4 ms·
The biggest change that helped when I developed temporary RSI when playing video games in my mid-teens was learning and switching to Colemak. Natural keyboards
by lstamour 7y ago
The biggest change that helped when I developed temporary RSI when playing video games in my mid-teens was learning and switching to Colemak.
Natural keyboards (Microsoft-style) helped a bit, but the curved Kinesis Advantage really taught me that you should try to never raise your keyboard angle, and instead keep the keyboard flat at a height where your fingers rest on the home row, wrists straight and naturally held at a comfortable position in line with your lower arms. When done well, it’s like your fingers are hovering over the keys on the keyboard, pushing down, but it can cause strain in your arms as you don’t have any palm rests in this position without buying a Kinesis (and re-learning how to type on a straight column key layout). But by far the biggest difference was learning Colemak, it means my fingers rarely leave the home row and typing is less of a chore on my fingers, but still affects my wrists.
For your mouse hand, the Evoluent mouse may look (and feel) funny, but it certainly is less stress on your mousing wrist. You can fake this with a normal mouse (when you remember to) by rotating your hand, wrist and lower arm 90 degrees, placing your hand pinky side down next to the mouse, palm facing the mouse. Then keeping your wrist in that same vertical orientation, slowly move your thumb and first two fingers to cover the mouse. It’s a loose hold, not as easy to use as the normal grip, but it’s much easier on the mousing wrist. Don’t move the wrist in this position, when moving the mouse, try to remember to move your whole arm if possible. I’ll admit, I only use this mousing technique on days when I’m extra sensitive to RSI, normally my mouse movement is halfway between this extreme and a normal mouse grip—generally I modify the mouse grip to not cup it so tightly with a more horizontal wrist and that works okay...
Also watch out for wrist/finger/positional strain from non-computer activities you do regularly, including how you grip or put extra strain on your body when commuting or when using exercise equipment. There’s always a balance — you want stress to build tolerance, but you don’t want to take it too far and build injury instead. Listen to your body! :)
- allannienhuis 7y agoI used to get RSI on my mouse hand. Switching to a thumb trackball https://www.logitech.com/en-ca/product/wireless-trackball-m570 https://www.logitech.com/en-ca/product/wireless-trackball-m5... resolved it immediately. My wrist is in a natural position, and the only thing that moves is the thumb. It was surprisingly easy to get used to. I initially didn't think I'd use it for gaming, but that turned out to be not a problem - once you're used to it it's just as effective.
- lstamour 7y agoAh yes, trackballs are good too due to the reduced wrist movement/strain, and much cheaper than the Evoluent. Trackpads can work, but hand and wrist placement matters similar to keyboarding...
- ianai 7y agoHave you tried just a straight trackball? I switched to a trackball for rsi, and it helped. But I’m curious if a thumb trackball would be better.
- allannienhuis 7y agoI didn't try the trackballs that you use your fingers with. The thumb-controlled ones are pretty natural to use, as the left and right click actions and the scroll-wheel are identical to a regular mouse. I suspect the act of using the same finger for moving the ball and clicking the button would be more difficult (at least for me :) )
- ferzul 7y agoI haven't used a mouse in years, just Kensington trackballs and laptop trackpads. The trackballs are great; clicking is predominately with the thumb whereas pointing is with the fingers. Even when using fingers for both, it's not something I notice since I've never clicked and moved at the same time - maybe for a gamer it would be different
- ianai 7y agoI also have a kensington, and it’s easy to hold down the left click and move around the cursor.
- high_5 7y agoKinesis Advantage was a game changer for me too. But when I type on my laptop for a day or two the pain is back. The pain also depends on the stress level, because it seems that I type with more tightened fingers (as is the whole body as well).
- rkagerer 7y agoI want to pick up a couple of those mice. Which do you prefer - the VerticalMouse 4 or VerticalMouse C? Is the only difference the # of buttons?
- lstamour 7y agoI haven’t used the C yet, I’ve only used the 4 - I’ve a “For Mac” Bluetooth one which I returned because the 2.4GHz wireless version was performing much better. I suspect they made the Bluetooth one to sell in the Apple Store. As far as I know, they haven’t changed the basic mouse design in 5-6 years now. It still works and feels high quality, I’ve no complaints. (Except that it is definitely not “travel size” - and isn’t rechargeable, it takes an AA battery - but for all that, it has a nice high quality plastic feel and the design of the mouse means you’re not rubbing your palm all over the table as when trying to hold a regular mouse with a vertical wrist.) The extra buttons require their driver but it works fine without and I don’t notice the buttons most of the time anyway.
- bosie 7y agoI had every VerticalMouse so far (they don't seem to last for me for whatever reason). I prefer the C, it sits nicer in my hand, they changed the shape; I can't comment on the buttons as I under-utilize those. Either way though, going to any VerticalMouse from a regular mouse is a huge improvement. The changes between 4 and C are probably hard to pick out for someone who hasn't exclusively used those mice for a decade.