Where the strain actually comes from
Your forearm muscles can only generate force if something upstream holds steady. When the shoulder blade does not anchor and the trunk does not support, the forearm does extra work — every keystroke, every mouse movement, thousands of times an hour. The forearm and wrist were never designed for that volume of stabilising work, and they are where it hurts.
The pattern that produces typing injuries
- Shoulders slightly lifted all day, which is invisible to the person doing it.
- Scapulae not anchored, so the arms hang from the neck instead of the trunk.
- Shallow breathing, which stiffens the upper chest and reduces available support.
- Wrist held in slight extension rather than neutral, under sustained load.
- The head carried forward, which tensions the whole chain down the arm.
- No variation. The same organisation, hour after hour — which is the actual definition of repetitive strain.
Why rest alone does not fix it
Rest removes the load, but the organisation that concentrated the load is unchanged. Return to the keyboard and the same pattern reappears within hours. This is why RSI recurs so reliably after time off, and why ergonomic equipment alone often disappoints — the equipment does not change how you use yourself.
What Feldenkrais does about it
Lessons work on the shoulder girdle, the rib cage and breathing, the organisation of the wrist and hand, and — importantly — the capacity to notice the onset of bracing early. Many practitioners also teach short sequences to do at the desk. The aim is not to make you type in a “correct position”, but to give you several ways of organising yourself so no single pattern bears everything.
Practical notes
- See a clinician first for persistent numbness, tingling or weakness — those can indicate nerve compression that needs specific management.
- Ergonomic assessment is genuinely useful; combine it with this rather than choosing between them.
- Breaks matter more than posture. Variation is the goal.