LAL5@NS.CC.LEHIGH.EDU (Leslie A. Lucas) (06/10/91)
I am having problems with my arms and shoulders from drawing with mouse and light pen. The repetitiveness of the job damaged my "artistic arm" and is now hurting the other arm. Do any of you have a similar problem? What are you doing about it? I have been going from doctor to doctor, and have found no solution.
kskelm@happy.colorado.edu (06/13/91)
In article <10069111:09:40LAL5@lehigh.bitnet>, LAL5@NS.CC.LEHIGH.EDU (Leslie A. Lucas) writes: > I am having problems with my arms and shoulders from drawing with > mouse and light pen. The repetitiveness of the job damaged my > "artistic arm" and is now hurting the other arm. Do any of you have a > similar problem? What are you doing about it? I have been going from > doctor to doctor, and have found no solution. Yes. After using a mouse for an extended period, my entire hand goes numb and tingly. When using the mouse, I am resting the weight of my arm exactly on the bottom side of my wrist. I guess it cuts off circulation or something. If I do it TOOOO long, the numbness travels all the way to my upper arm.
ted@aps1.spa.umn.edu (Ted Stockwell) (06/14/91)
In article <1991Jun13.091117.1@happy.colorado.edu> kskelm@happy.colorado.edu writes: > > In article <10069111:09:40LAL5@lehigh.bitnet>, LAL5@NS.CC.LEHIGH.EDU (Leslie A. Lucas) writes: > > I am having problems with my arms and shoulders from drawing with > > mouse and light pen. The repetitiveness of the job damaged my > > "artistic arm" and is now hurting the other arm. Do any of you have a > > similar problem? What are you doing about it? I have been going from > > doctor to doctor, and have found no solution. > > Yes. After using a mouse for an extended period, my entire hand goes > numb and tingly. When using the mouse, I am resting the weight of my arm > exactly on the bottom side of my wrist. I guess it cuts off circulation or > something. If I do it TOOOO long, the numbness travels all the way to my upper > arm. Avoid putting any weight on the underside of your wrist. This can cause things like carpal tunnel syndrome (nerve damage). Try to rest your arms on the fleshy part of the forearm. Some padding such as a folded towel will also help. Also, take occasional breaks to give your arms a rest. ** If something hurts or causes numbness then stop doing it! ** (and if it hurts, don't continue for "just a little bit more -- I want to finish what I'm working on". That's how I developed a very persistent (and expensive) case of tendonitis.) -- Ted Stockwell U of MN, Dept. of Astronomy ted@aps1.spa.umn.edu Automated Plate Scanner Project
Ronald_Ramage@mindlink.bc.ca (Ronald Ramage) (06/15/91)
> kskelm@happy.colorado.edu writes: > > Msg-ID: <1991Jun13.091117.1@happy.colorado.edu> > Posted: 13 Jun 91 15:11:17 GMT > > Org. : University of Colorado, Boulder > > In article <10069111:09:40LAL5@lehigh.bitnet>, LAL5@NS.CC.LEHIGH.EDU (Leslie > A. Lucas) writes: > > I am having problems with my arms and shoulders from drawing with > > mouse and light pen. The repetitiveness of the job damaged my > > "artistic arm" and is now hurting the other arm. Do any of you have a > > similar problem? What are you doing about it? I have been going from > > doctor to doctor, and have found no solution. > > Yes. After using a mouse for an extended period, my entire hand goes > numb and tingly. When using the mouse, I am resting the weight of my arm > exactly on the bottom side of my wrist. I guess it cuts off circulation or > something. If I do it TOOOO long, the numbness travels all the way to my > upper > arm. I have damaged wings from falling off bicycles at high speeds onto hard surfaces. In a standard desk/monitor/keyboard/mouse/tablet setup, my left arm/wrist is positioned in a way that circulation is compromised. (This because of the way some of the bones healed.) My arm balloons up and needs to be lifted over my head and kneaded to move the collected fluids along. For this reason I have had to alter the setup/placement to accomodate my needs. What I've done is make myself perfectly comfortable in my chair. Perfectly comfortable, able to sit for days without moving. Then I place the input tool (Keyboard, trackball, lightpen, tablet) under my fingers as they sit when perfectly comfortable. I have used swing-arm holders to accomplish this. I also place the monitor(s) to be exactly in my line of sight, no neck craning at all. Then I can and have spent days in the chair working away, happy as a clam.
icousins@actrix.gen.nz (Ian Cousins) (06/16/91)
In article <10069111:09:40LAL5@lehigh.bitnet> LAL5@NS.CC.LEHIGH.EDU (Leslie A. Lucas) writes: > I am having problems with my arms and shoulders from drawing with > mouse and light pen. The repetitiveness of the job damaged my > "artistic arm" and is now hurting the other arm. Do any of you have a > similar problem? What are you doing about it? I have been going from > doctor to doctor, and have found no solution. I have the same problem which has been getting increasing more difficult to deal with as time passes. I have had physiotherapy for the shoulder pain which worked. Tha cause is poor posture which causes the neck to curve forward and the chin to drop. Exercise to straighten the neck relieves the pain and improves the posture. The arms are much harder to cure... my problem has been diagnosed as sever RSI (repetitive strain injury). It started as a twing in the arm near the elbow ... it then spread to the wrists and knuckles then fingers. I am having a course of injections into the wrist (carpal tunnel) to relieve the swelling/ inflammation and I now have to wear wrist splints for support and to restrict the movement of the wrists. My specialist says quit the typing and mouse use or risk loss of use of hands at some later time. I have responded by reducing keyboard/mouse time to a minimum (sufficient to keep my job and no more than an hour a day for leisure). I am also investigating the use of alternativemethods of input. To date i have found two systems that might be of use: one is a voice input system (of limited capability) by COVOX (somewhere in US) - the other is a pen input system which works with a digitiser tablet to enable handwritten input, pen sketching, etc. It is called The Handwritten Data Entry System by Communications Intelligence Corp. which preofesses to operate with most applications on most operating systems. It has special templates for use with Autocad, Lotus 123 and wordPerfect. Check out a piece in "Fortune" Feb 11, 1991 (pg113) on this technology - also reviews of HDES in "PC WEEK/Business" oct 15 1990, "Cadence" Jan 1990 page 80 and "ARchitectural & Engineering systems" august 1988 pg 42. also have a refrence somewhere to an organisation in the Us who are up with the play interms of aids for the disable who might have further info. If you get furhter info yourself I can be contacted as follows: icousins@lyncus.actrix.gen.nz Ian.Cousins@actrix.gen.nz Email preferred :) -- Ian Cousins \\ // Email Ian.Cousins@actrix.gen.nz PO Box 12057 \\// Thorndon PO //\\ Phone +64 4 835262 (Voice GMT +12) Wellington, New Zealand // \\
vernak@cateye.LABS.TEK.COM (Verna Knapp) (06/18/91)
In article <1991Jun16.040543.9152@actrix.gen.nz> icousins@actrix.gen.nz (Ian Cousins) writes: >In article <10069111:09:40LAL5@lehigh.bitnet> LAL5@NS.CC.LEHIGH.EDU (Leslie A. Lucas) writes: >> I am having problems with my arms and shoulders from drawing with >> mouse and light pen. The repetitiveness of the job damaged my >> "artistic arm" and is now hurting the other arm. Do any of you have a >> similar problem? What are you doing about it? I have been going from >> doctor to doctor, and have found no solution. > >I have the same problem which has been getting increasing more difficult >to deal with as time passes. I have had physiotherapy for the shoulder >pain which worked. Tha cause is poor posture which causes the neck to >curve forward and the chin to drop. Exercise to straighten the neck >relieves the pain and improves the posture. The arms are much harder to Another related problem is shortening of the muscles which turn the head. Counting my commute, I spend about 14 hours a day looking *forward*. Now I have trouble with my neck due to shortened muscles. The poor posture problem also shortens these muscles. One way to help this is to lower your monitor as much as possible so you can look down at it. I am using an anthrocart which has the table top on my knees, and I have taken the pizza box out from under my sun and put it on the floor. If I could remove the "ergonomic" tilt and swivel monitor support to drop it a couple more inches, I would. In fact I would like to drop the monitor into a hole that would place it about 6 inches lower. And I have a relatively long body. This would be worse for a short person. And watch out when you get bifocals! If you have to look through the lower part of your glasses to see the screen, you will have to lower the screen or raise your chin to see. Lowering the screen enough is usually not possible, and raising your chin shortens those neck muscles. >cure... my problem has been diagnosed as sever RSI (repetitive strain >injury). It started as a twing in the arm near the elbow ... it then >spread to the wrists and knuckles then fingers. I am having a course of >injections into the wrist (carpal tunnel) to relieve the swelling/ >inflammation and I now have to wear wrist splints for support and to >restrict the movement of the wrists. > Other ways to reduce carpal tunnel problems from mouse use include learning to mouse with either hand (assuming your mouse cord is long enough to allow this), and flattening hierarchical menus. Put all commonly used functions in the top level menu, and more rarely used ones at lower levels. I am using a menu system which has the search and replace function three clicks down :-(. And it won't do a global replace which includes a CR. The principle involved here is the same as that in good kitchen design...put frequently used things where you can get them easily, and rarely used things in the less accessible spots. Yes, this can easily mean longer menus. I am about to revise mine on this system. Yet another thing which helps reduce hand numbness is a very well padded steering wheel on your car if you have a long commute. When I started my current 1 hour 45 minute each way commute, my hands tried to self destruct, including numbness and joint pain. I got a sheepskin cover with very dense wool on it. That helped a lot. When things are really bad, I find that antihistamines will reduce the numbness and swelling. And of course, aspirin for the joint problems. Verna Knapp vernak@crl.tek.com