all day typing and all night playing??? BAD COMBINATION!!!

[sudeep]

does anyone spend your day hours typing on a keyboard or hand on a mouse and then go home to practice/play for a few hours every night? thats what i do and im starting to really feel it in my fingers and wrists!!

 

ive really been working on my piano technique with a teacher, getting the shoulders, writs, elbows right...but after having 4 days off from work ive realised that this pain is coming from typing (while my hands are in proper typing position) and clicking the mouse all bloody day!!!

 

any suggestions (yes i could quit work...oh how id love to do that!!!)...but if quit work id never come to this forum!!! hehehehe

[Postman]

I do. Program during the day; play at night. If the typing is getting you, get one of the split keyboards. Microsoft makes a good one. They take a little getting used to, but after a while you won't even notice it. It helped me with my problem.

[guestuserguestuser.com]

One thing you can do is work on your typing technique in addition to your playing technique. If done right, this may even help your playing technique. Have you been trained in proper typing technique or you a one-finger "hunt and peck" type? If you know proper typing technique, then you should be able to type with your upper body, arms and hands in quite a relaxed condition.

 

The Zen of playing, and of typing, is: "keep your body and hands relaxed, and expend only as much energy as is required to get the job done". If done right, you should not get sore from doing either. Well, you might get some soreness from playing, which can get quite vigorous at times. But not from typing, that doesn't require any physical vigour at all, only mental vigour. The trick is to keep tension out of your arms and hands.

[Intheether]

Try a wrist rest pad. I have one for my mouse and keyboard. They are nice and foamy - real cushy. I tried the'split' ergonomic keyboards at work and didn't like it so much. Just couldn't get used to typing with it. My home compluter is a g4 from a couple of years ago when the mac keyboards were still smaller than standard (I tthink they are full sized now, no?). So for me the adjustment from one keyboard to another is pretty weird, but I think it works the wirst at all angles which is an advantage. Be really careful if pain starts shooting up your forearm or if you feel numb. My friend is a chef and just had BOTH wrists operated on for carple tunnel. He is still recovering and said it basically sucks. I'd say it's not a bad combinaton per se - but if you feel fatigued in the wrist, listen to your body!

[jdonnici]

I agree with Postman... try the Microsoft Natural keyboard. If you learned to touch type in the "correct" way and you've got decent typing technique, you'll be up to speed on it in a week or so. If you currently do a lot of "cross-over" with your typing, it will take longer. I never took a typing class, so I managed to get pretty fast but my technique wasn't too good. Once I got used to the keyboard, though, I got MUCH faster.

 

Give it a shot... if you hate it, you can always put the thing up on Ebay.