Betalogue

I am 35. I have been using computers since the age of 12. (My first computer was a Sharp MZ80K.) I have been typing on computer keyboards during all that time. I have never taken any typing courses, but I am a fairly fast typist, using 5 or 6 fingers. I have never experienced any problems.

Of course, after a particularly intense typing session, I sometimes feel a bit sore, but it goes away very quickly.

Over the past few weeks, however, I have started feeling more persistent pain in my right hand and arm. It’s nothing excruciating, but it’s starting to bug me. It affects various parts, from the base of the index to the wrist to the biceps to the shoulder.

I always exercise regularly. I swim several times per week. I walk. I play soccer.

But I do type a lot. And I use the mouse quite a bit.

I’ve done some reading on Repetitive Stress Injuries on the web. My setup appears to be pretty good. I have a high-quality ergonomic chair (I have chronic back/posture problems), my eyes are level with the top of my monitors, my keyboard and mouse are low enough that I don’t really have to bend my wrists.

I take breaks very regularly, if only to feed let the cats out or feed the wood stove fire.

I’m not quite sure what else to do about this. And I don’t like it one bit.

Of course, the additional typing involved in maintaining this blog probably doesn’t help. On the other hand, it does seem that using the mouse repeatedly generates more pain than typing. I get more pain, for example, if I do mouse-heavy page-layout stuff for a few hours than if I type for a few hours.

This entry was posted by Pierre Igot on Tuesday, April 8th, 2003 at 9:51 pm and is filed under Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.