Comment Superglue and key mappings (Score 1) 165
Here's how I solved my pinky problem:
- Learn to type without your pinky fingers. Your left pinkies normally cover Q, A, Z. You can use your left 4th (ring) finger on those if you train your wrist a little. Similarly, you can also use your right 4th finger on 0, P,
- Remap the apps you use most to use stronger fingers. I primarily use Vim for coding and Opera as a web browser. Both are extremely customizable. In Vim, I set <F5> to _ (underscore), <F6> to [] (pair of square brackets), <F7> to () parentheses, and so on. I made the spacebar a substitute for the
- Beware of your wrists. As I was learning to do this, I developed a very sore wrist from the new rotation that I wasn't used to. Chair arm rests were helpful to move at least a little of the burden to my elbows. Also, a custom made (by me) keyboard wrist pad helped give my wrists some rest. Most importantly, I set timers to force myself to take breaks.
My problem was not dystonia, but a combination of tendinitis and carpel tunnel syndrome (diagnosed by a neurologist, but mild as far as CTS goes). However, I think the solutions I found might be useful for any programmer trying to cut down on pinky strain.