Cramped Fingers

I've been editing for a long while and I'm starting to experience strange pains in my left hand and fingers I think from typing too much - What do the pros do to get themselves through?


P.S. When will I be able to control Final Cut Pro with my mind?

get a good chair and a well adjusted edit desk and you'll save yourself years of hurt!

> I've been editing for a long while and I'm starting to experience strange pains in my left hand
> and fingers I think from typing too much

A couple of things. First, some keyboards are ergonomic, some are not. My standard Apple keyboard is much easier to use than, say, the colour-coded keyboard at my usual workplace. I fatigue a lot easier because I have to reach much farther to reach the keys. The lack of raised "dots" on the F and J keys also hurts. Most cushions for the underside of the wrist also make the fingers work harder in my opinion, even though they may help with carpal tunnel.

I think my main things are to develop a light touch on the keyboard, take breaks (eg. when rendering, try some hand exercises), learn proper keyboarding techniques (which will help division of labour among fingers, make good use of the pinkie, and minimize unnecessary hand movements and wasteful typing mistakes). The first one is a biggie -- most of my friends hit the keys like they were baseballs. It's much faster and more efficient to touch the keys lightly. Move your hands off the keyboard when you're not doing lots of keystrokes.

It probably also helps me that I'm a guitar player. Great finger exercise unless you overdo it.


www.derekmok.com

i second that derek, i keep a big jumbo acoustic guitar handy.

I know a feature film editor who stands up and has a customized desk. Ergonomic spherical keyboards that you hold on your lap.

<<<i second that derek, i keep a big jumbo acoustic guitar handy.>>>

A surprising number of our Flame artists do that. Some are good enough to make you want to sit and listen.

I favor a "Natural" keyboard by Microsoft. They make a 'Natural Elite" now which has a 10% reduced throw to the keys and isn't as good, but I think you can still get the real thing on line. That's the one that looks like it hit a telephone pole at 20 mph.

Although what a telephone pole is doing at 20 mph is beyond me.

[www.microsoft.com]

This isn't the one that I have. I'm suspicious of a keyboard product that doesn't addess the key spacing problem. The original "Natural" had the same key spacing as the Macs. It just had that split thing.

Koz

I also like to throw in Wacom tablets in these conversations.

The more often you can vary what you do & try not to be repetitive all day greatly reduces the stress on the ol' limbs.

I use the Wacom with my left hand, the mouse with my right, and I use both with the keyboard.

This isn't optimum for those who aren't dextrous with their non-dominant hand, but if you, like me, learned computer before mice were relocatable, and you are a lefty who has always moused like a righty, this is a great way to go about reducing fatigue on the hands and wrists!

Since I know a far higher percentage of lefties in the business than in my personal life, I know this will mean something to at least half of you!

deb

<<<I use the Wacom with my left hand>>>

Oooo. I forgot about that. I use many machines and they alternate mouse on the right and left. That did take a while to get used to, and I can't do anything critical with my left hand, but that was an enormous relief.

It also takes me a second to translate what "right-click" means.

I told one of the artists about that as I saw her with her right hand wrapped up from the pain. She said she just never really thought about it, but a couple of days later, she was mousing with her sinister hand with no pain at all.

Koz

It can take some getting used to, but when I realize I'm over-doing it with one hand, it sure is nice to be able to set aside the mouse or put down the pen and use the other hand!

deb

Wacom tablet's king IMHO.

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