When you position your hands at a keyboard as discussed in an earlier article referring to ‘typing with clawed hands’, bad positioning of the wrist can lead to overuse injuries caused by strain in your forearm extensor muscles. The common position for hands hovering above a keyboard is as shown on the right, which I [...]

The following article is a follow-on from RSI – What to do? (Part 1 – RSI Initial Symptoms) and RSI – What to do? (Part 2 – RSI Dealing With Progressive Symptoms) . OK, so you are experiencing a long term RSI condition, ie it has gradually worsened for more than 2 years. You are [...]

(Article updated 22 April 2011) RSI symptoms are very often the result of extremely tight (overused) forearm extensor muscles. These muscles are located in the upper forearm region. They are used to raise the wrist and fingers, which is the primary motion involved in unergonomic keyboard and mouse driven activities such as having the hands [...]

This is a follow on article from Part 1 which dealt with managing Initial RSI Symptoms. The following is relevant if you have been experiencing RSI symptoms for a few months and they are now persistent in nature. The rate of success in dealing with RSI symptoms is proportional to the speed that a sufferer [...]

RSI is in the news again today with the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy calling for employers to take RSI injuries more seriously. Among their recommendations are – regular breaks for workers, access to Occupational Health Specialists, and risk assessments for employees. All of these suggestions are great, and need to be seriously looked at since [...]

It can be a very confusing time for a computer user when they first experience RSI symptoms. The symptoms can often develop after a protracted period of intensified work, which may be ongoing. Initial injury symptoms can be very mild and will more than likely be ignored by the worker who will continue to work [...]

The act of a human clicking a mouse to control a computer has been around since the inception of window based GUI (Graphical User Interface) systems. Before GUI based systems were around, keyboards were the prominent way of user interaction with a computer. Mouse based systems were a leap forward in terms of computer usability, [...]

I’ve had a rather unpleasant history with mouse use, culminating in the inability to use a bog standard mouse with either hand for more than 2-3 minutes before the onset of severe pain. This reaction has built up over many years of mouse (ab)usage, and I have a certain loathing for the devices now. It [...]

One vivid memory of my injury when employed was watching how fellow workers in certain situations thumped their keyboards. I remember it well, because I used to wince when I saw them do it. Having been an RSI sufferer for the best part of a decade, and having come from an identical background to my [...]

If you suffer from an RSI type condition, it can be aggravated when you least expect it to be ie. during your sleep. When you actually analyse what position your arms , wrists and hands are in when you wake up, you will more often than not, find them in all kinds of contorted positions. [...]