By Susi Hately, B.Sc. Kinesiology, C-IAYT Yoga Therapist

Repetitive strain injury from typing can occur anywhere along the hand, wrist, forearm, elbow, upper arm, shoulder, upper back, and neck. Most often it occurs in more than one of those areas. In many cases, symptoms can be reduced or alleviated with changes in posture or position.

The following typing technique can help prevent or alleviate symptoms of strain. It takes less than 2 minutes. 

1. Bend your elbows to 90 degrees. With your elbows at about 90 degrees, scoot yourself to your keyboard. If you need to bend your elbows more or straighten your elbows to reach the keyboard, adjust the height of your chair or the keyboard tray, or purchase an adjustable keyboard tray to enable a 90-degree-ish position at the elbows.
2. Align the middle knuckle with the center of your wrist. Are your hands deviating left or right, creating wrinkles at the side(s) of your wrists? If so, the middle knuckle is not aligned with the center of the wrist. Realign yourself.
3. Float your wrists above the wrist rest/lap top. Do you rest your wrists or forearms on the wrist rest, tabletop, or on your lap top, typing solely from your fingers? The pressure against the wrists can impede nerve flow to the fingers, increasing fatigue and pain. If you are at a desk top computer, allow the wrist rest to act like a cloud above which your wrists float. You are aiming to have gentle support, with very little or no bend in your wrists.
4. Use your whole arm. A tennis player would never use just the wrist to power the racket to hit a tennis ball. Same for you and your typing. Hover your fingers over home row on your keyboard. Now notice your shoulders. Do a few shoulder rolls (rolling the shoulders backwards). Notice how your shoulder position impacts your hand and finger position? Can you let the stronger, larger muscles of your back, shoulders, and arm position your hands so that your fingers can move lightly? Don’t be forceful or rigid about this, just notice.

If you want to take this to the next level, there are shoulder and arm exercises that help bring lightness and ease in the Yoga for the Desk Jockey book and audio cd. You can find it at http://bit.ly/2ibRdJp

This is just the start. . . . Remember to breathe and take breaks throughout your day – your fingers, hands, arms, neck, and back will love you for it.

Enjoy!

Susi

Your body changes from day to day, and you alone know your body best. Please be responsible with it, move with awareness and in a range that doesn’t increase pain.