Free Rest-Break Software to Help Prevent RSI
Thursday, March 6, 2008 12:22There are several free programs available that can remind you to stretch. They’ll give you regular breaks and mini-breaks, and some of them also keep track of how much you’re clicking, typing and dragging your mouse around.
Some of them will force breaks at certain intervals (which you set); others will give you gentle reminders, to let you push through and finish your sentence (or novel) before you have to break.
Here are my favorite programs:
Workrave, for Windows (incl. Vista)
Workrave is my fave but (alas) does not work on Mac. You can program the intervals between breaks and micro-breaks, and how long each type of break goes for. It also gives you stretching suggestions and reminders. It also tracks statistics over time, so you can compare how much typing, clicking, mouse dragging and hourly use you do from day to day. After a certain amount of time/clicks/typing, it will give you a warning that you have reached your daily limit and should stop for the day. It senses your natural breaks and will adjust its breaks accordingly. Most importantly, it comes with an adorable sheep icon.
Anti-RSI for Mac OS X (incl Intel machines):
This is my favorite for the MAC. (It’s telling me right now to take a MicroPause. …Okay.) Anti-RSI is simplistic compared with WorkRave but does all the essentials — allowing you to customize the break length, micro-pause length and intervals between the breaks. It tracks natural breaks and has a handy visual icon that sits in your Dock and shows you how long before you have another break. The micro-pauses are transparent and you can drag them out of the way; the breaks you can postpone. It doesn’t suggest stretches or track statistics, but I don’t feel that I need those features.
If you go to download this program, be sure to grab both files listed, both the .app.zip and the src.tar.gz files.
If you’re not satisfied with these or just want to check out other options, you can find a list over at the RSI-Relief site.
Each program will suggest how often to take the breaks and how long they should be, and let you make adjustments based on your needs. If you’re in pain, you might want to take more frequent breaks, and if you’re not, you can wait a bit longer. Just listen to your body and go from there.
If you need some guidelines–I have been taking 20 second breaks every four minutes and 8 minute breaks every 50 minutes. This works well, when I listen to the program and take the breaks — when I don’t listen, I tend to feel the difference later!
And now, it is time for the break I’ve been postponing!
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AgainstMice says:
April 10th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Believe me mice destroy your wrists and forearms. You should use shortcuts as much as possible. Consider an Enterpad or any other overlay keyboard if you have too many shortcuts to remember.
Amy says:
April 10th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
To AgainstMice: It’s hardly fair to say mice destroy wrists and forearms. It’s overuse and tension that cause damage, not the tools themselves. Many kinds of mice are available on the market today, from trackpads to wacoms to trackballs and vertical mice, and so forth, and many of them designed to minimize the problems that may arise from standard mouse use.
AgainstMice says:
April 11th, 2008 at 6:05 am
To Amy: I agree with you 100%. I should say “Overuse and cheap mouse destroy your wrists…”
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December 16th, 2008 at 3:44 am
[...] keep in mind you may be able to avoid pain without spending a dime, for example by using free software that reminds you to take breaks from working on the [...]
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