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Debugging my RSI - by Max Shen - Debug Your Pain

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I am about to give up. My eyes are bleary after four days of staring at numpy arrays. I want to smash my keyboard and throw it out into the snow, but I have promised myself that I will fix this bug by the end of the week. Besides a dull headache, I feel the usual ache in my wrists. This time, though, my forearms are also hurting. A dull heat rises from my wrists to the soft muscle below my elbow. Another half hour of coding, the pain in my wrists becomes sharper. So I stop for the day, knowing that my wrists will be back to normal enough to fix this problem tomorrow. Or so I think. As a grad student in CS, I code a lot, so make sure to have good postural and ergonomic hygiene. I use a Microsoft Sculpt keyboard, hotkeys to minimize mouse use. My wrists are neutral and my screen is at head height. It more or less keeps various aches at bay. The next morning, wrists sore, I begin to type, and within fifteen minutes, the dull heat in my forearms becomes hot. My fingers become stiff; my typ

Debugging my RSI A personal essay about debilitating chronic pain, and how I acquired the knowledge to get out of it. Max Shen Jul 03, 2024 10 Share A fire burning I am about to give up. My eyes are bleary after four days of staring at numpy arrays. I want to smash my keyboard and throw it out into the snow, but I have promised myself that I will fix this bug by the end of the week. Besides a dull headache, I feel the usual ache in my wrists. This time, though, my forearms are also hurting. A dull heat rises from my wrists to the soft muscle below my elbow. Another half hour of coding, the pai

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