🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1aui3gINNqn5@agate.berkeley.edu> lee@soda.berkeley.edu (Lee Thompson-Herbert) writes:
>
>No.  If you start looking down by pulling your chin in, you'll develop 
>a problem in the cervical vertebrae.  It's also a good way for making you 
>tense up your shoulders and getting tendonitis.  Believe me, pinched neck
>and back nerves are *no* fun.  And the likelihood of irritated ulnar and
>radial nerves goes up.

Curious.  I guess you just shouldn't look down at all, or maybe mix up
how you do it.  You can hurt yourself by repeating just about *any* motion.

>Wrist pads mainly proctect one from tendonitis caused by tension in the
>elbows and shoulders.  They should be used with caution, since supporting
>the weight of one's arms on the pad puts pressure on the carpal tunnel and
>may help cause nerve damage there.
>However, failure to rest one's arms *somewhere* is a sure way of contracting
>tendonitis and upper back problems.  The shoulders should be kept loose
>and the elbows rested on chair arms, if possible.  In all cases, the wrists
>should be held in a neutral position, bending neither up nor down.

Well, as far as I can tell, there is no consensus opinion on wrist pads or
support devices.  About all that I can say for a fact: one of the later
stages of physical/occupational therapy is often weight training, to build
up all your muscles.  If you've got strong enough arms, you should be just
fine without any supports, GIVEN PROPER POSTURE, rest breaks, etc..  Chair
arms are another one of those weird things.  The majority of chair arms
are all wrong for typing.  Some of the really expensive chairs have
height-adjustable arms with nice squishy padding.  I personally can't
stand any hard-plastic or metal chair arms.

Also, you mention "a neutral position" for your wrists.  I hope you realize
that a truly neutral position would have your thumb significantly higher
than your pinky -- a handshake is a neutral position!  Remember: wrists
bend in more than one direction.

Dan
--
Dan Wallach               "One of the most attractive features of a Connection
dwallach@cs.berkeley.edu  Machine is the array of blinking lights on the faces
Office#: 510-642-9585     of its cabinet." -- CM Paris Ref. Manual, v6.0, p48.