RE: OFF-TOPIC: re. tendonitious

[Dorothy Day day@xxxxxxxx]

On Fri, 21 May 1999, Tom Robertson wrote:

> The third measure is to get the slant on the back of your hands.
>
> Your keyboard should be set to the height of your first
> measurement with your hand on the "home" keys.
>
> The second setting for your keyboard should be to the slant of
> the second measure.
>
> The slant will probably be just the opposite of the direction you
> keyboard is tilted with by those cute little flippers on the back
> of the board that makes it tilt toward you.
>
> From my experience, and according to several typing teachers I
> asked and one champion speed typist, the heel or any other part
> of your hand should not rest on anything. If it does, you are
> probably cramping your writing style.
>
> Anybody have anything to add, subtract, or change from this?
>

Cruising the wristpad section at Staples, I happened upon some $4.95
little black oval gel pads (CyberGel Add-a-Pad) that I snatched up in
multiples--two for the "wrist rest" on my contoured keyboard and one
for the mouse/touchpad position.

I know the experts say don't let the heels of your hands rest on
anything--but I do. What I wanted was whatever was the softest and
least likely to press into my hands & wrists, and these fit the bill.

They have the advantage of raising your wrists about 3/4" above any
other resting position, so the fingers land on the keys at the right
angle, if the keyboard tray is at the proper height off the floor.

> > ≪ the gods meant fingers to stay close to the home
> > position. ≫
> >
> > Maybe. They certainly meant wrists to be elevated
> > with computer input devices. ... Ciao.
> > --a


The other necessary item is a good footrest so your back isn't thrown
out of whack when you sit. One that can adjust the tilt angle is good.

And the most important guideline of all is: If it hurts, stop!
Before the damages gets yet more serious, find ways to stretch, vary
your posture, take breaks, and remove the cause of the discomfort. It
sure beats coming back from RSI, which is usually long and inconvenient,
or much worse.

> > If a linux driver is important to you, why didn't you buy
> > a Synaptics? The developer http://www.synaptics.com/
> > enthusiastically promotes the linux driver that's available
> > http://www.pdos.lcs.mit.edu/~cananian/Synaptics/ for its
> > touchpads.
> >

The Touche touchpad comes with Synaptics drivers--very nice.

	Dorothy

*****
Dorothy Day			
School of Library and Information Science
Indiana University
day@xxxxxxxx	
*****
	"He also surfs who only sits and waits."