3 ms·

My pain started coming back this year. One thing that always helps my mouse hand, is to rest my arm on a raised surface (currently a portfolio), but I've used a

My pain started coming back this year. One thing that always helps my mouse hand, is to rest my arm on a raised surface (currently a portfolio), but I've used a textbook before. This caused my hand to drop down to touch the mouse, instead of being pushed up, and changed the body part that gets anchored and pivots when moving the mouse from my wrist to my elbow. That really helped a lot. I still had issues with my left hand, and for me what has helped this time around is a ComfortBead Wrist Rest along the bottom of the keyboard. I'd used it years ago and wasn't convinced, but this time it's clearly and definitely helped a lot. In the past, I've sometimes gotten some relief by switching which hand is the mouse hand. Every once in awhile I'll let my left hand control the mouse for a bit.

a3n 10y ago
> and changed the body part that gets anchored and pivots when moving the mouse from my wrist to my elbow. I'm not a doctor, etc. I set my mouse acceleration pretty high. I have a relatively small mouse, Logitech M325. My forearm, elbow and shoulder don't move at all when I move my mouse. To move the mouse from one corner to the opposite diagonal, the mouse just moves under my fingers. Most of the time my wrist doesn't move at all. I've been a programmer, and later jobs that type just as much, since the eighties, and I've never had any kind of RSI. Of course that's me, my body and activity, YMMV etc. But this is worth a shot. It's also extremely fun to watch a colleague try to drive my mouse and drive off the cliff. EDIT: Thinking about this a little more. First of all "I've never had any kind of RSI" could just mean that I'm not susceptible to that type of injury. How I hold my mouse: (works for me) If I hold my arm up a bit, so that my upper and forearm are something like a V, hand held loosely out and relaxed, then the thumb and index form something like a V, and the fingers are loosely spread out. This puts my thumb about an inch, inch and half below my index. Now I drop my hand down over my mouse (I don't actually go through this procedure, this just gets you to my position), maintaining that hand configuration roughly. This puts my thumb and pinky just below the bottom edge of the mouse, index on the left button and middle resting lightly on the weel, and ring finger just under the top edge of the mouse on that side. If I pick up the mouse it's held by the thumb and pinky, with a little extra support from the ring finger. To use the right button I move my middle finger over as necessary. Note that I don't have to move my middle finger forward or back to use the wheel, it's already there. If things get wheely I can lift the middle up a bit. For my hand, this puts the back of the mouse below my highest knuckles. There are depressions on both sides of the mouse, which look like the natural place to hold it. But if I move my thumb and pinky up into the depression, that pressures my index and middle up. To depress either button or mousewheel it feels like I'm slightly overextending my fingers, and I can feel more effort in my forearm muscles. I also feel effort in my wrist to hold my hand up like that. When I move the mouse, the outside edge of my pinky and side of my thumb drag on the desk (or couch, at the moment). If I do lift the mouse up, I just hinge my wrist up a bit, I don't lift my forearm. And my hand hardly moves out of its place, to the point that I sometimes have to clean gummy gunk off my desk, within about the area of a single hand, in one specific place. So this works for me, I think, because I let all my hand/finger positions and muscles be as natural and lazy as possible. Plus, the mouse fits my hand well, and I've been doing it like this for a long time. Side note: I hate track pads, and always disable mine, for whatever that's worth.
Retric 10y ago
One useful approach is to use dramatically different mice on different PC's. I find focusing on the one true way, sets you up for RSI in your new setup.
- WWLink 10y ago
  This works for me. Although my favorite mousees are the low profile ones.

a3n 10y ago

> and changed the body part that gets anchored and pivots when moving the mouse from my wrist to my elbow. I'm not a doctor, etc. I set my mouse acceleration pretty high. I have a relatively small mouse, Logitech M325. My forearm, elbow and shoulder don't move at all when I move my mouse. To move the mouse from one corner to the opposite diagonal, the mouse just moves under my fingers. Most of the time my wrist doesn't move at all. I've been a programmer, and later jobs that type just as much, since the eighties, and I've never had any kind of RSI. Of course that's me, my body and activity, YMMV etc. But this is worth a shot. It's also extremely fun to watch a colleague try to drive my mouse and drive off the cliff. EDIT: Thinking about this a little more. First of all "I've never had any kind of RSI" could just mean that I'm not susceptible to that type of injury. How I hold my mouse: (works for me) If I hold my arm up a bit, so that my upper and forearm are something like a V, hand held loosely out and relaxed, then the thumb and index form something like a V, and the fingers are loosely spread out. This puts my thumb about an inch, inch and half below my index. Now I drop my hand down over my mouse (I don't actually go through this procedure, this just gets you to my position), maintaining that hand configuration roughly. This puts my thumb and pinky just below the bottom edge of the mouse, index on the left button and middle resting lightly on the weel, and ring finger just under the top edge of the mouse on that side. If I pick up the mouse it's held by the thumb and pinky, with a little extra support from the ring finger. To use the right button I move my middle finger over as necessary. Note that I don't have to move my middle finger forward or back to use the wheel, it's already there. If things get wheely I can lift the middle up a bit. For my hand, this puts the back of the mouse below my highest knuckles. There are depressions on both sides of the mouse, which look like the natural place to hold it. But if I move my thumb and pinky up into the depression, that pressures my index and middle up. To depress either button or mousewheel it feels like I'm slightly overextending my fingers, and I can feel more effort in my forearm muscles. I also feel effort in my wrist to hold my hand up like that. When I move the mouse, the outside edge of my pinky and side of my thumb drag on the desk (or couch, at the moment). If I do lift the mouse up, I just hinge my wrist up a bit, I don't lift my forearm. And my hand hardly moves out of its place, to the point that I sometimes have to clean gummy gunk off my desk, within about the area of a single hand, in one specific place. So this works for me, I think, because I let all my hand/finger positions and muscles be as natural and lazy as possible. Plus, the mouse fits my hand well, and I've been doing it like this for a long time. Side note: I hate track pads, and always disable mine, for whatever that's worth.

Retric 10y ago

One useful approach is to use dramatically different mice on different PC's. I find focusing on the one true way, sets you up for RSI in your new setup.

WWLink 10y ago
This works for me. Although my favorite mousees are the low profile ones.