My wrist has been giving me fits lately. It's the start of what could be become a serious repetitive strain injury. So I called the occupational therapy office. They sent someone down to my cube to do an ergonomic evaluation. She came around 10 in the morning and watched me work for about 15 minutes. I felt a litter self-conscious since I didn't really have anything to work on. I just screwed around in Photoshop. After 15 minutes, she decided that my monitor was too high and lowered it, that my keyboard was too high and lowered and that my chair didn't have enough lumbar support and she changed it. She also recommended a natural keyboard, you know one with the keyboard split down the middle and angled out so your hands don't lay flat. She also said I needed a larger mouse, one that supported my hand and required my whole arm to move.

Then in afternoon, I went into the occupational therapy clinic and had an examination. No carpal tunnel, which is good. Just minor tendonitis. The nurse gave me an ace bandage, an ice pack that I need to use three times a day and instructed me to take a break every for 2-4 minutes and stretch, which is going to be hard to do. I get into these zones where I'm working and I become so focused on the project at hand that I lose track of time. I'll try though.

I've had very bad RSI before, so it's all a little worrisome. Just after I finished my year abroad in Australia, I went to work for a teleresearch firm in South Melbourne doing hard core data entry. I worked 9-10 hours a day without much of a break for 5 months to save money for my trip to Southeast Asia. I was young and not too bright and didn't really consider my health at all. My desk and chair were not all that comfortable and I spent endless hours hunched over a keyboard constantly looking back and forth between the documents I was entering and my monitor. When I was done, I had these shooting pains in my left shoulder that persist to this day, but only when I do really heavy lifting. That was about 10 years ago.

So I need to nip this little health problem while it's still minor. I already feel better with the ice and the ace bandage. Hopefully when the new keyboard and mouse come, it will all become a thing of the past and I go on like it never happened.