[jorgeer]

I had several onsets of RSI a few years back, and had to resort to voice coding as a last resort, after stretches, pauses and ergonomic everything did not do the job. It was pretty awful.

But then, after having seen doctors and neurologists, and finally a physical therapist, I came across my salvation: - Exercising my hands.

I very rarely see this mentioned for some reason. I exercised regularly, but only the bigger muscle groups, rarely grip strength and wrist strength. It felt counter-intuitive to exercise my already extremely painfully aching hands (when typing), but using grip weights and other methods to work out my hands and wrists, the pain went away quickly! If you are not diagnosed with carpal tunnel, and not already doing this, definitely try it, it saved my career.

[benterris]

Could you please elaborate on the exercises you're finding helpful ? I have a mild RSI myself (outer part of the forearm, near the elbow) and have been trying some eccentric exercises for a few months now but I'm not seeing a big improvement.

[ajmarcic]

I list the low-hanging fruit first:

Look up nerve flossing exercises on YouTube. Routinely doing these had the largest impact for me. You'll feel the ones that work on whatever nerve is inflamed.

Try to improve your posture. My general mantra is "lift your head as much as possible. Pull your shoulders back". It gets easier eventually. If your head lies forward from the spine you have a hunch. You may notice a small lump of muscle behind your neck. That's bad. There are exercises to try and strengthen the opposite muscles.

If you sleep on your arms try to stop as well. I recommend sleeping on your back. Fluffy couches and back rests sacrifice posture. Don't use a laptop in bed.

Sleep, eat nutrient-dense foods, and run or swim. Avoid alcohol. If you do pushups or bench press, make sure to exercise your upper back equally to avoid imbalance.

[untoreh]

I use a powerball

[modeless]

Rock climbing has worked for me. I had mild wrist pain in college and worried that it would get worse, but it went away soon after I started climbing.

[eurg]

Counterpoint: After a promising two weeks, it did nothing for me, back to square one. OTOH a colleague of mine recommended this after having personal success.

It is frustrating that there seems to be only trial and error in all of this.