Here are some RSI tips straight from the horse's mouth:
-- The Wikipedia page has a list of
symptoms, but it is too narrow. If you get numbness or tingling in your hands or arms, or you get mystery pains in your neck, shoulders or back, then you could be heading into RSI.
-- Preventing RSI is much easier than fixing it.
-- Frequent breaks to get out of your chair for stretching and pacing are highly valuable to your body's well being. You can use
break reminder software to help with this.
-- Although people tend to think of RSI as being in the wrists or forearms, it can easily originate in the shoulder region or neck, and can also be rooted in the overall alignment, posture and muscle tension of the entire body. In other words, you want to take care of the whole body, not just the trouble spots.
-- In terms pay off for time invested, the 3 minute stretch set from
"3 Minutes to a Pain-Free Life" cannot be beat. The title is overmarketed, but this is still a "must read" in my opinion.
-- Other quickie helpers include the
corpse pose which lines up your body and the
brugger relief pose which is a "reverse pose" of the hunched over position that desk workers gravitate towards.
-- If you already have problems, I recommend
Pain Free at Your PC.
--
"It's Not Carpal Tunnel Syndrome!" is another good resource.
-- Some people have muscle knots known as trigger points, although this turned out not to be my problem. I mention it for completeness.
google -
amazon-- After you get tired of reading, kick back with the
Posture, Get It Straight! DVD.
-- If you are working long hours, it will be helpful to alternate between sitting and standing rather doing one of those the entire time. This distributes the stresses more evenly through your body. You can achieve this with an
adjustable desk such as the
GeekDesk which is the one I actually bought. If you work strictly from a laptop, you can achieve this cheaply by just setting up two work stations--one sitting and one standing--and moving between them.
-- I found it useful to go to chiropractors, but found it interesting how much they varied in their effectiveness. The first one I saw was very knowledgeable but his treatments were "cookie cutter" and did nothing for me. I saw two others that were helpful. In addition to standard chiro adjustments, they both did soft tissue work and they were detailed in treating my specific symptoms.
-- I also found it useful to see a physical therapist for a period of time.
-- Doctors, meaning M.D.'s, were not helpful in treating my RSI. They talked, they cared, ... but they did not create any improvement in my condition like the chiros and PTs did.
-- I also did not experience much improvement from resting, meditating, qigong or walking. While these are all useful in general, they did not address the root of my RSI problems. Instead, I needed stretching, aligning and postural muscle exercises.
-- RSI involves many structures of the body, plus your work habits, your health history, etc. Therefore, each case is different. If you have RSI, you will need to do the research and seek out the solutions that work for you.
-- Preventing RSI is much easier than fixing it. Fixing a minor case of RSI is easier than fixing a major case. Take care of yourself now rather than later.
-- I had to plow through all of the above and more to get better. Now that I'm recovered, I just need to do my morning stretch set and get adjusted once in awhile.
