[deno]

Practically all ergonomic studies start from the position of compromised wrist placement and measure what angle does least damage. That’s how you end up with split “ergonomic” keyboards.

This is the height you need for your monitor to not encourage slouching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S467Ck8uIsc . You also need to touch type which not everyone can. As a result most office workers have terrible postures.

I bet you would run into trouble just trying to find enough people that can both touch type and have good enough posture to do such study. But I would start with piano players.

[melling]

I’ve got dozens of stories about people with RSI here:

https://github.com/melling/ErgonomicNotes/blob/master/README...

There doesn’t seem to be one cause or one solution.

[deno]

You can put everything in that list into 3 categories:

1. Fixing the problem: posture & monitor/keyboard height

2. Masking the problem: anything with the word ergonomic

3. Avoiding the problem: typing less/taking frequent (flow-interrupting) breaks

Of course most people with pain want quick solutions, so no. 2 is going to be over-represented. Fixing your posture actually takes work to stretch/compress different muscle groups over a period of time, otherwise you’re back to slouching after 10 minutes.

[melling]

There are some plenty of programmers who have dealt with problems for years:

http://ergoemacs.org/emacs/emacs_hand_pain_celebrity.html

I wouldn’t trivialize anything.

Happens to designers too.

This was on the front of HN a few years ago:

http://www.looknohands.me

[deno]

Acknowledging the fact that most people working with computers have horrible postures is not trivializing anything.

[melling]

Many people claim the Mind Body Approach solved their problem:

http://www.rsi.deas.harvard.edu/mb_what_is.html

Claiming the entire problem is posture might not be the answer. We should definitely be looking more deeply into the problem and solutions.

The creator of Tcl/Tk has been dealing with RSI for over 20 years, for example:

http://web.stanford.edu/~ouster/cgi-bin/wrist.php

[deno]

Obviously I can’t prove a negative, but:

> This made a substantial difference in my comfort level; it's amazing how tense you are under normal conditions and how much you can relax if you know how.

That’s exactly the biggest benefit I got from fixing my posture. Being able to relax. Also fixing my deviated septum, but posture alone can compromise your breathing to that degree as well.

> As soon as I would get up out of my chair and do other activities, the symptoms would go away again.

Bingo.

[hfdgiutdryg]

Fixing poor ergonomics isn't making a problem.