Archived from groups: (More info?)

So I have a strange dilemna. I was cruising along fine with the DS, but
having trouble playing some of my old GBA games because of the d-pad on
the DS. It causes me pain. I mentioned earlier that I'm a computer
programmer, so I'm already set up for this possibility, so I have to be
careful what I do.

Anyway I went back and got an SP to play those games and now my wrists
hurt even worse. I'm trying to figure out what to do. The only two
logical conclusions, in my mind, are...

#1 - Holding the weight of the DS in one hand and using the stylus in
the other caused me wrist trouble, thus making it hard to use the d-pad.

#2 - Once I got used to playing stylus-based games on the DS, my wrists
started to heal from playing the SP for a couple years, so going back to
the d-Pad (on the SP or the DS) was painful.

I'm leaning towards it being #2 currently. It makes the most sense. I've
played the SP for the last couple years as my sole gaming device. And
I've had intermitent wrist pain. It's part of what pushed me eventually
to give the DS a try. But clearly something is different now. Either the
DS has made my wrists worse or the SP and d-Pad style gaming is just
hard on my large hands and playing games with the stylus has been a
reprieve for my wrists.

So my question to everyone who has experience with both devices, is
which you find more comfortable, basically. The SP or the DS. I know
it's not empirical or scientific, but I'm trying to reason out which is
the problem.

Preston

Check your playing position. With you also being a prgorammer, the position you are possibly using to play your DS with may not be quite right for you. the SP's smallness makes it so your wrists have to be closer together, which natrually makes your hands at a strange angle to usual. try holdingyour DS in a different way, see if that helps.

According to friends and forums, the technically 'correct' way when palying D-pad is for the thumb to sit on the D-pad and buttons (obviously), the index to be on the Shoulder buttons, and the last three fingers to support the rear of the console, at around a 45 degree angle, as the DS's top screen makes it slightly top heavy.

hope that helps.

Zarroc out

I would also look at the ergonomics of your work/home environments as well. If you haven't already done so, you may want to look into more ergo friendly keyboards and mice. That might help a little as well. Just a thought...