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Wise up, get ergnomic and protect your investment; Your arms
Author: HumanX | Sunday June 15, 2003
For many years I have lived with mild pain from constant pecking on the keyboard. If I can get just one person to listen, then I have achieved my goal.
I am not a doctor and I do not pretend to be one. If you are experiencing pain, seek professional help. Any suggestion or implied advice is only meant for you to think about, do not practice it until you have spoken to a professional.
This article is going to skip around a little because I do not want to write a book on this subject, but hopefully just get my point across and give you some options.
In the early nineties when I really began to get serious about computers, I would spend hours in front of my system creating 2d art, animations and playing Dungeon & Dragons. When I say hours, I am talking 12, 14, 16 hours straight. Hey, I was younger and bullet proof. If I could only go back in time and kick myself in the face.
Linux users interact more with the keyboard then any other operating system. The power of the command line demands that our hands bang away on this evil but necessary device, the keyboard.
Where the problem begins
Repetitive Stress Disorder is an affliction, which causes pain in portions of your body, which consistently repeat a certain kind of motion. This does not just affect computer users, but many professions. A friend of mine had to take disability from the electrical company he worked at because of the many years of being a cable splicer. The tools he used on a daily bases cause reoccurring pain in his forearms.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: One of the causes is bending your wrist’s while you are typing. The long-term effects of this can cause numbness, the sensation of hands falling asleep, pain and so on.
Prevention is Key
These disorders can be caused by stress. Yes, stress. Stress and aggression at the keyboard do not play well together. Stress can cause you to strike the keys much harder then normal, which can cause injury. Stress can lead to poor posture and muscle strain.
Posture, Posture, Posture.... Did I mention posture? Good posture can prevent you from bending your wrists, make it difficult to strike the keys harder, relieve neck and back strain, plus a number of other problems associated with poor posture.
This might sound strange and I am not sure if I have read this anywhere else, but, cut your finger nails. I have a tendency to let my fingernails grow. My fingernails are tools for art as well as repair work. Fingernails are helpful when picking up screws. What I have noticed is that I get allot of pain in the tops of my fingers when I have long fingernails. The cushion on your fingers helps to dissipate some of the force applied to the keys, but I noticed my fingernails would actually strike the keys first and the pain begins. You may not even notice it if you are doing it now...
What else
Look, the plain and simple is to buy quality equipment, and prepare you desk ergonomically. Ergo Mice and keyboards are important as well as maintaining the center of your monitor at eye level.
Stretch your hands every half hour or so.
Exercise your entire body.
Try to remain calm when you are at the computer.
Posture, Posture and Posture.
Heed my words, if you do not do this you will be in trouble in 10 years or so. If you are experiencing pain now, then you need to start taking steps. See a doctor and start building a more ergo environment for your self.
I have supplied some resources at that the end of this document, which should help you, find additional information regarding this subject.
Things that have worked for me
I have begun a daily exercise regiment. You would not believe it if I told you how much walking has made a difference. I life in South Florida, so every couple of days I do a 2-5 mile walk down and around the beach.
Back in high school I took weight lifting for 2 years which has provided me with a foundation of exercises I can once again use. I do a full suite of stretching exercise from my feet to my head, whatever can be stretched, I stretch it (wink, wink, nod, nod) :)
Also, I purchased a set of 10 and 20 lb weights. The goal here is not to bulk up, I do not care about that. My intention is to build and help regenerate the muscles I have. High repetition with lightweights will tone your muscles and help build a healthier body.
Example Workout: Every Other Day
Curls: 2 sets of 20 reps
Wrist Curls: 2 set of 10 reps
and so on with about 6 other exercises I do.
I also purchased the things whose name I forgot. But they are normally black with curled steel at the top. The two grip style things are meant to squeeze and help work out your fingers, wrists and forearms.
I am still working on posture, which has been a hard habit to break. However, I have replaced my desk and chair with ergonomic versions, which has helped. I also purchased a wrist and mouse pad. These also help me keep my wrists in the proper position and provide a more suitable resting place while I stare blankly at the screen. If my wrists should touch the pads while I am typing then I know I am not typing in a safe position. So the pads also serve as a reminder to type in a safe position.
I throw my keyboards away about every 3-6 months and buy a new one. I suggest the same thing for your mouse. If your keyboard is older then that, throw it away and spend the $25-$40 dollars and purchase a new one. Newer keyboards are more responsive, and thus require less pressure to use.
What does the future hold
I am looking into voice recognition software so I can spend less time at the keyboard. It would be nice if we had an open source version of this, which I am still researching.
Foot Pedals: This item allows you to program your pedals to replace some of the more common procedures on the keyboard (Example: Mouse Clicks, Scrolls, Copy, Paste) . The more you can distribute the load of computer work across you body, the less one body part will become focused and lead to injury.
Ergo Keyboards: DataHand II (http://www.ergosci.com/dhandrv.html) This is a very bizarre looking keyboard, but it reduces the stress on your hands. Just go to the web site and look at it. I have read many reviews about this keyboard and I am convinced on purchasing one of them. They say it will take a month to learn and get accustomed to. One of the pitfalls is this thing sells for $500-$1,200. So you can see my hesitation.
One Last Thing
If you do not want to create a more ergo environment for yourself because of the expense, then think how much it will cost when the problems begin. Do not wait for the pain to start, then it is to late.
More Resources
IBM was kind enough to product this web site
http://www.pc.ibm.com/ww/healthycomputing/
Yahoo Link to ergonomic categories
http://search.yahoo.com/search/dir?p=ergonomic&ei=UTF-8&h=C
More Links
http://ergonomics.org/
http://www.ergoweb.com/
http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/ergonomics/
http://www.ergo-2000.com/
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