Best Mobile Computing Options For People With RSI? 178
gotfork writes "Several years ago I injured my wrists while typing at a poorly set up desk. I am now greatly recovered, and can work at a desktop computer for several hours each day as long as I wear wrist braces. I have avoided using laptops in the past because both TrackPoint-style pointing sticks and touchpads create a lot of strain on my wrists, but I'm ready to give it another shot. Is my best option a stylus-based convertible tablet/laptop (such as the Lenovo X series) or are there any lighter-weight devices that have ergonomic inputs?"
How was it a poor setup? (Score:2, Interesting)
I've been on computers for over two decades and I can't ever say that I've had a proper setup. Everything from a hard wooden kitchen chair with a plywood tabletop with foldout metal legs that I screwed on myself to a half-decent computer desk with a cheapo leather chair. So far (knock on wood) I have yet to have any issues.
What does it take to have a setup so bad that you get RSI? A couple of bricks in front of the keyboard as wrist rests?
Use your feet. (Score:5, Interesting)
exercise (Score:3, Interesting)
Get a kitchen timer (Score:3, Interesting)
Get a kitchen timer and a laptop and a tablet. Set the timer for 30 minutes and bang away at the desk. When the bell rings, move the laptop to the top of the filing cabinet for 30 minutes. When the bell rings again, take it to the couch. Next time the bell rings, move to the other side of the couch and use the tablet. Then take a meeting and lunch. Start back at the desk again after lunch. Get up now and then. Take a walk. Evenings and weekends, pull some weeds play WII Fit for a half hour, then billiards and table tennis or whatever. Get different motions going on. RSI isn't about excess motion. It's about repetitive motion. Different motions help make it go away.
Re:Apple stuff is good (Score:3, Interesting)
Ever tried methylcobalamin? It worked for me. Doc prescribed me a 500 microgram tablet after meals (note: it's microgram not milligram!).
Basically it's a better absorbed B12 vitamin for the nerves. The pain and tingling are because your nerves are getting squished. So this helps them.
In the long term if you help the nerves heal or at least survive, the rest of your body parts involved should adapt around them (after all many body builders do grow bigger wrists over time, and not all of them get RSI - so it's probably partly due to stuff growing out of sync/proportion than just mere stress and strain).
It's pretty safe, you can ask a neurologist about it. The research was mainly done in Japan, so western docs might overlook them.
The pills I took are made by Eisai (a Japanese company). Look something like these: http://www.salepharmacy.biz/89-268-thickbox/buy-methycobal-mecobalamin-500mcg-30tablets-peripheral-neuropathies.jpg [salepharmacy.biz]
Re:How was it a poor setup? (Score:2, Interesting)
What does it take to have a setup so bad that you get RSI?
Using only that setup. I've come to realize that RSI injuries are not caused by doing something bad too often but from also not doing other stuff enough. If someone is beginning to feel RSI pain, the answer isn't really to correct posture, it's to spend time exercising the affected area in ways that are different from the activity that's causing the RSI.
My personal realization of this came about 10 years ago. I've always had terrible computer using posture. Everything they tell you not to do, I do. I slouch, my wrists rest below key level...you name it, I do it wrong. So with a job that sits me in front of a computer 8+ hrs a day, I started to get RSI pain. But when a friend introduced me to rock climbing, a funny thing happened. My RSI went away. Completely and, thus far, permanently. And the reason is that climbing forces me to strengthen my wrists and use them in abnormal positions. And it forces you to contort my body and back in similar ways. And all of that prepares me for 5 full days of abuse a week that I give myself in front of a computer.
So anyone with RSI or who sees it coming...if you're asking, "what am I doing wrong?" you're asking the wrong question. Instead, ask yourself "what am I not doing right?"
Re:Apple stuff is good (Score:3, Interesting)
My MBP gave me little electric shocks whenever I used the trackpad while touching my arm on the seam around the edge of the case. Very good for my health, I'm sure..
Re:Apple stuff is good (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:exercise (Score:3, Interesting)
I have found that activities like yard work (that doesn't vibrate your hands), stacking firewood, and framing carpentry seem to really help my RSI (median nerve damage).
I think there's something to be said for living "old school" during the weekends when you're stuck in an office 5 days a week.
A couple weeks off in the summer and at Christmas also help to reset my baseline.