Two angles on Repetitive Strain Injury

NancyLebovitz

Discussion of buckling-spring keyboards, which give accurate tactile feedback. You can get them for about $70, and a lot of people swear by them.

Here's my RSI story: Some years ago, I was getting a lot of pain in my right elbow, presumably as + result of excessive Blockout (3D tetris), counted crosstitch, and being polite for no good reason to someone I was very angry at when I was under stress. Rest was not helping. I remember needing to sign a bunch of checks, and using my right hand for the signatures and my left for the account numbers, and it was still hard on my elbow.

The Way of Energy is an excellent introduction to Taoist standing meditation. I worked up to being able to do twenty minutes of just plain standing and twenty minutes of holding a balloon (arms circled at a little below shoulder level) a day. After mere weeks, my elbow problem went away and never came back. Subjectively, I hit a point in meditation where it became obvious to me that I was using more effort to stand than I needed to, and I could just let go of the excess tension.

Discussion of buckling-spring keyboards, which give accurate tactile feedback. You can get them for about $70, and a lot of people swear by them.

If you're interested in neuromuscular control theory, I recommend Moshe Feldenkrais, Thomas Hanna, Lulu Sweigart, and Mable Todd.

I'm at the moment reading Hanna and Feldenkrais. With both I note that they did their work decades ago. Is there something more recent in that domain that you would recommend to read as well?

The Alexander Technique is incredible valuable in working with RSI; I'm a violinist & AT teacher in NYC and have seen people who couldn't turn a page in a book or press an elevator button without pain learn how rid themselves of RSI by improving their "use" as Mr. Alexander called it.

Here's a little essay that explains some of the ideas behind the work; but it must be learned by hands on experiences to be truly understood.

http://connectingupthedots.com/2014/03/20/understanding-the-primary-directions-which-way-is-up/

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I did most of my reading on this stuff about a decade ago. One guy I didn't mention was Frank Pierce Jones, who did experimental studies on the Alexander Technique. Looks like there has actually been a fair amount of study of the Alexander Technique in the last 15 years. See La Wik, and http://www.amsatonline.org/research Like I said, I haven't read this stuff in a while, so please update us on what you find.