REDUCE your usage. Many problems are caused by sudden increases in workload. PROPER POSTURE is key. Make sure your keyboard isn't too high too low, there are reliable guides for ergonomics online. Stretch GENTLY BEFORE starting - this prompts lubrication of the tendon sheaths. If you're looking for other stretching/strengthening ideas, look at what violinists and pianists do. They're heavy on finger/wrist action. TAKE BREAKS. Stretch your wrists GENTLY during the breaks. You should consider ibuprofin to reduce inflammation. Inflammation narrows already-narrow tendon sheaths leading to further problems. 200mg every four to five hours is fine. You shouldn't do this for more than two weeks. You should consider icing to reduce inflammation. 10-15 minutes on, 10-15 minutes off. You want to make the area that hurts cold, you don't want to freeze it. DON'T rub your wrists. They hurt, but rubbing them won't help. The only thing in your wrists are tendons and rubbing will only bother them. Massage both sides of your upper forearm (or have a partner do it): this is where the muscles that control your fingers live. If they get tense or tight, that puts strain on the tendons, which inhibits their movement through the sheaths in the wrist, leading to inflammation. I'm wary of the previous suggestion to get a grip-strengthening device. You do not need bulk-strength to avoid these problems, you need endurance-strength. That is, training to squeeze a hundred pounds of force 5 times isn't going to help. Being able to consistently squeeze at, say, 20-30 pounds might. When I had these problems, what ultimately helped me was wrist curls coupled with back/shoulder strengthening. With the wrist curls, I worked my way up from 5lbs to 10bs. Maybe fifteen reps flexing the wrist, fifteen extending. Two to three sets of reps. If you "don't have time" (and I didn't, to my detriment, for years), just do one set of reps. Be sure to do both flexion and extension - you need to engage the primary muscles and the antagonistic muscles or there will be problems. Don't use too much weight. This makes your muscles tense. Tense muscles cause pain. It is best to consult a physical therapist or other knowledgeable person about specific weight-training regimens. In summary: correct problems with your posture and ergonomics. This is easy: do it. Reduce your usage - you have to work up to this sort of thing. Reduce inflammation now with ibuprofin and icing. Start taking breaks and, once you feel better, keep taking them. Once you get tendonitis, RSI, carpal tunnel, it comes back easier the next time. You have to be vigilant. Breaks are also good for your eyes - looking up and away to change focal depth. In the long term, it will be good to strengthen your wrists (this also strengthens your fingers) arm muscles and back muscles. For best results act now. If you feel pain, STOP. Unless you let your wrists heal (and it will take a bit longer than you want it to), the problem will get worse. And if you get a full-fledged RSI, that can put you out of the game for months, or years. (I missed out on a career playing piano because of it.) Be good to your body. Hope this helps. ~Richard~ On 05/27/2011 12:00 PM, tclug-list-request at mn-linux.org wrote: > Send tclug-list mailing list submissions to > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > tclug-list-request at mn-linux.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > tclug-list-owner at mn-linux.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of tclug-list digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Healthy hands (r j) > 2. Re: Healthy hands (Florin Iucha) > 3. Re: Healthy hands (Yaron) > 4. Re: Healthy hands (Carl Wilhelm Soderstrom) > 5. Re: Healthy hands (Carl Wilhelm Soderstrom) > 6. Re: Healthy hands (Max Shinn) > 7. Re: Healthy hands (Florin Iucha) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Thu, 26 May 2011 16:50:57 -0500 > From: r j<ronsmailbox5 at gmail.com> > To: tclug-list at mn-linux.org > Subject: [tclug-list] Healthy hands > Message-ID:<BANLkTi=2BzeRUrBrcReumjxtOQipQ1rORg at mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > After 2 full days working on a web project typing about 12 hours each day my > hands are very sore. > > Now I am working on Java and have a couple full days of typing ahead of me. > > I do have a nice ergonomic work station setup with a kinesis freestyle > keyboard. > > I have seen some exercises and different things out there and do some > stretches. > > What do you do to keep your hands in good shape? > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL:<http://mailman.mn-linux.org/pipermail/tclug-list/attachments/20110526/610b9be3/attachment-0001.html> > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Thu, 26 May 2011 16:57:55 -0500 > From: Florin Iucha<florin at iucha.net> > To: TCLUG Mailing List<tclug-list at mn-linux.org> > Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Healthy hands > Message-ID:<20110526215754.GE3653 at styx.iucha.org> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 04:50:57PM -0500, r j wrote: >> After 2 full days working on a web project typing about 12 hours each day my >> hands are very sore. >> >> Now I am working on Java and have a couple full days of typing ahead of me. >> >> I do have a nice ergonomic work station setup with a kinesis freestyle >> keyboard. >> >> I have seen some exercises and different things out there and do some >> stretches. >> >> What do you do to keep your hands in good shape? > 1. Use a Kinesis Advantage keyboard. > > 2. Daily exercises for upper-body strength - push-ups, biceps curls, > hammer curls, lateral raises. > > Cheers, > florin >