Do you have experience with RSI (repetitive strain injury) or similar?

I have an appointment with my doctor after Christmas (the earliest I can get to see her), so don’t say ‘see your doctor’. That’s already in hand. I’m interested in other people’s experiences and things they did that helped.

I type constantly for my work. It’s unavoidable. I do have Dragon Naturally Speaking on my computer to reduce my need to type as much as I can but my work demands I work on a computer all the time and using Dragon slows me down a lot.

My right arm is very painful. The pain is in my upper arm and down to my elbow. Where the pain is located varies. One day my elbow might hurt more than my upper arm and then my upper arm is more painful. I can feel small lumps under the skin where I suspect my muscle(s) is/are inflamed. I’m guessing it’s RSI of some form and I’ll no doubt find out for sure in the New Year.

I plan to try to restrict the amount of typing I do over the next few weeks, but what’s your experience been with such injuries and did you find workarounds that were particularly helpful?

I’m also going to use the time to set up my formal home work area to ensure I’m not making it worse because of how I sit. I work from home a lot so often I don’t sit at my desk while I work.

I can’t just stop typing unless I stop working. As I’ve said, I will be trying to minimise my computer use over the next couple of weeks but beyond that, I’m not sure how I can avoid it.