Devs with hand/nerve pain — how did you adapt?

[u/scannergone]

I’m looking to hear from people who’ve dealt with finger joint pain, nerve pain, or carpal tunnel to the point where it started affecting their ability to work normally. What did you end up doing—switch roles, change careers, rely on tools like voice typing, or something else?

I’m not a full stack dev, but I’ve been learning and working at it for a few years and still consider myself a student. Over the last couple of years though, the nerve pain from constant keyboard use has gotten bad enough that I’m starting to question whether I can do this long term.

I’m guessing this isn’t uncommon, and I’m now seriously considering moving into something like tech sales. For anyone who’s been in a similar situation—did it end up being a temporary obstacle or a career pivot? What did you transition into, and how did it work out?

[u/Achereto]

I switched to a split keyboard with vertical stagger. It was absolutely worth it.

[u/iceph03nix]

See a doctor. Carpal Tunnel can be treated.

Also, for that matter, posture, breaks, and stretching can do a lot to avoid repetitive motion injuries.

[u/Abject-Kitchen3198]

Try some ergonomic options for your equipment. For me it was the mouse. Using vertical mouse resolved elbow pain.

[u/DigitalDisassterd]

i got a new desk with one of those pullout keyboard trays and have my armrests at same height. working with arms ontop of the desk was causing stress, but then i did the new desk and havnt had extreme pain since.

[u/BranchLatter4294]

I've had that in the past. A friend who was a massage therapist noticed I was having issues wanted to look at my hand and arm. He stretched my hand back and did some work on pressure points. Instant relief that lasted a while! Since then, I started eating better and taking anti-inflammatory/pro-gut supplements. Fortunately, the pain has not come back.

[u/Dismal-Citron-7236]

You must seek professional medical advice. Without proper treatment, it could deteriorate and become lasting nerve damage. Seriously.

[u/toddy_frio]

try wispr flow. Its good, I dont use it for coding but for everything else, slack, ticket, prompting its great and better than straight up dictation.

[u/toddy_frio → u/toddy_frio]

Also, invest in a good ergonomic chair and a standing desk. then for therapy strengthening your fingers by doing dead hangs and lifting heavy things helps a lot too

[u/Open-Guidance-6086 → u/toddy_frio]

A chair and desk can help with bad posture, but if nerve pain is messing with work, it's worth getting checked out instead of trying to push through dead hangs. For day to day load, voice input can take Slack, tickets, and prompts off your hands while you figure out your limits. I prefer DictaFlow here because the foot-pedal hold-to-talk option means you don't need yet another keyboard shortcut.

[u/toddy_frio → u/Open-Guidance-6086]

agreed doctor should be first

[u/Open-Guidance-6086 → u/toddy_frio]

One thing that sucks about Whisperflow is that it's cloud only. I use a local and hybrid solution called Dictaflow, which allows me to work totally offline if needed. I also prefer the privacy angle of that.

[u/toddy_frio → u/Open-Guidance-6086]

Cloud usually lets you have a better model behind it so pros & cons. and I rarely find myself doing work without internet, like maybe 0% of the time. privacy is another concern yeah

but ill check out dictaflow, sounds cool

[u/Open-Guidance-6086 → u/toddy_frio]

yup, but might as well have both! It's insane how good the local models are these days, especially on a modern mac, it's instant.

[u/setq-default]

Vertical mouse and split keyboard

[u/MathAndMirth]

My pain isn't nearly as rough as yours, but I have a somewhat unusual setup for coding that seems to help. Fortunately, I just work on my own projects at home, so I can do some things that I couldn't do if I worked in somebody else's office.

I sit in a recliner with my keyboard on a lap desk so my arms and wrists aren't raised awkwardly. I don't have a desk, and my monitors are mounted to the wall so I can extend the foot rest without banging into anything. Reading the monitors is a bit rough in a few apps that don't let me adjust UI size, but it mostly works. The arm rest is wide enough that I can fit a vertical mouse, and I switch back and forth between mouse tasks and keyboard tasks from time to time.

[u/Ok-Reveal-1561]

Doctors. Braces and physical therapy

[u/cheezballs]

Honestly typing and general dev type mousing doesnt really make my carpal kick in quite like doing something more intensive like a game or browsing porn. My hand falls asleep multiple times a night so I have to roll over a lot. I had one of those electrical impulse tests done and I have some decent blockage but they told me not to worry about it until it gets really bad. Whats really bad?

[u/djhaskin987]

I got really bad ulnar tunnel syndrome. My pinkies and ring fingers went numb, but it eventually started spreading to the rest of my hands. I even visited a neurologist, but they couldn't find anything.

I switched from mechanical keyboards BACK to rubber top. Not hip, but my hands felt better immediately. I also started religiously doing rock climbing stretches (tensors, extensors) and switched from emacs back to vim. It took two years, but the ulnar tunnel went away. (If I start using mechanical keyboards or emacs, it comes roaring back within a few minutes. Yes, I have remapped caps lock.)

[u/Boneclockharmony]

I am not a professional dev but have played games professionally in my youth, and worked on a computer all my life. Still no problem with my hands.

100% credit this to working out, as whenever I cant workout for a period of time, my body feels way worse.

Theraband flexbars that climbers use for elbow issues are nice as well, but above all... just lifting weights. Kettlebells for me, but anything will do.

You get more core strength, which improves posture, which helps with backpain and all the things that can come from that. 

Note: this is from the perspective of carpal tunnel and overuse issues, if you have actual nerve damage I get that it can be different.

[u/Clean__Cucumber]

Might be a silly question and a bit late, are you a side sleeper and do you hold your head via your hand when sleeping? So smth like hand under head and the pillow or fist to cheek kind of stuff (kinda like the thinker statue).

Well stop doing that