Hi all.

I am new to this business.
I have been a power pc user for 15 years.
I recently designed a website for my small business and 2 for my boss.
I decided that I like it fine and am currently in school pursuing this
as a career.

My problem is that if I spend too much time on the pc I get pain in my
index finger if working with a mouse, pain in my thumb if working on a
trackball and even thumb pain from hitting the space bar.

I suspect that I'm not the only one who has this problem.
I do have a bit of arthritis but this feels more like repetative
stress.

Just wondering what y'all do to combat this.

Other options that I see are:
a better keyboard/ergonomic keyboard.
handheld mouse/trackball
joystick
pen and tablet input device
voice recognition
take a break/take a walk

The last one is a good idea, and one I'm sure we all overlook, but, the
bottom line is that in order to design several to many good sites one
has to spend hours on the pc.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance.
Shawn

Shawn@Thrillofthechase.biz <Shawn@Thrillofthechase.biz> wrote in
message:
1141661534.143918.30320@v46g2000cwv.googlegroups.c om,

Tylenol, Motrin or a wrist brace.

--
Red

On 6 Mar 2006 08:12:14 -0800, Shawn@Thrillofthechase.biz scrawled:

Touchpad.
Stretching exercises.

--
MGW
Hofstadter's Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even
when you take into account Hofstadter's Law. - Douglas Hofstadter

Shawn@Thrillofthechase.biz wrote in news:1141661534.143918.30320
@v46g2000cwv.googlegroups.com:


Shawn, I am sorry to hear of your woes.

I do not have much to offer, except that a Canadian friend of mine has in
the past 2 or 3 years ran into similar problems. He, like me, had been
typing/online for many years. But his problems have only recently
surfaced.

He IIRC has a lot of pain in his hands and arms. It really restricts his
pc time these days. He found no solution, apart from rest. But even with
rest, he still has pains. Sorry not to be able to offer more positive
news.

On Mon, 06 Mar 2006 17:12:14 +0100, <Shawn@Thrillofthechase.biz> wrote:

You better be careful with that repetative stress stuff. It can cause you
a lot of pain if you neglect the current signals.

That said: I too have/had a right arm that can hurt a lot after a long day
working with a computer. I found two things very helpful (both accidental):

1. The spot I rest my wrist on, should be warm. So the uncovered desktop
is not good enough. A piece of cloth, like a small towel, does the trick
perfectly.
2. If I still get this annoying pain in my ... (hand, wrist, arm shoulder;
all the way up to the shoulder it goes), what really helps is walking a
long strech using hiking poles. Remarkably enough I find that walking an
hour or more, with intensive use of those poles, can relieve the pain very
effectively. Sometimes for weeks the pain is gone (if I keep away from the
computer, even longer of course). A much more healthy muscle pain in legs
and back takes its place :-)

Take care,


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On Mon, 06 Mar 2006 20:05:07 +0100, Barbara de Zoete wrote:

[...]

There's this mousepad (one of which I got) that's got a cushion built into
it for the wrist and palm. I myself could never get used to it and have
thankfully never had these problems, yet.

Maybe it's worth looking into?

Shawn wrote:

I tend to spend at least a good eight to ten hours in front of various
computers every weekday and I like:

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/pr...=5145,detail=2

Would be even better if it had a middle mouse button.

--
Toby A Inkster BSc (Hons) ARCS
Contact Me ~ http://tobyinkster.co.uk/contact

Shawn@Thrillofthechase.biz wrote:
Pen and tablet is a good solution....I've done that several times, and it
works as good as any mouse I've ever found.....
It has the advantage of being a more natural way of holding things, so it's
less likely to cause problems.....

Toby Inkster <usenet200603@tobyinkster.co.uk> wrote in news:nbmud3-1cq.ln1
@ophelia.g5n.co.uk:


i never got into a middle mouse button

left and the occasional right click are enough for me

robert blake wrote:

do you know anyone who did?

--
Els http://locusmeus.com/