RSI

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I had switched from a mouse to a trackball, and that helped my forearm and wrist issues but inside my hand hurts now from my fingers going everywhere, and now my wrist is popping. (Possibly from the angle of the built in wrist rest instead of the movement like before?)

What do you guys do to minimize wrist/hand/arm pain?

 
PPPills replied on at Permalink Reply
PPPills
I use a Wacom Tablet ( probably better then most tablets on the market) and if my wrist / thumb gets really achy, I use a wrist brace that you can buy at Safeway ( California ) I'm sure most drugstores or full grocery stores would carry the brace.

But again the life-saver is the tablet. It takes about 2 weeks to get used to it, but then you'll never go back to the mouse again. It's very intuitive ( 25+ years of intense graphics work at 10+hours a day can attest to it's usefulness.)

Also do weight exercises with 5-8 lb weights to roll your wrists and hands when you take a break. You'll find that just a little bit of work now and you may not even need the brace or the exercises very much, but the tablet is what makes the big difference.
Hope this helps!
Karen
PauloCarvalhoDesign replied on at Permalink Reply
PauloCarvalhoDesign
Get a mac and use trackpad :)
ScottC replied on at Permalink Reply
ScottC
The last I checked you can also use the standalone trackpad with a pc. My dentist actually uses these instead of a mouse. They work through a latex glove and i think they were on xp or something like that. I know the drivers at the time were experimental.

I've since moved.

You can get the trackpad for around $60 or 70 or something. I'm sorry you have this problem :(

-Scott
ScottC replied on at Permalink Reply
ScottC
have you tried a sit or stand desk?

I've thought about it, but I have a desktop and I'm not sure how that would work unless I hung my tower off of the desk's top itself.

-Scott
joer80 replied on at Permalink Reply
I have not tried that... Might be worth checking into?
ScottC replied on at Permalink Reply
ScottC
I think so. The barstool sit/stand idea by Pamb is a great idea.

Have you tried a better chair?

here's my setup. I've replaced the left monitor since then but it is pretty much the same. It works pretty well. I wish my desk was a bit lower or my chair went a little higher. I can't get 90s with my elbows to the keyboard.

I have an aeron chair i got off of ebay for around 300. The lumbar thing (or whatever it is that slides up and down the channel in the lower part of the back) split due to age so I have to get another one off of ebay. I don't really have back pain if i remember not to sit weird :)

Concentrate on ergonomics first.

http://i.imgur.com/vKHJ3.jpg