what have you done for me lately?
Spring cleaning at work. Huge wheeled cardboard crates in the hallway get filled up with monitors, staplers, that sort of thing. Mostly nonfunctional, I imagine.
I scavenged enough to reconstruct at home the keyboard tray I have at work, something like $180 if you buy it (as I recall, Oracle purchasing pays the 'retail' $450). I had a tray at home before, but it wasn't ideal - you couldn't adjust it vertically without loosening some screws, and the actual surface was too thick, even after I replaced it with a plywood sheet.
The ironic part is that even the new one isn't ideal. I had to rework the mousepad to a more reasonable position (something I had to do at work, too.) There are ones that have this available, but Oracle doesn't order that type.
Anyway, it's a considerable improvement. (I don't think I could have typed all that follows with the old tray.)
I've had to go through a lot for this carpal crap. Let the record show...
Method Timerange Cost Details Effect Doctors Spring 2002 - Spring 2003 Health insurance (with copays) Many visits. None directly. Referred me to physical therapy and told me surgery would not be helpful. Lectures, research Spring - Fall 2002 Free Various lectures at Oracle, on ergonomics, Feldenkrais, etc. Research online into various methods. Some interesting tautologies and comments. Much advice on things listed below. Helpful, albeit indirectly so. Physical Therapy Spring - Summer 2002 Health insurance (with copays) Went to therapy a couple of times a week for a while. Parafin, massage, handbike, etc. Considerable at first, for the severe symptoms. Less so as the thing settled into a more chronic/milder problem. Gave a lot of advice for stretches/exercise/etc. Home Exercises Spring 2002-present Maybe $40 for materials (weights, squeezy thingy, tennis balls) Strength exercises: weights, squeezy thingy, rubber band for reverse. Two tennis balls taped together for massage. Not so much these days. Seems somewhat helpful. For a while, my wife called me Popeye. Magnetic Wrist Bracelet Thing Spring 2002 $15? Stupid. None whatsoever. Wrist Braces (various) Spring 2002 - Summer 2005 Hard to say. Not much - mostly from doctors / household materials. Went through a lot of iterations of these. At first, wore braces while working. After a few months, it became only a nighttime thing. For a while, had constructed these monstrosities to keep my elbows straight while I slept. Later, just braces for the wrists with wool socks over that to maintain heat. Later, just the braces. Sometime last year, stopped altogether. (This is somewhat of an indicator of just how long it takes to improve.) Considerable, I think, at every stage. It's hard to tell when these things are necessary, but it's the sort of thing that helps for a while, and then gradually you have to lose it, or your body doesn't finish strengthening. Topical (ice, ben gay) Spring 2002 - 2003 Maybe around $50 Icing after exercise and work (fairly consistently for a long while). Ben Gay at night. Somewhat helpful while the problem was more severe, less over time as it became more of a mild chronic thing. Workspace Setup Spring 2002 - present ~free at work (~4900 for Oracle, their fault for being careless with their purchasing deals). Various at home, latest one was free (taken from work refuse). Probably about $150 worth of experimentation. At work, pretty much immediately switched to HumanScale trays for both the windows and solaris box. Had to move the mousepad down to the same level as the tray, then, when got the wireless mouse, had to adjust the pad to be level. At home, went through various iterations - basic tray, tray on arm, modified tray on arm (with thinner platform), and finally, tray taken from work. Makes a huge difference. Keyboard Spring 2002 - present ~free at work. At home, several iterations - latest about $100. Probably about $250 for all versions. Currently using a Goldtouch keyboard, same as at work, works out pretty well. Fairly used to that, so hard to say if it could be better. Before that, tried a couple of things, including a three-piece keyboard (for which I constructed an elaborate cardboard scaffolding). Considerable difference when combined with a good workspace setup. Work Habits Spring 2002 - present Free. Did a lot to reduce the stress put on my wrists at work. You can do almost anything without the mouse, given the willingness to switch to Firefox and learn shortcuts for various programs. Under unix, you can automate a lot of common tasks. Considerable difference. I use the mouse only occasionally these days. Dvorak Summer 2002 - present Free. Switched to Dvorak keyboard layout. Took about a month to do okay with it, more to get good at it. Had to remap some common linux commands to better utilize this. Hard to say, but I think helpful, especially when entering english text. Martial Arts / Overall Exercise Fall 2002 - present Don't even ask. Shim Gong Do from Fall 2002 to Spring 2006. Hapkido & Kung Fu after that - present. Hard to say how helpful it is (I did start it again in large part to help with wrists), but being in decent shape can't hurt. Dragon Naturally Speaking Spring - Summer 2003 ~$100 + ~$30 for headset Speech recognition software. Horribly ineffective. Meditation Summer 2003 - present Free if you don't count the incredibly expensive martial arts school that taught it. Meditation exercises to be aware of tension and relieve it. Seems fairly helpful, especially when it comes to reducing recovery time after overdoing it. Bodyscan in particular is good for noticing tense areas and getting them to relax. Mouse Fall 2006 - present ~$120 total (one for work, one for home) I went to great lengths to avoid using the mouse, but did not really change the mouse itself until recently. Switched to Logitech MX1000 cordless laser mouse. Helps not to have to fight with the cord and the wheel. Also made me aware of how non-level my mousepad was. Still, overall, better not to use the mouse to begin with.
And what is the result of all that? Well, it's better. Not all the way better - it probably never will be. Is it better enough? I'm not sure.
I scavenged enough to reconstruct at home the keyboard tray I have at work, something like $180 if you buy it (as I recall, Oracle purchasing pays the 'retail' $450). I had a tray at home before, but it wasn't ideal - you couldn't adjust it vertically without loosening some screws, and the actual surface was too thick, even after I replaced it with a plywood sheet.
The ironic part is that even the new one isn't ideal. I had to rework the mousepad to a more reasonable position (something I had to do at work, too.) There are ones that have this available, but Oracle doesn't order that type.
Anyway, it's a considerable improvement. (I don't think I could have typed all that follows with the old tray.)
I've had to go through a lot for this carpal crap. Let the record show...
Method Timerange Cost Details Effect Doctors Spring 2002 - Spring 2003 Health insurance (with copays) Many visits. None directly. Referred me to physical therapy and told me surgery would not be helpful. Lectures, research Spring - Fall 2002 Free Various lectures at Oracle, on ergonomics, Feldenkrais, etc. Research online into various methods. Some interesting tautologies and comments. Much advice on things listed below. Helpful, albeit indirectly so. Physical Therapy Spring - Summer 2002 Health insurance (with copays) Went to therapy a couple of times a week for a while. Parafin, massage, handbike, etc. Considerable at first, for the severe symptoms. Less so as the thing settled into a more chronic/milder problem. Gave a lot of advice for stretches/exercise/etc. Home Exercises Spring 2002-present Maybe $40 for materials (weights, squeezy thingy, tennis balls) Strength exercises: weights, squeezy thingy, rubber band for reverse. Two tennis balls taped together for massage. Not so much these days. Seems somewhat helpful. For a while, my wife called me Popeye. Magnetic Wrist Bracelet Thing Spring 2002 $15? Stupid. None whatsoever. Wrist Braces (various) Spring 2002 - Summer 2005 Hard to say. Not much - mostly from doctors / household materials. Went through a lot of iterations of these. At first, wore braces while working. After a few months, it became only a nighttime thing. For a while, had constructed these monstrosities to keep my elbows straight while I slept. Later, just braces for the wrists with wool socks over that to maintain heat. Later, just the braces. Sometime last year, stopped altogether. (This is somewhat of an indicator of just how long it takes to improve.) Considerable, I think, at every stage. It's hard to tell when these things are necessary, but it's the sort of thing that helps for a while, and then gradually you have to lose it, or your body doesn't finish strengthening. Topical (ice, ben gay) Spring 2002 - 2003 Maybe around $50 Icing after exercise and work (fairly consistently for a long while). Ben Gay at night. Somewhat helpful while the problem was more severe, less over time as it became more of a mild chronic thing. Workspace Setup Spring 2002 - present ~free at work (~4900 for Oracle, their fault for being careless with their purchasing deals). Various at home, latest one was free (taken from work refuse). Probably about $150 worth of experimentation. At work, pretty much immediately switched to HumanScale trays for both the windows and solaris box. Had to move the mousepad down to the same level as the tray, then, when got the wireless mouse, had to adjust the pad to be level. At home, went through various iterations - basic tray, tray on arm, modified tray on arm (with thinner platform), and finally, tray taken from work. Makes a huge difference. Keyboard Spring 2002 - present ~free at work. At home, several iterations - latest about $100. Probably about $250 for all versions. Currently using a Goldtouch keyboard, same as at work, works out pretty well. Fairly used to that, so hard to say if it could be better. Before that, tried a couple of things, including a three-piece keyboard (for which I constructed an elaborate cardboard scaffolding). Considerable difference when combined with a good workspace setup. Work Habits Spring 2002 - present Free. Did a lot to reduce the stress put on my wrists at work. You can do almost anything without the mouse, given the willingness to switch to Firefox and learn shortcuts for various programs. Under unix, you can automate a lot of common tasks. Considerable difference. I use the mouse only occasionally these days. Dvorak Summer 2002 - present Free. Switched to Dvorak keyboard layout. Took about a month to do okay with it, more to get good at it. Had to remap some common linux commands to better utilize this. Hard to say, but I think helpful, especially when entering english text. Martial Arts / Overall Exercise Fall 2002 - present Don't even ask. Shim Gong Do from Fall 2002 to Spring 2006. Hapkido & Kung Fu after that - present. Hard to say how helpful it is (I did start it again in large part to help with wrists), but being in decent shape can't hurt. Dragon Naturally Speaking Spring - Summer 2003 ~$100 + ~$30 for headset Speech recognition software. Horribly ineffective. Meditation Summer 2003 - present Free if you don't count the incredibly expensive martial arts school that taught it. Meditation exercises to be aware of tension and relieve it. Seems fairly helpful, especially when it comes to reducing recovery time after overdoing it. Bodyscan in particular is good for noticing tense areas and getting them to relax. Mouse Fall 2006 - present ~$120 total (one for work, one for home) I went to great lengths to avoid using the mouse, but did not really change the mouse itself until recently. Switched to Logitech MX1000 cordless laser mouse. Helps not to have to fight with the cord and the wheel. Also made me aware of how non-level my mousepad was. Still, overall, better not to use the mouse to begin with.
And what is the result of all that? Well, it's better. Not all the way better - it probably never will be. Is it better enough? I'm not sure.