Input devices and RSI

, I'd like to talk about repetitive strain injuries, this has come up because a lot of people have been working from home now for over a year. If due to world events and even though you might have been used to working in an office and you go into the office and work, say, 9:00 to 5:00 with a lunch break and occasional other breaks, watercooler breaks, and you come home and you might do some other things.

 

But because of the tendency now for everyone to work from home, there is an increased tendency of their being blurred lines between work life and home life. And when do you start working and when do you stop working? I've been working with a lot of companies and organisations that just don't respect boundaries and people working 10, 12, 13, 14 hour days. And so this has led to increased increased incidences of repetitive strain injury. So repetitive strain injury is when you've been doing the same thing over and over and over again, that same movement, miniscule movement over again to the point that it ends up hurting you.

 

One example of that is carpal tunnel syndrome. So one way that you can mitigate some of the injuries that are RSI related is, of course, not. Work is often how to work as much and spend as much time on the computer. However, that might not always be, you know, possible. So another way that you can do it is I have a friend, for example. They have a mouse. They have two mice. One is for the right hand and one's for the left hand, and so once a week they will swap input devices.

 

So one week they will do work with their right hand and the mouse will be their right hand. And the next week they will do it where they use the mouse with their left hand. And they found because they've been doing this for years. This has made them, to a degree, ambidextrous. But they they get a lot of enjoyment of work done that way. Another ways that you can sort of switch up the input devices that you are using for your laptops and your computers, especially if then you do a whole day's work and then you go in game.

 

And now if you are a PC gamer, you probably using your keyboard a lot and you might use your keyboard a lot at work. So think about the types of work that you were doing and try and get different input devices that you can switch around depending on the type of work that you are doing. Some people use the trackpad for some things and then other things. They'll use the mouse. Other times they'll use the keyboard and use shortcuts, shortcuts none of people use because they're very, very helpful keyboard shortcuts.

 

Rather than using a mouse to click everywhere settings settings in such a way that you can get different types of mice. Now try and get one that has a more natural position for your hand. Logitech, do a nice little line of mice that have different input buttons that you can pre-programmed. So instead of you having to do click, click, click, it might be able to copy and paste for you just by clicking one button so these can help you reduce your repetitive like movements.

 

The other thing is maybe to use a pen and a pen and a tablet to help with doing different inputs or touch screen will help you use a different form of input.

 

And then when you are doing so, you are gaming. Maybe get a gaming controller. I know that like Steam has a controller if you have it. Like a. Like a. Thing on Xbox, you could use controls for that, so you using different movements and different ways with your hands, so you're not doing the same thing for 10, 10, 14, 16 hours per day. Repetitive strain injury is a real issue and it's just becoming more and more apparent and highlighted more and more because of the amount that we use computers.

 

The other thing is doing exercises do take a minute, five minutes every hour or two hours to stretch out your arms and your wrists and rotate your wrist and to to try and strengthen them up, but also to give them some release that cramped over all the time to try and flex them out. There are many different ways that you can go about sort of reducing the likelihood of getting a repetitive strain injury. But it's something that you need to think about more and more these days with health.

 

So that is what I wanted to talk about today. I'd love to know what other things people do to help prevent repetitive strain injuries. Please email me at janice@thecareerintrovert.com, helping people and introverts build their brand and get hired. I look forward to hearing from you and have a great rest of your week.