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I don’t know of any authoritative academic work on the topic, but yes lots of (probably most) programmers develop repetitive strain injuries during their career

I don’t know of any authoritative academic work on the topic, but yes lots of (probably most) programmers develop repetitive strain injuries during their careers. The problem is there’s as many injuries as that are permutations of human bodies and their input peripherals. Ergonomic input devices exist to help; for me it was swapping my mouse for a large-diameter trackball that reduced my pain the most, along with lower force mechanical keys and taking more breaks. Some people I’ve known absolutely swear by ergonomic keyboards (notably the Kinesis Advantage) and alternate keyboard layouts (specifically Dvorak), but I couldn’t stand using either long enough for whatever benefits there are to take, so YMMV.

gregjor 2y ago
Not to minimize the very real pain from RSI, but I don't think "most" programmers develop RSI. I have over 40 years at the keyboard, and then using a mouse, trackball, and now trackpad. I have worked at quite a few places with programmers younger and older. In my experience most groups that I worked with had one or two people -- often the younger people -- who had symptoms of RSI, sometimes severe. But not most of the people I worked with, many of whom had the same number of years, or more, typing and dragging a mouse around as I do. The only time I ever experienced pain in my wrists came from gaming. When I had young kids they liked to play console games with me. A few hours of that and I'd notice pain in my wrist, probably from gripping the controller too hard (Mortal Kombat and Mario Kart can get intense with a teenage opponent). I suspect heavy gaming does more damage than typing and mousing, unless you have terrible posture, can't touch-type, or grip the mouse/trackball too hard. That might explain why many of the work colleagues who had RSI got it fairly young -- gaming seems more a thing with younger people, and they start gaming as kids whereas I didn't see a video game controller until I got well into my 20s. My oldest daughter works on a computer all day (mainly Excel) and she developed RSI. Her therapist gave her gloves that keep her wrists straight and told her to pay attention to stress and excessive force in her hands. I guess a light touch helps. I don't have any actual medical evidence or expertise regarding RSI, just my anecdotal experience.
- hisoka4 2y ago
  I played a lot of league of legends in the past and my pain started there, in the hand of the mouse which was as tense as a hand can be, so I could see gaming being a big factor for developing RSI, wish I could go back and tell me!
- yawpitch 2y ago
  Admittedly in my experience (primarily VFX industry) pretty much every coder was also gamer.

gregjor 2y ago

Not to minimize the very real pain from RSI, but I don't think "most" programmers develop RSI. I have over 40 years at the keyboard, and then using a mouse, trackball, and now trackpad. I have worked at quite a few places with programmers younger and older. In my experience most groups that I worked with had one or two people -- often the younger people -- who had symptoms of RSI, sometimes severe. But not most of the people I worked with, many of whom had the same number of years, or more, typing and dragging a mouse around as I do. The only time I ever experienced pain in my wrists came from gaming. When I had young kids they liked to play console games with me. A few hours of that and I'd notice pain in my wrist, probably from gripping the controller too hard (Mortal Kombat and Mario Kart can get intense with a teenage opponent). I suspect heavy gaming does more damage than typing and mousing, unless you have terrible posture, can't touch-type, or grip the mouse/trackball too hard. That might explain why many of the work colleagues who had RSI got it fairly young -- gaming seems more a thing with younger people, and they start gaming as kids whereas I didn't see a video game controller until I got well into my 20s. My oldest daughter works on a computer all day (mainly Excel) and she developed RSI. Her therapist gave her gloves that keep her wrists straight and told her to pay attention to stress and excessive force in her hands. I guess a light touch helps. I don't have any actual medical evidence or expertise regarding RSI, just my anecdotal experience.

hisoka4 2y ago
I played a lot of league of legends in the past and my pain started there, in the hand of the mouse which was as tense as a hand can be, so I could see gaming being a big factor for developing RSI, wish I could go back and tell me!
yawpitch 2y ago
Admittedly in my experience (primarily VFX industry) pretty much every coder was also gamer.