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If you work at a computer you are in danger of repitive strain injury (RSI). Setting up an ergonomic work station can be crucial to your health and happiness.
Check out my other various ergonomic Instructables:
Stand Up Desk, Standing Desk, How to make a vertical, ergonomic (tie-fighter) keyboard, and Create an Ergonomic Standing Desk and Office on the Go.
Check out my other various ergonomic Instructables:
Stand Up Desk, Standing Desk, How to make a vertical, ergonomic (tie-fighter) keyboard, and Create an Ergonomic Standing Desk and Office on the Go.
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Signing UpStep 1Research, experiment, and listen
RSI is typically the result of a mismatch between what your body evolved to do, and what you are actually doing. In their natural state, humans collect fruits and vegetables, hunt game, carry their young, and explore their surroundings. To succeed in the modern world, humans sit still, focus on a tiny area for long periods of time, slam their fingers repeatedly against artificial surfaces, and ignore their surroundings. Unfortunately, building up the resources and free time to explore our surroundings often means hammering out that last bit of code, or finishing up a document with just another thousand mouse clicks.
This project documents what I have done to control my RSI. Controlling yours will be different and you will need to research, experiment, and listen to your body.
Resources I found useful: "Repetitive Strain Injury : A Computer User's Guide" by Emil Pascarelli and Deborah Quilter. Both authors have new books that are probably also good. Hand University has great pictures of the wrist to help you understand what might be inflamed. The ATIC Lab at MIT has resources and also allows students to borrow various keyboards and pointing devices to try them out, which is truly invaluable.
For me, the hardest part of this process was listening to my body. The pain usually does not come immediately, so it is often very difficult to determine what activity caused it. What I found is that pain is not discrete. There are levels of feeling before true pain that can signal distress or damage. Generally, these manifest themselves as "being aware" of some part of your body. For example, after typing on a small or badly positioned keyboard I will become aware of my wrists; I try to recognize these signals and take a break or stop to prevent progressing into pain.
This project documents what I have done to control my RSI. Controlling yours will be different and you will need to research, experiment, and listen to your body.
Resources I found useful: "Repetitive Strain Injury : A Computer User's Guide" by Emil Pascarelli and Deborah Quilter. Both authors have new books that are probably also good. Hand University has great pictures of the wrist to help you understand what might be inflamed. The ATIC Lab at MIT has resources and also allows students to borrow various keyboards and pointing devices to try them out, which is truly invaluable.
For me, the hardest part of this process was listening to my body. The pain usually does not come immediately, so it is often very difficult to determine what activity caused it. What I found is that pain is not discrete. There are levels of feeling before true pain that can signal distress or damage. Generally, these manifest themselves as "being aware" of some part of your body. For example, after typing on a small or badly positioned keyboard I will become aware of my wrists; I try to recognize these signals and take a break or stop to prevent progressing into pain.
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Yes, a donut of some sort on top would be the ticket. Inflatable donut-pillows are widely available in drugstores here in the US.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Become-an-ambidextrous-computer-mouse-user/
I agree with you about knowing the function keys, though: saves a lot of time scrolling through documents, websites and spreadsheets!
stop.
take ibuprofen
get an over the counter wrist support.
he said the wrist support mostly works by warming the area- I don't get the cooling thing but I have heard people say that alternating ice packs and 'deep heat' is good for sore joints.
This does give me an idea for a project though; the posture of the joystick is great, and much potential for incorporating loads of buttons. we need better input devices.
In regards to mice-related issues, I think you may be very interested in this:
Wacom and RSI
and further,
Wacom
I use one of these everyday and simply adore it. The cheapest they get (from Wacom direct is $100, which may be a little pricey for an input device but well worth it in the long run I believe - especially if they really do prevent RSI as well as they claim (which I personally belive they do from experience).
(No affiliation with Wacom by the way, I just think everyone who uses a computer should have one of these =P )
http://www.verticalmouse.no/
I also got another GoldTouch keyboard that I plan to hack into a fully vertical keyboard like the Safetype. I would just buy a safetype if they had the arrow keys on the vertical platforms. I can't understand why they decided to put the arrow keys flat.