Have fun in Maine. Sounds like a nice break.

Sorry to hear about the RSI, and thanks for the reading recommendations. I had some weird pain while working at MITH but since then have been okay. Doesn't mean it won't come back some day, though. Do you think using one of those ergonomically-correct keyboards is a good idea?

Have fun with the yoga!

The wisdom is that ergonomic keyboards, etc. can help, yes, but they are not a panacea--again, RSI is about the stresses and strains a static posture places on your entire upper body.

I've had some wicked pains too this summer - mostly in my shoulders and back, some in my forearm ...

Sounds like it's time for me to do some more RSI reading...

For the uninformed (me) - what distinction is there between RSI and Carpal Tunnel?

"static posture", eh?

So one should, perhaps, jog-n-blog?

Carpal tunnel is a specific condition, RSI is more like a genre (encompassing carpal tunnel and a range of other disorders). Get Pascarelli/Quilter or Damany/Bellis (preferably both).

I had similar issues last year which stemmed actually from a degenerative neck condition that was onset by constant computer use and... believe it or not... reading. Having to sit hunched over a book all day doesn't do much for your neck. In fact, I lost a good bit of mobility because of it. The doctor prescribed chiropractic treatments, and I've never felt better than when I was going to the chiropractor on a regular basis. I highly recommend a good chiropractor. Heat, ice, and muscle relaxers can only do so much. Having your spine realigned can make you feel like a new person.

Hope you feel better.

Seems like everyone has RSI. Mine's been tamed with Alexander Technique lessons, which assume that we've forgotten how to use our bodies naturally (think of the straight-backed, perfectly relaxed child) and so the student relearns how to NOT hold her muscles tight. The lessons have made me so much more aware of my body and how I have tended to slump when I type, and tense my arms a lot.

Yoga and other physical activities would be great too, they're about that awareness of body that we so easily forget at our machines.

I started Alexander Technique lessons when I'd been on sick leave for the second time in half a year. I'd not typed in five weeks and the RSI was getting worse and worse, to my physical therapist's surprise. I got voice recognition software and my THROAT started aching. At that point I realised that not everything has a physical cause, or at least not solely a physical cause. I read a book that argued in what seemed a reasonable and scientific fashion that our brains are quite capable of producing pain and muscle inflammations by reducing oxygen flow to an area of the body. So you can *have* RSI and genuinely inflamed muscles without the cause necessarily being the typing per se. In the fifties, said the book, stressed out people all got stomach ulcers. When researched showed that stress was a major cause of ulcers, the number of patients with ulcers reduced drastically. Now we have RSI and various muscle ailments instead.

After my voice started aching I couldn't help laughing. I realised that if I'd tried to type with my feet my toes would probably have developed RSI. And I admitted to myself that I was really anxious about finishing my PhD and that writing, quite frankly, terrified me. I quit physical therapy, and my arm started getting better within days. Alexander Technique helped by increasing my awareness of my body, which among other things lets me take the first twinge of RSI as an alarm bell telling me to rethink my life. I still can't always untense myself alone, but the lessons help me to do that.

Anyway, I'm sure there are different causes for RSI, some are perhaps solely physical, and there are obviously different solutions, too, but do consider that simple stress might have a lot to do with it.

Jill, I absolutely agree: stress is a *huge* factor in many RSI cases. Of course the discomfort and anxiety of RSI then only compound the stress, leading to the classic feedback cycle . . .

A big part of what the Alexander Technique and other modalities contribute, I think, is a meta-perspective that allows one to break that cycle and reconnect with their body.

Yes, that sounds about right, Matt :)

How did the yoga turn out? Was it helpful? Are you still doing it?