Home Treatment for Repetitive Stress Injury

I once read an account of the peace negotiations following the Second World War-secretaries stayed up all night, painstakingly typing and retyping official documents. Since this was before the computer era, they used typewriters, and had to retype any page where edits or errors were made. On reading the historical accounts, my wrists twinged and [...]

Which of these injuries is different? Ankle sprains, broken legs, and carpal tunnel syndrome all cause swelling and pain and need to be immobilized at times. But the chronic pain syndromes like Carpal Tunnel behave very differently than acute injuries like an ankle sprain or broken bone. A recent write-up in the Posture Blog describes [...]

Everytime we read a label or look online, there’s someone threatening us about the next Big Disease — cell phones cause cancer, computers cause carpal tunnel, crossing the street can get you run over by a car, video games can make you psychopathic– or do they? Of course we can’t live our lives in fear [...]

The old wisdom of stretching says: Hold a stretch 20-30 seconds, to relax your muscles and be able to work out harder afterward. But these static stretches aren’t really effective and may actually weaken muscles, according to a new study from the University of Nevada: The old presumption that holding a stretch for 20 to [...]

One of the key issues in ergonomics is that one size never fits all. The petite, five foot tall woman (that’s me) has vastly different needs than the broad-shouldered 6’5″ man. We have different sizes, weights, different abilities to grasp, different shapes and spaces between our fingers and our shoulders. But most product manufacturers don’t [...]

I’ll never forget the day my Workers’ Comp doctor gave me a packet of Vioxx pain killer to try, after the drug had been pulled from the market. I told him, “I want to heal my arms, not just numb the pain.” Although he admitted that I could hurt myself more by numbing the pain [...]

Laptops are great tools for business users and students on the go, but they’re from an ergonomic standpoint they’re badly designed. They lead us to hunch over, push our necks forward and squint at the screen till we look a little too much like Quasimodo… but there are solutions! One is to use a notebook [...]

In previous posts, I’ve written how many types of activities beyond computer use can cause repetitive stress injuries like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or Golfer’s Elbow or Epicondylitis… anyone from pizza makers to archaeologists to musicians can be at risk of this kind of injury. However, it’s not just your usual motions that put you at [...]

I spent Saturday at the Maker Faire in San Mateo, and found some cool related tutorials for modifying your own computer input devices like mice and scroll wheels. Some of them don’t require much electronics savvy, while others are serious mods that need a few tools and some background. Either way, they’re fun to browse [...]

Since ancient Greek times, doctors have prescribed the use of ice or snow as a treatment for injury. Today, nearly everyone has a gel pack in their freezer, ready for use. However, you can get the benefits of ice more quickly than using an ice pack. If you don’t want sit around for 10-20 minutes [...]