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Carpal Tunnel

Though carpal tunnel syndrome isn't directly software development related, it's worth a mention in this blog as I'm sure many software developers will experience it or some form wrist/keyboarding related problem during their work life time. The huge amount of time that can be spent at a keyboard is a recipe for trouble. About a year and half ago, numbness in my wrist was driving me nuts. Reducing the amount of time at the keyboard wasn't an option since no one pays the bill when you're not working! I tried all sorts of products to alleviate the numbness.

Wrist supports helped a bit, but got in the way of mousing. Some keyboard variations were tried but they were either more uncomfortable or too difficult to type on e.g. the Microsoft natural keyboard. A particularly disastrous purchase was for a touch sensitive keyboard that was expensive and ended up actually being more uncomfortable than a normal keyboard. What ended up working for me was a standard keyboard, a standard mouse and two thick gel wrist rests place symmetrically at the bottom of the keyboard. That simple change plus some basic awareness of potential wrist problems at a keyboard did the trick for me. Hope this helps anyone reading this entry with a similar problem.

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