Everyday Systems

I'm a software engineer and I've had a lot of problems with RSI. I've been doing (and enjoying) SG for a month now but I'm noticing that when my wrists are acting up (like now) it hurts to do most of the movements.

I was wondering if anyone else has this problem (as there seem to be quite a few devs are around here) and, if so, what advice you could give me on how to adjust my routine so that it's not so stessful on my wrists (alternate moves, new stances, etc).

For those curious I'm using an 8lb hammer and my typical routine is something like:
shovel, churn butter (one handed), hoist the sack, chop wood
20 with each arm + 15-17 with each arm + 40-70 crunches all with some variation depending on the morning

Thanks guys =/

I am not an expert, but I would suggest trying some or all of the following

Slow down the speed of your movements for a while

try doing less of each movement at a time, in other words rather than doing one set of 20 woodchops, do 10 then repeat for another 10 later in the workout. Think more sets of fewer reps

lighten your hammer

try adjusting your grip ie position, lighter, tighter, look at the grip onthe hammer - is it too slick making you grip tighter than you have to, would weightlifting gloves help

examine your form

shorten your workout to say 7 minutes until wrists adapt then gradually increase workout by 1 minute per week untilyou are 14. Anythime your wrists start to hurt scale back a bit before increasing again.
You can do other exercises that don't involve the wrists to keep up the 14 minutes if you ike - like hindu squats, walking lunges without weights etc.

Good luck

J

Welcome!

I haven't had much of an issue with this personally, but I found a couple older threads on the subject than might contain something helpful:

http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic ... hlight=rsi

http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic ... hlight=rsi

I'm guessing small rep count sets on a large variety of moves might help. As will limiting yourself to no more than 14 minutes per N-day. Stop as soon as anything hurts and take the next day off. Ditch any suspicious moves -- you can always revisit them later when you've ruled other stuff out.

Reinhard

Hi
One other thing to consider.
If you can get a good therapist to give you a neck massage.. someone who knows about "trigger point" therapy (not acupressure), perhaps your wrist problems might lessen.
Many issues at the wrist, like carpal tunnel syndrome, originate from dysfunction in the neck and shoulder muscles.
My guess is that you should examine how you sit at your desk during the day, and make sure that you don't have forward head posture, when your head goes forward of your midline..
This is so common with computer use.
Your ear should be in line with your shoulder.
Every inch forward of your shoulder increases the force of the weight of your head by 10 times.
This overworks and fatigues the neck muscles and usually results in lots of trigger points, which will cause neuro-muscular dysfunction along the arms.
I'm a massage therapist and most people I treat have no clue how their posture affects them.
Good luck!


Deb

Thanks all for the responses!

So this morning I did a couple of things... First, I switched to more sets with fewer reps and it seemed to help. I also adjusted my grip on the hammer so that I was holding it right against the head which helps me reduce the strain a bit. Finally I completely removed Hoist The Sack as it was nearly impossible for me to do without slipping into a form that killed my left wrist. I'm not exactly sure what to call the thing I've replaced it with or even how to describe it yet, maybe later.

To gratefuldeb, many thanks on the posture suggestions; I suspect that is a big reason these problems started in the first place. That being said I've actually found that since starting SG my posture has improved pretty significantly (greater stregth in my upper back & shoulders make it less annoying to sit straight for hours at a time).

Anyway, hopefully this will help, and thanks again for all your suggestions and the links to the previous discussions about it.