Advice for RSI sufferer

[Surly73]

Unfortunately my work environment is a different story. I have taken my old Ergonomic 4000 for use there temporarily, along with an Evoluent vertical mouse I am borrowing. The mouse is OK, not sure it is helping a lot, but the buttons on it are reasonably light. It doesn't seem to be inflaming my right hand at all. The Ergo 4000 on the other hand is proving a nightmare for the amount of typing I do at work. My left index finger is developing considerable pain. I am thinking therefore, that a mechanical keyboard at work is going to have to be the next step. The issue is going to be convincing my employer to spend circa £100 on a keyboard for me, especially after he mocked me for my purchase of the Filco! I could perhaps bring the Filco with me temporarily, but I don't really want to have to carry it around.

Yeah, the 4000 isn't going to help you one little bit, that's for sure.  You could try a couple of things:

1/ try a Kensington ExpertMouse.  This will move left clicking to your thumb instead of your index finger.  This is the only thing that would allow my condition to clear up.  I didn't end up needing to switch to it permanently, but long enough to things to calm down and heal on their own.  It's been a couple of years now and I'm using regular mice and keyboards as heavy as Model M without an issue again.

2/ If you want a better keyboard on the cheap, look for a Keytronic E03600-series keyboard with "ergo" weighting.   This has key weighting distribution kind of like a variable weighted Realforce.  It has a soft-ish landing, good tactile pop, variable weighting and it's cheap.  There's a zillion versions of Keytronic boards with ergo weighting, the 3600 has the regular enter key and double-backspace.  The 3601 has L-shaped enter and narrow backspace.  There's black options, USB options, etc...etc...  It's not specifically "light", but the keys for lesser fingers are lighter and it'll jam a lot less than the 4000 (in my personal observation).

Glad to hear that you're making some progress.  Mine was just a little bothersome until I whacked that knuckle good while wrenching on the car.  That seemed to be the little push it needed to become a serious problem and I had to start changing devices.  Even right now I can feel just a little hint of the issue in my right index knuckle.

[sordna]

I am quoting this, because it is definitely my experience. The ergonomic devices I have tried don't really help with finger pain. My setup at home is now the Filco and a Razer Diamondback (which has buttons which require very little force). I am able to play sessions of Starcraft 2 now with no noticeable pain at all
...
I have also been to see my GP about the pain. She was not a lot of help. She suggested trying splints and took a blood test for arthritis (which came back normal, unsurprisingly), but was not able to offer much beyond that. I am considering returning and asking for a referral for physiotherapy, at least to get some exercises to try.

I increasingly suspect that the pain is a form of tendonitis, so I am trying some of the advice from this site too http://www.tendonitisexpert.com/Trigger-Finger.html

Dude, if you are having such problems, best thing you can do is give up video gaming. Seriously. Save your fingers for work purposes, and pick up some sport or something for fun/hobby purposes! It's not worth risking any bit of your health for video games. Take the Filco to work, and leave it there!

[snerd]

I was having some wrist pain, so I switched keyboards a few times. Didn't help. Switched mice/trackballs/pointer hands a few times. Didn't help. Got a steelcase leap, and configured it correctly -- No more main.

[hyperlinked]

Dude, if you are having such problems, best thing you can do is give up video gaming. Seriously. Save your fingers for work purposes, and pick up some sport or something for fun/hobby purposes!

I completely second this... or find some other way to play games. I found that I'm able to play some FPS style games again now that I have an iPad. It just doesn't stress my hands out the way the keyboard does. The FPS style games on the iPad are still pretty primitive in comparison, but they're not bad and are getting better.

[hoggy]

+1 on the giving up games.  First thing I did when I started having problems.   Don't bother asking work for a flash keyboard, just get another board (compaq mx11800 has cherry browns and can be had on the cheap from ebay) - I have 7 or 8 of mine there (I like change and it helps on the storage situ. at home).

You could remap the left click.  I've got a script somewhere that uses the capslock for it.  I've been using workrave for a few years now and I keep a spreadsheet of typing stats.  Average mouse clicks per day is around 3000.  Or you could use the other hand...

You can really cut down on typing by thinking first.  If you find yourself undoing and redoing all the time then you really need to knock it on the head.

I don't know what line of work you're in, but I've set up a ton of macros and wizards to effectively multiply my keypresses.  No-one really cares how you do your work - you don't have to type all of it.  Just remember that you're supposed to 'add value' to your company, not tap keys (unless of course, you are there to tap keys).

[Obsidian]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I take the point about giving up games, and if that's what it comes to then of course health comes first. However, I want to emphasise that I am experiencing no pain whatsoever when using the Filco. Last night when I came in from work I gave computer use a break for a few hours, and my hands were feeling fine. Then I played a couple of hours of Starcraft before bed, which is extremely taxing on the left hand (with a lot of key presses and stretching) and I felt no discomfort at all. This is compared to even 30 mins of normal use on the Ergo 4000 becoming very uncomfortable indeed. In other words, if my current lifestyle is sustainable with better equipment, that is of course what I would prefer. I am begininng to suspect that the problem has been caused by years of using MS keyboards with horrible key action (before the Ergo 4000 I used an MS internet keyboard, which from memory had a very similar feel to the keys).

Those asking what I do for a living, I am a researcher and computer programmer, so keyboard use will always be a huge part of my life. If I can get this right now, hopefully I will be set up to use computers pain free for the forseeable future. If it doesn't work out then I will certainly make the appropriate changes to my lifestyle.

hoggy, a cheap cherry brown board like the mx11800 sounds like a great idea. I can only see one on ebay though, and shipping to the UK is expensive. If I can find something like that for a reasonable price I would give it a go, otherwise I might just get another Filco, whether my employer is prepared to pay for it or not.

[Lanx]

if the filco works, then why aren't you carrying it to work everyday? honestly lugging around a keyboard to work to SAVE your joints and hands pales in comparison to the horror stories of ppl who end up with full blown RSI pain.
Or just say, screw it and buy the cheapest brown keyboard you can get and leave it there. Or buy another filco, have a group meeting with everyone in your office, take out your keyboard and pee on it. Then say, "ok who wants to steal this keyboard now?"

honestly a few hundred dollars to avert getting full blown RSI is nothing compared to the years of pain.

[Proword]

I've been using a Maltron since 1986, and as a court reporter (since 1990) I'm having to type at the speed of speech (150+wpm) for hours on end.  I've got absolutely no problems at all with my hands.  (However latterly I've moved more into speech recognition.)

You may wish to read some of the academic papers that Stephen Hobday and Lilian Malt have produced since 1977.

http://www.maltron.com/keyboard-info/academic-papers.html

You may gain some insight into computer related injuries.

If you DO decide to go down the Maltron road, you should make a firm decision to use the Malt layout, and not keep going with the QWERTY.  It may take longer initially to reach a high level, but in the long run it will pay for itself many times over in increased productivity and reduced downtime from injury.

Joe

PS  As for mousing, I found this to be pretty good.

http://www.logitech.com/en-gb/mice-pointers/trackballs/devices/4786

It can be reassigned to either hand quickly, and doesn't involve any picking up or moving.


J