tenosynovitis

manu

thanks sofie for the picture.

starting in july 1996, my wrists began to ache. sometimes after using the computer, sometimes just walking down the street.

I blame greyhound.
though i can't say i wasn't warned
soon there was enough pain that I had to pay attention. given my hours a day on keyboards, and with mice, these were the early signs of what could become crippling repetitive stress injury.

not necessarily carpal tunnel, there's a difference.

cuz that's the deal - typing, mousing, clicking, it's all the same thing, over and over again, hours a day, all day long. weird positions, your blood is pooling in your behind, your arms reached out in front of you, your shoulders hunched, your back slumped

(I hope you adjusted your position by now)

but it's hard to stay in good posture, isn't it!
legions of folks are going to be coming down with tendonitis in their wrists, like I got, and if they aren't careful, carpal tunnel syndrome.

(i learned so much from dr. robert e. markison,
so might you too.)

I say crippling cuz after a few months of breaking and cutting back and still some daily time online, i can't hold open books, finger pussy, or write long with a pen.
my recommendation for money hungry folks looking for 21st century career opportunities - service the hand and wrist problems of computer professionals and increasing numbers of folks driven to chat and surfing for entertainment and relationship. this is going to become a huge deal.

face it, keyboards and mouses are backward. they allow us to talk to computers, computers of the 60s, 70s and 80s. there has to be some new interface for the nineties (voice recognition is still slow and too expensive and doesn't seem to support free verse).
tell you what, I'm definitely interested. I'm too much of a communicator to idle myself with aching hands

which is what I did for august and september.

and come december, it's back serious-ish again. like when I'm offline it hurts.
and I do so much communicating through this!

do you?
protect yourself. observe your ergonomics.

and your stress levels - your muscles are tight when you dont sleep enough, when your job sucks, when you dont breathe or take breaks,

keep your hands warm as well. helps blood flow. feels better.

I posted to a newsgroup looking for alternative keyboards,

i decided on the kinesis, and as evan recommended, I'm learning the dvorak keyboard layout.
meanwhile I'm wondering over alternative seating -

like this butt sling organ interface, or purple posture provision.

and maybe voice recognition.

what screwed me was ulnar deviation:

bending my wrist from side to side to hit the < and > keys hacking html every day

that and emacs, uses the control keys a lot.

I recommend those cheap metal ball-pairs they sell in china town that you rotate without touching in your hand.

tai chi helps.
health-store-available arnica cream is soothing.
ice your arms, for no more than 20 minutes at a time, and not right before returning to work.

take breaks. stand up. breathe. stretch.
be aw are.
Computer Related Repetitive Strain Injury

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