Home Treatment for Repetitive Stress Injury

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 [...]

If you have pain on the outside of the elbow and upper forearm, it can be diagnosed under several names. The medical term is epicondylitis (medial or lateral), and it’s more colloquially known as Tennis Elbow or Golf elbow. Epicondylitis is a specific kind of tendonitis, which just means a swelling of any tendon. Of [...]

What exercises can be done with Chinese Medicine Balls? This is a question posed by Bethany in the comments, and I thought the answer deserved its own post. Chinese Medicine Balls, or other similar-sized balls, can be used to help increase flexibility or range of motion in the hands. The general idea is to hold [...]

A cloth tote bag with a shoulder strap is a good alternative to those plastic grocery bags, because it can help relieve the tension and stress on your arms. Using a tote with a shoulder will shift the weight of your purchases from the small muscles of your hands, to the larger muscles of your [...]

If someone says “alternative medicine” to you, what image does it conjur to mind? Alternative medicine is considered by many people to be a branch separate from Western medicine. But more and more “alternative” treatments are being incorporated into modern health care. Your doctor might even prescribe massage, acupuncture, reiki or other treatments to help [...]

Most doctors and therapists will recommend that after working your body too hard or after an acute injury, that you ice the affected area. Use a cold pack or ice cubes wrapped in a towel, and apply it for twenty minutes, they say. It’s meant to flush the inflammation and resulting stiffness away. If you [...]

At Macworld this week, iListen’s creator MacSpeech announced it has licensed the technology used by the common dictation software for the PC, Dragon Naturally Speaking, to create a new application that can be used on Intel Macs. It’s called Dictate and will be shipping in mid-February. You can find out more details about it at [...]

[Update: 2/3/09] Why does a standard mouse hurt so many people? To answer this question, let’s take a look at how the mouse forces us to sit, and why that’s unnatural — then I’ll give a list of some of the alternative choices you have (to get to the list fast, click the More! button). [...]

Before I jump into the list of alternative ergonomic mice that I am working on, I thought it might be wise to say a few words about ways to use a mouse more effectively. There are some simple steps you can take to make your mousing experience a little more comfortable, whether you’re using a [...]