[Air-L] RSS Solutions (was "have I discovered a new disease?")

[Charlie Balch]

There has been much good advice here about RSS. If you spend a lot of time
at the keyboard, Dvorak key layout and an ergonomic form factor for your
keyboard are also worth considering. I use both.

The QWERTY layout of the "modern" keyboard is designed to increase stress.
Dvorak is designed to reduce stress as be more efficient. All popular OSs
allow you to virtually switch your keyboard to Dvorak. Of course telling the
OS to use Dvorak layout only changes what happens when you hit the keys --
it doesn't change the letters that show on the keys but that's what touch
typing is all about. 

Ergonomic keyboards allow your hands to be in a more natural position. 

Micro Egg Timer is another software program that lets you schedule events
like "take a break." Micro Egg Timer is free and less intrusive than
Workrave. Micro Egg Timer can also run as a portable app. 

Charlie Balch

-----Original Message-----
From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org
[mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Jerom Janssen
Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2008 4:32 AM
To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org; nsenga at mediom.qc.ca
Subject: Re: [Air-L] 

Hi,

I think your Thinkpad is not in any way to blame; its the fact that your
hands haven't had enough rest (resting on something, yes, but actual rest,
no) while typing up your papers. When I was working on my Master's thesis, I
had a lot of data entry to do, and I thought that the quickest way to do
this was to just get it over with was to go at it for hours at the time.

When I developed some initial signs of irritation (the right part of my hand
was tingling a bit) I started using a wonderful program called Workrave (
http://www.workrave.org/) This program (or others like it) will help in two
ways. The first is that it will tell you at regular intervals when you
should take a break (of either a few minutes, or a longer break if it is
due) and secondly it will show you (graphically) some exercises you can do
to take care of your hands/arms to avoid long term damage.

Its this long term damage that I think everybody should be worried about.
I've come close, but I've escaped and everything is fine again (thanks to
"workrave", I think). Do an Internet search and read some of the unpleasant
stories you can find on Repetitive Strain Injury & Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
One of the interesting things I've read is that it takes about as long to
get rid of symptoms like constant pain (or pain just at night when your body
finally relaxes) than it takes to develop these symptoms. So if your
symptoms developed out typing habits that you've had for years, you could be
stuck with it for a long time to come.

Take your body and its signals seriously, search the internet to learn about
this kind of overstressing your body and act on what you learn. For you,
that might well be to install Workrave or other software. There is more
software out there, but I found Workrave to be good and free.

Hopefully, I'll get to type up my PhD thesis within 1.5 years. I know that I
won't be doing that without running Workrave.

So again, take your body and its signals seriously; you'll have to use it
for the rest of your life. And if you do decide to use a program to change
your habits but your irritations don't subside, consult a physician!

Jerom

On Jan 20, 2008 1:00 AM, nsenga at mediom.qc.ca <nsenga at mediom.qc.ca> wrote:

>
> ""
> Recently I have noticed that both heels of my outer palms have become
> uncomfortably irritated -- the result I am sure of having them on the
> keyboard's palm rests for 10 hours at a time.
>
> The solution: I am trying to lift my wrists up so that only my fingers
> touch the keyboard. And I will be taking a break at the Social Network
> conference, this Tuesday thru Sunday.
>
> But I am wondering if this is a new phenomenon, or others on this list
> have experienced it. I do like Thinkpads for reliability and keyboard
> feel, but I notice that their palm rests are a bit rough.
>
>  Barry Wellman
>
> ""
>
> This precisely is the sense of my query a while ago, whether some of you
> on the list may also be investigating the encounter of (internet) hardware
> with users.
>
> Is there any research work currently being undertaken on this topic?
>
> Francois
> Montreal
>
>
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