How often should I take typing breaks if my hands hurt?
Quick answer: There is no proven schedule. Short breaks help with fatigue, and most guidance says to rest early signs of pain instead of pushing through. A common starting point is a short pause every few minutes and a longer one every 45 minutes or so, as Workrave's site describes, then adjust to your own symptoms. The research on breaks for pain is weak, so treat breaks as one tool, not a treatment.
Health note: This page is general information, not medical advice. If you have numbness, weakness, night pain or symptoms after an injury, see a doctor first. When to see a doctor
Why does pushing through backfire?
CCOHS says repetition, force and little time to recover are what make ordinary movements harmful at work. It says the first signs of pain, numbness or tingling mean muscles and tendons need rest, and that early action matters because injuries can become long-lasting.
Pushing through also hides your warning signs. If you only stop when it hurts badly, you have already worked past the point where a short pause would have been enough.
How often should I take breaks?
Nobody knows the best schedule. A Cochrane review of work-break trials found very low certainty evidence. Extra breaks may make little to no difference to neck or back pain, but it covered nine trials with 626 healthy workers, almost all office workers, so it says little about people who already have pain. An older Cochrane review found very low-quality evidence that supplementary breaks reduced upper-limb discomfort, based on two studies of data entry workers.
Breaks do help in other ways. A meta-analysis of micro-breaks found small gains in vigor and small reductions in fatigue, but no clear effect on performance. It did not study hand pain.
| Approach | What the research says | Evidence label |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled breaks to prevent pain | Little to no difference for neck or back pain; very low certainty | little research |
| Extra breaks for upper-limb discomfort | Very low-quality evidence of less discomfort | little research |
| Micro-breaks for fatigue | Small gains in vigor and fatigue (9 samples each); no clear effect on performance | some evidence |
| Gradual pacing, not long rest | Advised by NHS; no trials on pacing desk work were reviewed for this page | little research |
What should I do during a flare-up?
Cut your typing time, but do not stop moving. The NHS says to keep active, to start with less activity and to build up gradually. It also says not to rest the affected area for more than a few days, because that can make it weaker and less flexible.
That is the idea behind pacing. Set a lower amount of typing that you can do on a bad day. Stay near that level, instead of doing a lot on good days and paying for it afterward. Raise it slowly when symptoms settle. If symptoms keep getting worse, see a doctor.
This article is about lower-limb tendons, but the principle is the same one physios use for the forearm.
"…you have to reduce loads to the level that the tendon can tolerate and then slowly increase the tolerance of the tendon to load." — Jill Cook, professor at La Trobe University, 10 things not to do if you have lower limb tendon pain, La Trobe Sport and Exercise Medicine Research Centre, January 2016
Which break reminder tools can I use?
| Tool | What its own site says | Mac |
|---|---|---|
| Stretchly | Reminds you to take breaks while you work on your computer | Yes, macOS 12 or later; separate download for Apple silicon |
| Workrave | Free; tracks keyboard and mouse use; microbreaks of about 30 seconds every 3 minutes and rest breaks of about 10 minutes every 45 minutes, both configurable; optional daily limit | Not as a stable release; its download page lists Windows and Linux and a less-tested macOS port |
| Screen Time (Apple) | Schedules with time windows, and time allowances for app categories | Built in; it limits apps, it is not a break reminder |
| Focus (Apple) | Silences notifications, with schedules | Built in; Apple's page does not mention break reminders |
Stretchly's site does not list default timings, so check the app's settings. Workrave's timings are the ones its site calls typical. They are not medical advice.
How can I spread typing across the day?
Split long writing into several shorter sessions instead of one long block. Do the heavy typing when your hands feel best. CCOHS lists job rotation and variety as ways to avoid overloading one body part, but notes that rotation alone does not work if the workstation is poor or the pace stays high. Where you can, choose your own break times, since control over breaks is part of good job design.
In one study of 6,943 participants from 2003, long weekly hours on the mouse and keyboard were the main risk factors for forearm pain. The same study also found that clinical disorders were uncommon.
"Intensive use of a mouse device, and to a lesser extent keyboard usage, were the main risk factors for forearm pain." — Kryger, Andersen and colleagues, researchers, Does computer use pose an occupational hazard for forearm pain; from the NUDATA study, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, November 2003
Can I switch input methods, including dictation?
Yes. Alternating how you work spreads the load. Use the keyboard for editing, a trackball or trackpad for pointing, and your voice for long drafts. Moving the mouse to your other hand is another option, covered in the mouse guide.
Dictop is a dictation app for Mac, iPhone and iPad. Its speech models run on your device. It has a 30-day free trial, then costs US $6.99 once with no subscription (US App Store; regional prices vary). You can start and stop recording with one press, so you do not need to hold a key, as the page on dictating without holding a key explains. It is meant to help you type less and keep working while you recover. It does not treat or prevent pain. See Dictop for Mac and Dictop for iPhone and iPad.
Where to go next
By Dictop · Reviewed