if I&#x27;d done it regularly.

I had emacs pinky when I was in grad school. Now I have a job and I&#x27;m still pretty concerned about my RSI. Here&#x27;s a few tips I&#x27;ve used, and a few things I&#x27;m considering:<p>Things that have worked well for me (cheap solutions):<p>- Use a keyboard that doesn&#x27;t encourage you to &#x27;bottom out&#x27; to execute a key press. I used to use a keyboard with scissor switches that I think just encouraged me to press the keys harder. I switched it out for a cheapo mech keyboard with MX brown switches and I think this helped a bit.<p>- Remap common keys like control to other keys that can be easily hit with your thumbs. Currently I map control to left alt and backspace to right alt. Makes a difference for me but ymmv. Try not to hit so many keys with your pinky. For example, when I need to hit return, I make an effort to use my ring finger instead.<p>- Got a lumbar support pad for my office chair and car seat. I have a lower back and hip pain. This helps with the sciatic nerve painI have had since college.<p>- Use a very tall wrist rest. The cheap ones don&#x27;t really elevate your wrists much, but find a quality one that provides an inch or more of lift. If you have a desk with a keyboard tray, lower it to comfortable position.<p>- Lift weights. I spent a year in grad school lifting hard with a buddy three times a week. Did wonders for my back pain. I would love to find a new lifting partner and get back into it.<p>What I&#x27;m considering (expensive solutions):<p>- A standing desk. I&#x27;m seeing a lot of people in my office switch to these and I want one.<p>- A split keyboard with lots of thumb keys. This is always on my mind now and I&#x27;m trying to decide between a kinesis and keyboard.io.

My anecdote is I switched to a vertical mouse[1] and a split keyboard[2] and it solved it for me. I went from constant dull throbbing pain and fear of career death to not even thinking about it anymore. Yay!<p>[1] Evoluent [2] Kinesis Freestyle2

It&#x27;s quite comical that in an age where companies are willing to pay 100s of thousands for their top knowledge workers wrist issues bring all that heavy caliber thinking to a screeching halt.

For personal health at the office, I think the biggest bang for your buck is to buy a water bottle that takes minimal effort to drink from (I’ve found those green sport Gatorade water bottles are prime) and sip continuously throughout the day. You will feel amazing from all the H2O alone. You will be forced to get out of your seat multiple times a day to visit the restroom. You will will get more facetime with people in your office from walking more. And walking more gives you more opportunities to fill up your water bottle. The virtuous cycle!

I use KT tape all the time on my forearms and shoulder&#x2F;neck to keep repetive strain injury away.

Wow, thanks for all the comments here! It’s a gold mine of tips

Avoid Diablo-esque games if your hands are susceptible to injury.<p>My brain likes picking up loot, but my hands don&#x27;t :(