Ableton health warning.

[WaveRider]

A a new computer on a proper desk, I have a trapped nerve in my left arm.

yes I got something becasue of the mouse, in my back.... 10 years on a computer and then you'll start aching

[WaveRider]

Same thing; he saw no problem in the MRI.

...like me... pain but they can't see any problems.


a very good physiotherapist (the kind who is in sport medicine) could help; not your average PT


-cue to those that does not feel pain - wait until you are 40+, you'll see

[rozling]

Felt like I had one more thing to add to the list-

Apparently I have a(n?) Pterygium. Which is "elastotic degeneration of collagen (actinic elastosis) and fibrovascular proliferation." or basically it's a cloudy growth in ones eye. It is traditionally associated with people who spend a lot of time in the sun, as it's a result of UV radiation and dryness. The funny thing is that I have actually spent most of the past 10 years working at different studios and generally avoiding sunlight.
According to the eye doctor I saw about it- there has been a large increase in the number of cases seen recently, resulting from more and more people spending all day staring at a computer monitor. Apparently, when we focus on an intense task (like editing music on a screen) the rate at which you blink slows down and your eyes dry out. If you make this part of your daily life (like myself) the end result is a Pterygium. Which unfortunately will have to eventually be surgically removed. So yeah- just take breaks every hour or so, carry some eyedrops around with you and if your eyeballs hurt- probably best to listen.

I got a wake-up call with the eyes this year. I work 9-5 in IT and would identify with jbone/Wunjo (& probably a lot on here) in that I work and play behind a computer of some description. In general my health is great and apparently I have better than 20-20 vision (whatever that even means).

About 6 months ago I started getting headaches when I got home from work which went away after about 30 minutes but often kind of stayed in the background. I put it down to the stresses of the working day.

I started to get more into programming recently and it was then that the eyes basically gave up. My vision wasn't blurry, but I couldn't make my eyes look at/focus on the screen for any length of time. I also felt a wierd 'bump' in my right eye when I was moving it around, kind of like a foreign object but also like a muscle that wasn't where it should be. And on top of that I was fairly photosensitive for a couple of weeks.

So then it was Eye Test > Glasses > More Pain > GP > Referral to Opthamologist > Eye Test > Diagnosis of spasm of the Ciliary Muscle > Eye Test > Proper Glasses and voilá: the headaches are no more. In fact not only that, but I'm much clearer-headed when I get back from work and have more energy/stamina to do stuff in general (including computer work - yay for feeding the cycle!)

My limited understanding of it goes like this: Preexisting conditions aside, our eyes are at rest when looking into the distance. When we look at the computer screen Mr. Ciliary Muscle and friends contract to bring it into focus. By forcing ourselves to stare at the screen for extended periods of time, we are keeping these muscles in a 'work' state. Imagine if you kept a tight grip on a... tennis ball for 30 minutes straight and you'll have an idea.

Obviously different people get affected different ways, so with pre55ure it manifested in the dry eyes > Pterygium, where in my case the Ciliary muscle went into spasm. If this happens and isn't dealt with quickly the muscle ends up increasing in size in order to be able to deal with the work it's being asked to do. This FUCKS up your eye, has an immediate effect on your ability to distance focus (i.e. you can't focus when your eyes are at rest) - basically it throws everything out of whack and from what I understand the next stop on this merry journey is Myopia (not good).

TL;DR if you get headaches from using the screen, take breaks every x minutes (where x < 20, say). Also get out the phone and book yourself an eye test (maybe first visit the doctor/GP). But remember when you push it you WILL pay a real price eventually*.

I like this quote from SFLogicNinja:

When you are in the studio, don't forget that you are a human being that requires food, water, sunlight, and movement.

* NB I take no reponsibility for eye damage incurred by the reading of this ridiculously long post.

[Zoosh]

buy some silicon keyboard and wrist rests from ebay and lean on them, alternately a few towelling wristbands help with mouse strain!