LLMs may have helped my RSI

He describes a long struggle with repetitive strain injury dating back to 2017 from heavy keyboard use. Years of trial-and-error - ergonomic keyboards, enforced breaks, retraining to home‑row typing, exercise and other strategies - reduced flareups but didn’t eliminate the intense burning forearm pain that used to come after long coding sessions. The worst episodes coincided with extended stretches of typing code full of special and modifier keys, which forced wrist contortions his smaller hands couldn’t comfortably reach; he gives examples from coding and even gaming where combos required awkward spans.

In 2026 his workflow shifted: agents and large language models now generate much of the mechanical code and handle refactors, leaving him to craft design specifications, review output, and do short manual refinements. That change moved most of his typing to prose and prompts on the home row rather than continual modifier-heavy coding, and he shipped more code than in prior years despite typing less in the old way. The burning pain has largely disappeared, replaced by minor fatigue, and he recognizes mixed feelings about losing some hands‑on satisfaction. He also notes seniority and meeting time as contributing factors, but concludes that LLMs have been a tangible health boon by reducing the repetitive, injurious motions.