So it appears our geeky heroine may be showing some early signs of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). Damn those long hours of coding physio data and its necessitation of bizarre hand movements!! Given that my computer is the productivity portal of this young academic's life, I've decided to enact some preventative measures. Here are the actions I'm taking to nip this thing in the bud:

• Attempting to maintain good posture
• Ergonomicize my environment: Trackball mouse, socks under the wrists, maybe an ergonomic keyboard but we'll see ...
• Take frequent breaks (e.g., 5 minutes every half hour)
• Do a series of short exercises during the 5 minute breaks

In the spirit of the last item, The New Zealand Occupational Safety and Health Service pointed me to a series of animated gifs which demonstrate some good stretches. I did them and could immediately feel how they might be helpful. Unfortunately, they are not displayed in the best manner on their home website, so I decided to simply present them altogether on one page. I hope these help you (:

Shoutout/Link

• I found Paul Marxhausen's Computer Related Repetitive Stress Injury page to be very useful. Thanks Paul; I hope you feel better.