Maeda's SIMPLICITY

Simple RSI Advice

I received a letter from a student whose friend was suffering from RSI. She now feels her creative career using the computer is over. No. Not true. There is hope.

Fifteen years ago my RSI had developed into something quite nasty. I still deal with it today and it's a continual fight. If you're approaching your late 20s and you're a wicked fast computer user, welcome to the club! There are a few things I can recommend to you in case you'd like to keep on going:

• If you touch-type, stop touch-typing. Hold a pen in each hand and type. It's awkward but works. I can't stop touch-typing. So when it's bad, I use the pen-method.
• Keep your body warm. Circulation improves this way. Wear socks as acupuncturists say that the feet and hands are related. I stopped swimming because the coldness of the water seemed to only aggravate my condition.
• Acupuncture works. But I"m not certain it's just the needles. My personal theory is that it's about taking time for yourself -- for your body. Imagine spending the same amount of time getting to an acupuncture appointment and lying there -- just using that time to lie anywhere even outside of the acupuncture office might be well spent.
• Try not to stress out about your work. Whenever you can, take a relaxed outlook on things. Life's short. Relax.
• When your right-mousing hand fails, move to the left-hand. I have used every form of input device: stylus, trackball, trackpoint, etc. They're all bad for you. Don't believe in that "ergonomic" marketing-speak. When everything fails, use this mouse.
• Don't live on a laptop. Laptops are bad bad bad for you. Their keyboards are too constraining. Laptops set your body up in the bad-for-you crouch. When everything fails, use this keyboard (contour model).
• There's the normal things people say like: 1) Get a nice chair, 2) Take breaks often, 3) Change your career. I've got #1 down pat, but unfortunately haven't been able to use options 2 or 3.
• Disclaimer: I have doctorates but I'm not a medical doctor. Whatever I say here is not medically founded.

Sculptors get RSI. Writers using ballpoint pen can get RSI. Occupational hazards are well-represented in the creative fields. But when there is a will, there's always a way!