Updated May 01, 2014.

RSI (repetitive stress injury) and carpal tunnel syndrome are both hazards of spending a lot of time on the computer every day. This four-week program will teach you four essential skills that will help prevent RSI and carpal tunnel syndrome. Follow these skills to make your computer time healthier. Each week, you’ll have a new skill to practice. Consider it a seven-day experiment in making your computer time safer.

You can even sign up for the free Prevent RSI E-Course that will send daily reminders to your inbox to help keep you on track.

Who It’s For: Students, office workers and writers use their hands and wrists an astounding amount of time. Just think, for a 5,000 word document, there are over 30,000 keystrokes. That doesn’t even count using the mouse or doing any formatting. Anyone working in front of a computer needs to protect their hands and wrists from this incredible demand and prevent RSI and carpal tunnel syndrome.

What You’ll Do: Over the next four weeks, you’ll learn skills to help protect your wrists and hands. These skills include stretching, adopting proper typing techniques, taking breaks, setting limits and finding alternatives to the mouse. Each week, you’ll practice one skill until it becomes a habit and then move on to the next. The skills you’ll work on are:

The Prevent RSI Program

• Stretch
• Type Right
• Breaks and Limits
• Kill the Mouse

Results to Expect: Hands and wrists are hugely underappreciated.

Think of all the things that would be difficult if your hands and wrists were weak or it was painful to use them. Cooking, gardening, driving, writing and cleaning are just a few of the duties requiring our hands and wrists, as well as fun things, such as many of our favorite hobbies. Protect your wrists with these simple techniques.