RSI - My Problem Child: 10 tips for recovery

Laptop keyboard by DarkSideXSeeing a few recent posts on repetitive stress injuries on Hacker News, I've decided to finally collect all the replies I've written over the years in one place.

About 9 years ago I developed a classic case of RSI.  I was working on an ASIC design, and one task involved the non-automatable editing of a large number of logic cells.  Repeating the same motion for hours, then days, wrecked havoc on my wrists, and they began to be infused with a dull pain, when then became a sharp pain all hours of the day.  It was so bad that each keypress and mouse-click caused a sharp sting, and I could not sleep at night from the aching.  All I got from seeing a specialist was that I did not have Carpel Tunnel Syndrome, and that I should rest my wrists.  Since I rely on my wrists for work and play, I took drastic action...