Five months into my PhD, and I've hit a rather large - not to mention painful - snag. I have a rotator cuff tear (a torn tendon in my shoulder) from repetitive strain injury. And I got it from typing so much stuff for my PhD. I've had jobs before where I've spent time at a computer but I guess I've not done it as intensively as I have been doing lately. And I've previously always sat at a desk to use the computer, but over the past few months I've taken to sitting either on my sofa or on my Ikea poang chair. Ironically, the reason I've been sat on my sofa or my chair is because they're more comfortable than my (old) desk chair, so I thought it'd be better for my back and shoulders to sit somewhere comfy so that I didn't get aching muscles!
I always thought that if a position felt comfortable then you wouldn't get RSI from being in that position... I guess I was wrong.
It's been too painful to type (or write by hand) for nearly two weeks. Earlier this week the doctor gave me some strong painkillers and anti-inflammatories which are doing a great job with my shoulder.... but they are making me so spaced out and nonchalant that I can't think straight enough to do any phd work even if my shoulder was up to it. There's a CFP deadline in a few days that I was intending to respond to, but getting my mind in gear to edit a 3500 word paper is, at the moment, beyond my capabilities (though I am trying). My wonderful son has said he'd do my typing (of the entire PhD!) for me if I just tell him what words to write! At this stage, I think the 3500 word paper would turn out better if I got him to write it himself!
I'm waiting for some physiotherapy on my shoulder, but my other shoulder has started to hurt too now. I hope I don't get another injury in that shoulder, because I'm using my left hand more than I would normally.
I've bought a new chair for my desk which will hopefully eliminate the problem of bad posture typing, but I need to let my injury heal first.
I hope my shoulder gets better soon as I don't know what to do with myself. Watching TV is boring and I just want to get back to writing about robot ethics. But at the moment I've got a choice between either being in too much shoulder pain to be able to type, or being too spaced out to be able to think. ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜
