Aaron Iba

I'm not sure what the cause of your chronic pain is, but I would highly recommend reading John Sarno's "The Mindbody Prescription." I've dealt with chronic pain for years and it's the only thing that's had any effect. Please, please, don't write it off until you've read the book. Note that Sarno's work focuses on back pain, but it applies to all types of chronic pain (including migraines, which he discusses in the book). - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jQtmSZetJM - https://aaroniba.net/how-i-cured-my-rsi-pain - https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/09/well/mind/john-sarno-chronic-pain-r… - https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/well/chronic-pain.html

If you have chronic pain, especially back pain or RSI, please read up on TMS. I probably would have written it off as new-age garbage if not for this excellent post by Y Combinator's very own Aaron Iba: http://aaroniba.net/how-i-cured-my-rsi-pain Actually I did write it off the first time, but after a year of wrist pain I was ready to give it a try. Within a week my pain was 90% gone, and a month after that it was just a bad memory. I consider myself very lucky; not everyone's condition can be cured this way. But there's very little downside to trying. (Sorry to be "that guy," but I figure that if even one person finds relief because of my post, it's worth the social cost.)

The most surprising information I discovered curing RSI is: http://aaroniba.net/articles/tmp/how-i-cured-my-rsi-pain.html which recommends http://www.amazon.com/Mindbody-Prescription-Healing-Body-Pain/dp/04466…

This article by Aaron Iba (author of EtherPad) talks about how he solved his wrist pain. He followed the recommendations of a book called "The Mindbody Prescription". http://aaroniba.net/articles/tmp/how-i-cured-my-rsi-pain.html

I cannot vouch for the following personally, but I've seen it recommended numerous times here on HN over the years. http://aaroniba.net/articles/tmp/how-i-cured-my-rsi-pain.html

When I started showing RSI symptoms, I switched to Dvorak, and also got an ergonomic keyboard. The difference in comfort was dramatic for me. I would say that a softer keyboard was what made the biggest difference in comfort. Particularly, reducing the effort it takes to press a key down. The keyboard I liked the best was a http://typematrix.com/ The key feature that made it more comfortable for me was the vertical alignment of keys, as opposed to a diagonal alignment. (Edit: the key feature compared to other keyboards that do leave space in between the hands.) As I recently found out, there's more to curing RSI pain: http://aaroniba.net/articles/tmp/how-i-cured-my-rsi-pain.html

It's all in your head. This is a must read for any stressed out programmer, founder, new parent - http://aaroniba.net/articles/tmp/how-i-cured-my-rsi-pain.html

Garry has always been one of my favorite YC founders, and not only because he bought me a large quantity of gin shortly after Posterous got funded. Aaron made a huge impact on my life through his gutsy blog post on RSI [1]. Congratulations, guys, and thanks for being awesome. [1] http://aaroniba.net/articles/tmp/how-i-cured-my-rsi-pain.html

Reading this currently, with a lot of similar skepticism, mostly because of this blog post: http://aaroniba.net/articles/tmp/how-i-cured-my-rsi-pain.html I avoid books like this because they are almost all "wacakaloons" like you say. But this one seems to be much better. At least the entire first half of the book is the author making the medical case for his treatment. It is well cited, based on both his clinical experience and other studies. Sarno doesn't claim that slipped discs are caused by suppressed anger. He never says that all backaches, headaches, slipped discs, and chronic pains are due to this and stresses the importance of getting examined before judging for yourself the cause of the pain. He believes that the pain from things like a slipped disc sometimes is, though. He cites a multitude of instances where people have slipped discs and aren't in pain. Again, I'm not finished with it and am still a bit skeptical, but I would say it's probably worth a read.

tl;dr - this sounds nuts, but it worked for me I did this... got one of his books (they're on kindle, ibooks and audible) and read it. i had rsi that increasingly got worse over a 3 year period until i couldn't drive, tried pretty much every non-surgical thing i could find (multiple doctors, creams, physio, ART, acupuncture, TENS, stretches, exercises, posture examined by ergonomist, different keyboards, switching mouse hands, trackpads, footpedals, foot mouse (wouldn't you know it, my knee started getting rsi), vitamins, supplements, break software with increasingly frequent breaks, switched to dvorak, wacom tablet for handwriting/mouse replacement), and things were still trending worse. it was hard to hold my new daughter for more than a couple minutes, and i was trying to figure out what work i could do that wouldn't involve a computer. i can still remember running across sarno's book online on a random google search for rsi treatments, the way people remember where they were when they heard about the challenger explosion or 9/11. within a week of reading sarno's newest book (name escapes me now, but it is offputtingly new-age sounding), i had next to no pain, after a month, i'd say i was healed. it's now been 10 months, and i don't even think about my arms anymore, or follow any sort of treatment regimen. i'm literally back to normal. if someone had told me this was possible a year ago, i wouldn't have believed them, i thought i was going to be babying my arms…

Update: thanks for all the comments, absorbed a lot of info. This post was v interesting: http://aaroniba.net/articles/tmp/how-i-cured-my-rsi-pain.html check if out if you haven't read it. I am ordering the book today. The author of that post talks about a pain that is difficult to distinguish from a sprained wrist or ligament damage. Mine is very different - it is a numb sensation that has a tendency to move around from the wrist, elbow and up into the shoulder. I ended up going to emergency and getting a cortisone shot, which helped a lot. What I found out that RSI is a cause, pain or numbness are the symptoms, but the root problem can be any number of things. It is best to get it properly diagnosed by a doctor and there is a bit of trial and error involved. At the moment the cortisone is simply treating the symptoms. I also found that rest doesn't help. I had the flu for 3 days earlier this week and I worked very little during that time - but the pain persisted. The first signs were a week ago but it really flare up last night and today. It was the worst only a few hours after getting back into work after being ill. I adjusted my ergonomics a while ago - I went from constantly being in a leaning back and feet up position with keyboard on my lap to having my feet planted, arms straight etc. Changing this still didn't prevent the most recent flare-up. Thanks again for all the info, comforting to know that there are a lot of other ppl who experience similar problems…

May be mumbo jumbo but when folks I've talked to had this sort of "phantom illness" they figured it was probably mostly in their head/trauma - this is a resource I've heard multiple people swear buy, though they've said not to get too deep into the dogma of it and if it helps it helps... https://aaroniba.net/how-i-cured-my-rsi-pain

I had RSI, chronic ankle pain after an injury, and back pain. I bought all sorts of ergonomic solutions. Some helped, but none completely. I was getting desperate since, as mentioned, typing is how I pay the bills. I can't just STOP. I was scouring the net and ran across a developer who swore that The Mindbody Prescription: Healing the Body, Healing the Pain by Sarno fixed his issues. I looked him up, proved to myself he was a dev and then basically said, fuck it, let's try it despite it seeming woo-woo to the extreme. Little to no pain to this day. This was after MONTHS of PT and ergonomic changes that didn't solve the problem. Anyway. Just my two cents. *EDIT - one of these was the article (perhaps both), https://blog.evanweaver.com/2012/09/05/a-programmers-guide-to-healing-… and http://aaroniba.net/how-i-cured-my-rsi-pain

This is an article by Aaron Iba (founder of Etherpad and ex-YC partner) - http://aaroniba.net/articles/tmp/how-i-cured-my-rsi-pain.html It changed my life after a year of RSI - validated on multiple people.

Ever looked into TMS? http://www.rsi.deas.harvard.edu/mb_what_is.html I don't have RSI but had a brief RSI-scare after some intensive typing and came across it. Seems like it helped a lot of people. Including Etherpad's founder http://aaroniba.net/articles/tmp/how-i-cured-my-rsi-pain.html

I also cured myself the same way over 12 years ago. Aaron Iba wrote up a good account of his experience which is very similar to mine: http://aaroniba.net/articles/tmp/how-i-cured-my-rsi-pain.html I agree that while the symptoms of RSI may be physical, the root cause is psychological.

The nocebo effect is quite powerful. I'm 22 years old and was in chronic pain for a year. I had trouble doing simple things like opening doors. Understanding nocebos helped me cure my carpal/cubital tunnel and thoracic outlet problems. After wasting a lot of money on ergonomic setups and doctors I read Aaron Iba's post on how he cured his RSI [1]. One of my takeaways from subsequent reading and research was that the nocebo effect played a huge role in how I associated computer usage and programming with pain. When you expect an autonomic symptom, you are much more likely to experience it. Since treating myself with this in mind, along with other techniques such as those outlined by Aaron, it's been a couple months since I've been in pain from using a computer. http://aaroniba.net/articles/tmp/how-i-cured-my-rsi-pain.html

I'm a technical writer and always treated rsi as an unavoidable occupational hazard. Then I read this: http://aaroniba.net/articles/tmp/how-i-cured-my-rsi-pain.html What worked for him also worked for me.

The link to "The MindBody Prescription" is broken: http://aaroniba.net/articles/tmp/...

Someone did this outside my dorm at MIT: http://aaroniba.net/misc/nerdxing.jpg

I think that many MDs see physical issues as only physical, but in my experience an injury from physical trauma may have an impact on the mind as well. I suffered chronic headaches for years after I broke my maxilla. All exams and imaging were negative. Physical therapy helped, but the problem would always come back. This is when I decided to stop visiting MDs (neurologists, psychiatrists, traumatologists). I also tried alternative therapies (i.e. acupuncture), but the effect lasted hours or days at most. I completely relate to you about trying to find any possible solution. In my case, not finding solutions added layers of frustration and other negative emotions to the problem that didn't help. I started looking at the psychological aspects of pain after a HN post with this article [1]. That triggered a lot of reading in psychology, and I also started practicing yoga and meditation. This path led me to many discoveries about myself, since it taught me to pay attention to my mind and body in a different way. Being able to recognize triggers was crucial to find a solution. I can say that I never have headaches now. Feel free to shoot me an email if you're interested in more references and or other details of my experience. [1]: http://aaroniba.net/how-i-cured-my-rsi-pain

Seconded. I am grateful to Aaron Iba for posting his article (http://aaroniba.net/articles/tmp/how-i-cured-my-rsi-pain.html). I had similar experiences, and thanks to him my (severe) RSI problems are a thing of the past. There was a time when I was reduced to dictating and using touch-only keyboards (by FingerWorks) or ergonomic keyboards, and even that for a limited number of hours per day. These days I can type on anything, in any position, for any amount of time. Let's expand on the psychosomatic illnesses a little. Now (several years later) I know that there are a number of symptoms that are caused by my mind. I know when to expect them, I can make a pretty good guess whether a given problem is mind-caused or not. What I can't do is cure them completely, still working on that. But I do know that Sarno is right. Now, before you hit "reply" and go all-scientific, think for a moment. The problem we have is that we don't have ways to "measure" the mind. You can't easily just form control groups and do clinical trials. What works for one person might not work for another. So I can understand why doctors would rather stay away from the subject and pretend that the body and the mind are entirely separate (which is actually demonstrably untrue). They can't do anything else, as a doctor is sworn to only use scientifically-proven methods. I see this discussion come up regularly. There are usually two groups that form: people who managed to deal with their illnesses and people…