Hi, I've had RSI in my right arm and hand for around 7 years. I first noticed it when I was in school, writing. My workload had increased and I was writing more and gradually it became more painful but I had no provision to be able to do my work without writing so I had to put up with it for 4 more years. Spoiler alert: This was a bad idea and made it worse and incredibly painful.

Since starting University, I have always been allowed to take notes on a laptop and do exams on a computer. I have no pain when using a computer as long as I'm sitting properly at a desk in a comfortable position. I do get pain with other tasks, but these mostly involve heavy stuff, like using the kettle or digging in the garden. I also have a hand tremor caused by the RSI (I think), which has made some work difficult, like laboratory work using pipettes (which can hurt).

I tried physiotherapy and they found I had bad posture, an unstable scapula (shoulder) and a curved spine, which all put more strain on my arm an exacerbated the RSI. I was given some exercises to do but these didn't really help.

Now, I'm trying to find a way to deal with the writing problem. I've been trying to learn how to write left handed (non-dominant hand) so I can write normally again. I've found not being able to take notes and study in the way I always used to very frustrating and in any future career I'm going to need to write and take notes. Learning to write left handed is going slow. I've been trying for 2 months and it's now legible and I can write with a few different pens but not at any speed and I can't always get the letters the same size. Has anyone tried this before or got any tips? Or if you know of any better alternative I'd love to hear about them. I'm hoping occupational therapy might be able to help but I don't know much about it.

Thanks so much. I really don't know of many other RSI forums/threads so this was great to find

Hi RedIdris

Welcome to NeuroTalk .

I am sure that the other contributors to this forum will be able to offer you helpful ideas.

All the best.

I'd like to direct you to our Thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) main page .. and the useful sticky threads on it.. RSI and TOS can be overlapping & related so most PT, self care therapy suggestions should work. And since a long term issue you might have some version of TOS.
https://www.neurotalk.org/forum24/