Repetitive Stress Injury
I’ve heard it said that if you’re a writer, it’s not a matter of if you’ll develop a repetitive stress injury, but when. Looks like 2014 was my year.
I’ve been getting pains in my shoulders for months now. In the beginning, it was little more than a twinge. I assumed I’d pulled something at karate, and then when it didn’t go away, I thought maybe I was sleeping on my arm wrong, or I needed a different pillow. It was annoying, but not incapacitating.
But it didn’t go away, and it gradually got worse. If I used my right hand and tried to reach around to touch the back of my left shoulder, pain jabbed through the core of those upper arm muscles. If I used the left hand and reached for the right, it was worse. So I finally headed over to the friendly neighborhood Doctor-Man, who had no problem diagnosing me:
Wait, what? No, that’s not– Stupid random Dogma references sneaking into my blog post!
Anyway, the doctor diagnosed me with biceps tendonitis, which is an inflammation of the long head — get your mind out of the gutter — of the biceps tendon.
The good news is that it’s not terribly severe. He put me on anti inflammatories, told me to try icing the shoulders, and talked about the kinds of thing that can cause this injury to develop, and what to do about it. This talk can be boiled down to, “Whatever you’re doing to mess up your shoulders, stop doing it!”
As far as I can tell, the problem is that the arms of my desk chair at work were a little too low. This means the tendons were strained by holding my arms up all day while I’m typing. Why was the left shoulder worse than the right? Because I mouse left-handed.
It’s been about a week, and my right shoulder is noticeably improved. The left … that’s going a little more slowly, but hopefully it will catch up.
Ah well. If all else fails and my left arm never heals, there’s always this option from He-Man…
Martin
June 30, 2014 @ 9:43 am
Usually the recommendation is to switch to voice recognition software.
More than a decade ago, during the critical phase of a joint book project, a friend broke his hand. He switched to a dictating software to complete the book (just try to imagine the state of such software in those days) and has remained with it since then.
A few years later, i broke my shoulder in a bicycle accident. I rather accepted hellish pain than giving up keyboard/mouse control. Since then, Siri reconciled me a bit with the idea. It works quite well with German, my english accent seems to be intelligible for it (and other languages are even worse). Since i write in two languages every day, switching to software will not be an option.
C.E. Petit
June 30, 2014 @ 11:12 am
Have you considered using a trackball instead of a mouse? (I know they’re more difficult to find than right-handed trackballs, but the big Marble Mouse works either hand.) It sounds to me that some of the left-shoulder problem may be that your left hand is doing fine-motor motions with muscles, in the shoulder, that are not well adapted for fine-motor control. A trackball, however, puts all the fine-motor control down in the fingers where it belongs.
I’m suggesting this because I’ve seen chronic shoulder problems clear up just by making this shift. Sometimes, it really is the bad tools…
Steve H.
June 30, 2014 @ 11:50 am
Jim, be sure to take care of yourself. This is a serious issue.
I’m a software architect by day and during a spate of writing more than 3K lines of code/day, I suffered badly. I’ll offer these three pieces of unsolicited advice. First – Deborah Quilter’s work is de rigeur: http://www.rsihelp.com/ Second, consider voice-entry of text (I used Dragon products – they work pretty well if you can used to speaking your words). Third (and this is bad news): it took years for this injury to develop. It may take years to recover. Feel free to contact me for more details.
D. D. Webb
June 30, 2014 @ 12:25 pm
Okay, I’ll admit it: I laughed. In my defense, I’m not used to seeing blatant double entendres in this blog. You got me with the element of surprise.
Please do take care of yourself, and feel better. The world would be diminished if your writing stopped.
Lark @ The Bookwyrm's Hoard
June 30, 2014 @ 3:51 pm
Hope you feel better soon, Jim! RSI is no fun at all. I’m sure you’re already looking into lots of ways of minimizing it, but here are a few more that no one’s mentioned yet: try an adjustable keyboard-and-mouse float, and learn to use keyboard shortcuts whenever possible to avoid mousing. (My husband does the latter; I use the former because I’m short, and desks are always to high for me to keyboard comfortably.)
I’ll also put in another plug for trying Dragon voice recognition software. I’ve used it for work — creating indexes rather than writing books — and it’s been helpful. That said, I realize that creative writing is a different process, and dictating might not work for you (just like authors who have to write longhand and can’t write on a keyboard, or vice versa.) Still, it might be worth trying – at least for non-storywriting tasks like answering email or even composing blog posts.
Just… take care of yourself, OK? We all want you to be able to keep creating wonderful tales for decades to come.
KatG
June 30, 2014 @ 6:05 pm
Are you sure that this wasn’t because we made you do cover poses?
I also vote for the trackball — they are way better — much less motion issues.
Jim C. Hines
June 30, 2014 @ 6:11 pm
Heh. After I posted this, I was thinking I should have blamed it on the cover posing 🙂
Jim C. Hines
June 30, 2014 @ 6:12 pm
Thanks, all. And no worries – one way or another, I’m not about to stop writing!
mklj
June 30, 2014 @ 8:20 pm
You have my sympathy! I’ve found that my RSI is much better when I use a touch pad (such as http://www.cirque.com/desktoptouchpad/touchpad-mouse-overview.aspx ) instead of a mouse. And, to second what others have said, voice recognition software is much improved.
Did your doctor refer you to a physical therapist? I highly recommend getting some PT – they can help you prevent future injuries as well as helping with the current one.
Kathryn A
June 30, 2014 @ 8:25 pm
I third the suggestion of a trackball.
Also, see if you can find some “RSI break” software. It’s a program that forces you to take rest-breaks by locking up your screen and/or keyboard so you can’t keep typing. The best ones (a) keep track of how much you are typing, so they are a bit more intelligent about when they initiate breaks, and (b) also have an option for micro-breaks. My favourite one is called “Workrave”. I thought it only ran on Linux, but apparently it runs on MS-Windows too.
Pam Adams
July 1, 2014 @ 11:09 am
Let’s hope that your employer will do some ergonomic improvement on your workspace as well.
mklj
July 1, 2014 @ 1:13 pm
Legally, I believe they have to (per ADA).
Laura Resnick
July 1, 2014 @ 7:05 pm
I have carpal tunnel syndrome, which I keep under control by wearing wrist braces when I type (and as long as I do this, it does keep it under control for the most part), and some problems in my right hand (caused by overuse of trackpad–I try to adjust by using my fingers on it instead of my thumb). I knew very few writers who don’t have RMI of some sort from long hours at the keyboard.
Patti L.
July 2, 2014 @ 3:41 am
I’ve been having some shoulder issues too, and had no idea why. I’m now leaning over a bit in the office type chair when I crochet, and resting the other elbow against my well padded hip, and getting less of this, now you’ve mentioned it. Thank you!
Hannah Steenbock
July 5, 2014 @ 4:58 am
Hi Laura,
I had carpal tunnel pretty badly about ten years ago. My solution was to add a keyboard tray to my desk that allows me to have my keyboard just above my knees, basically. No more wrist bending for writing. While waiting for the first operation (and yes, wearing wrist braces) I started writing a lot, because a story bug hit me hard. The pain actually diminished and then went away, and I never needed to have the second wrist operated on. That was over ten years ago, and I’ve never had carpal tunnel again.
Do consider changing the position of your keyboard. It could make a huge difference.