Repetitive strain injury (was: ThinkPad Pointers)
Ben Scott
dragonhawk at gmail.com
Tue Jan 15 16:21:22 EST 2008
On Jan 15, 2008 3:03 PM, Bill McGonigle <bill at bfccomputing.com> wrote:
>> I am *not* a good typist; my wrists stay down all the time. This
>> leads to alot of straying pointer issuse
>
> And potentially carpal tunnel syndrome. "Wrists up!," as my old
> piano teacher would say.
Actually, no.
Carpal tunnel syndrome has not been linked to keyboard usage,
improper or otherwise.
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/carpal_tunnel/detail_carpal_tunnel.htm
http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.aspx?articleId=88§ionId=9
You likely mean RSI (repetitive strain injury), also called CTD
(cumulative trauma disorder) or RMD (repetitive motion disorder).
That issue is a lot bigger and a lot muddier. But current wisdom is,
you want your wrists to be flat and supported, not raised *or*
lowered. Simply enough, avoid anything that puts a strain on your
body repeatedly (whodathunkit?). Holding your hands in the air above
the keyboard is a strain.
For that matter, current wisdom is that doing just about anything
repetatively and/or for long periods of time is bad for you. Fancy
chairs won't help; the real problem is that holding any one position
for hours at a time is bad for our bodies. Take frequent breaks.
Move your arms and wrists. Get up and walk around. Don't fall into
harmful patterns.
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/repetitive_motion/repetitive_motion.htm
http://dohs.ors.od.nih.gov/ergo_computers.htm
http://www.google.com/search?q=repetitive+strain+injury
http://www.google.com/search?q=repetitive+motion+disorder
http://www.google.com/search?q=cumulative+trauma+disorder
-- Ben
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