After weeks of neck pain, I went to the physiotherapist on Saturday and she's loosened some vertebrae (3-4) which were very stiff, and thinks with improved posture, 7,8,9 will become looser naturally.
She's advised I get a lumbar support to use on my office chair and at home when sitting on the sofa, as well as to raise my monitors on the desk. The former is ordered, the latter is done (though they're still not quite high enough.)
The final part I need to do are exercises with my neck every few hours. I could set an alarm on my phone, but I don't want it going *beep* *beep* *beep* and annoying others. I'd prefer some sort of popup mechanism on the computer.
I run Linux at work – Fedora 14 (don't laugh, not my choice) – what is the recommended 'take a break, do some stretching' alert software? Something which just pops up on the screen, no noise, click to dismiss. Any suggestions?
If you have/can get pyqt, this works for me on Windows:
from PyQt4.QtCore import *
from PyQt4.QtGui import *
import sys, time
app = QApplication(sys.argv)
splash_asset = QPixmap('stretch_now.png')
splash = QSplashScreen(splash_asset, Qt.WindowStaysOnTopHint)
splash.setMask(splash_asset.mask())
splash.show()
app.processEvents()
time.sleep(15)
splash.close()
Have submitted a request for the software to be installed on my machine – ta for the tip! Can schedule that on cron :)
Mate, my back is a mess, and I would really recommend you do some kind of sport. I feel a million dollars after cricket and aikido. It's all about getting movement in the joints of your spine!
Funny you should suggest that: I picked up cycling again early last month (actually a mix of cycling and running). This morning I started on a routine which includes spinal exercises ('bridging' I think is the (eventual – after months of practice) pose). I'm hoping a combination of getting out doing cardio, strength (including spine) and the exercises the physio's recommended finally do the job. *fingers crossed*
On Solaris and NetBSD, i used xwrits for typing breaks. It's completely silent.
http://www.lcdf.org/xwrits/
Hope you feel better soon!