Public service announcement
in my last post , I mentioned I hurt my hands and can't type , and in fact what I have is a repetitive strain injury from . . . too much typing .
You may have heard of such a thing , but never really thought about it . but in the past week or two , I've learned many things I wish I knew before , so I thought I'd say them here , in case it can be useful to someone else .
it's not really clear how typing related RSI is caused , and you can type 8 hours a day for many years without problem , as I did , and then suddenly get it . but there are some good habits which can help . in my case , the main ones were
* Sit properly at your desk with your wrists flat . Google "good typing posture at desk" or something like that .
* Don't ever use one hand to type two keys , . shortcuts like Ctrl + S or Ctrl + O are a real killer if you're doing them one-handed . Same thing for typing capitals . press the Shift key with one hund , and the letter with the other hand .
* don't use those little feet on the far side of your keyboard . in fact, your keyboard should be tilted away from you , not towards you , i.e. It's the near side of your keyboard that needs to be propped up .
It can be quite dramatic . one of my wrists is completely blocked , as though I'd fallen on it and sprained it , and from what i read online , many people get something even worse . (Fortunately , I can still type a bit and do stuff with the other hand . ) So , not to sound too scare mongering , but I think it's really worth developing some good habits even if you don't have any problems at the moment !
You may have heard of such a thing , but never really thought about it . but in the past week or two , I've learned many things I wish I knew before , so I thought I'd say them here , in case it can be useful to someone else .
it's not really clear how typing related RSI is caused , and you can type 8 hours a day for many years without problem , as I did , and then suddenly get it . but there are some good habits which can help . in my case , the main ones were
* Sit properly at your desk with your wrists flat . Google "good typing posture at desk" or something like that .
* Don't ever use one hand to type two keys , . shortcuts like Ctrl + S or Ctrl + O are a real killer if you're doing them one-handed . Same thing for typing capitals . press the Shift key with one hund , and the letter with the other hand .
* don't use those little feet on the far side of your keyboard . in fact, your keyboard should be tilted away from you , not towards you , i.e. It's the near side of your keyboard that needs to be propped up .
It can be quite dramatic . one of my wrists is completely blocked , as though I'd fallen on it and sprained it , and from what i read online , many people get something even worse . (Fortunately , I can still type a bit and do stuff with the other hand . ) So , not to sound too scare mongering , but I think it's really worth developing some good habits even if you don't have any problems at the moment !