2 ms·

Having suffered with RSI for quite a few years, I've found that the best preventative+restorative tool is a wrist-brace. The moment I feel any pain, on it goes

by Jetrel 13y ago

Having suffered with RSI for quite a few years, I've found that the best preventative+restorative tool is a wrist-brace. The moment I feel any pain, on it goes - whether I'm going to type more or not, the brace is necessary to take the strain off and allow the wrist to recuperate. I really regret not discovering that a few months sooner, because I may have done some permanent damage. The problem is that (counterintuitively) just taking a break from typing and resting the hands doesn't take the stress off - the neutral position/state of the hands keeps a great deal of stress on the wrist. I can infer this because the pain continues when I take a break, but goes away the moment I put a brace on. Only when I put a brace on, did my wrist get a chance to "heal" - simply taking a break didn't help. YMMV, but -man- I hope this advice happens to help someone - it took a long time for me to figure this out. I only figured it out because a physical therapist friend of mine told me it sounded a lot like certain kinds of tendonitis she'd run into with athletes, and suggested the brace.

reality_czech 13y ago
Dr. Pascarelli recommends against the use of wrist rests while typing: "The use of wrist rests is controversial. I prefer to call them wrist guides and ask my patients to use them only as guides, because resting the forearms on a wrist support while keying can be harmful for several reasons. First, they take the upper arms out of the process of keying, so you are overloading the forearm and hand muscles and increasing your chances of injury. Moreover, the wrist support tends to encourage potentially harmful positioning, particularly wrist extension (bending your wrist up, as in pushing a door open). With the wrist fixed on the wrist rest, there is a tendency to use a windshield-wiperlike wrist motion, which is extra work and harmful. Finally, the wrist rest places pressure over the carpal tunnel area, which is not a good idea." Using them while you're sleeping or resting is OK, but using them while you're typing is not a good idea. I had wrist troubles a few years back. The only thing that helped was using a vertical keyboard: http://safetype.com/ http://safetype.com/ No wrist motion, no more problems.
- kilburn 13y ago
  I'm under the impression that this doctor's argument is against wrist rests, as in the padded thing you put in front of the keyboard to rest your wrists on. Instead, the comment you are replying to speaks about a wrist brace, as in a bracelet that restricts certain wrist movements and redistributes wrist stress to a larger area in your arm. Some of the caveats may apply, but I would say that the bulk of your comment does not...

by Jetrel 13y ago

reality_czech 13y ago

Dr. Pascarelli recommends against the use of wrist rests while typing: "The use of wrist rests is controversial. I prefer to call them wrist guides and ask my patients to use them only as guides, because resting the forearms on a wrist support while keying can be harmful for several reasons. First, they take the upper arms out of the process of keying, so you are overloading the forearm and hand muscles and increasing your chances of injury. Moreover, the wrist support tends to encourage potentially harmful positioning, particularly wrist extension (bending your wrist up, as in pushing a door open). With the wrist fixed on the wrist rest, there is a tendency to use a windshield-wiperlike wrist motion, which is extra work and harmful. Finally, the wrist rest places pressure over the carpal tunnel area, which is not a good idea." Using them while you're sleeping or resting is OK, but using them while you're typing is not a good idea. I had wrist troubles a few years back. The only thing that helped was using a vertical keyboard: http://safetype.com/ http://safetype.com/ No wrist motion, no more problems.

kilburn 13y ago
I'm under the impression that this doctor's argument is against wrist rests, as in the padded thing you put in front of the keyboard to rest your wrists on. Instead, the comment you are replying to speaks about a wrist brace, as in a bracelet that restricts certain wrist movements and redistributes wrist stress to a larger area in your arm. Some of the caveats may apply, but I would say that the bulk of your comment does not...