My wrist started hurting at 26 and I ignored it for four months. Don't be me.
Started as a dull ache after long sessions. I told myself it was posture and kept going. By month four I couldn't hold a coffee cup properly with my right hand, which is when I got scared enough to see someone.
Physio, a few weeks of exercises, nothing permanent. What helped, roughly in order:
- Desk height. My forearms had been angled up at the keyboard for two years. This was most of it.
- Getting up every hour. Not stretching at the desk. Standing up and leaving the room.
- Learning enough keyboard shortcuts to drop the mouse for a lot of things, which made me faster as a side effect.
Nobody in the grind-harder content mentions that your hands are the tooling. The days I didn't get up for six hours are the ones that did it.
3 comments
- 0
AnonymousAnon Cannot upvote an ergonomics post enough. A split keyboard and taking my hands fully off the desk every hour did more for my wrist than the brace ever did. Please see someone before it turns chronic, RSI left for years is a whole different animal.
- 0
AnonymousAnon Four months is not that long, honestly. I ignored mine for over a year and it's now a thing I manage rather than a thing I fixed. If you're reading this and something aches, go early. It's a very boring appointment compared to the alternative.
- 0
AnonymousAnon Desk height being the biggest lever matches what my physio said almost word for word. Elbows somewhere around 90 degrees, keyboard low enough that you're not reaching up to it. Most people have the desk too high and the chair too low and never think about it again.