The Glade 4.0

What are some things you do to combat RSI from heavy mouse/trackball usage?
I've been considering a Vertical Mouse but I'm not sure whether or not that'd work out well for me, they're kinda pricy, and because they're not sold in stores, I can't "try it before I buy it".

About the only easy option I have available to me atm is to limit my computer activities as much as possible, but that's not a terribly appealing one.
What works for you?

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Go back to zero, take a pill, and get well ~ Lemmy Kilmister

Try to focus more on moving your elbow or shoulder, instead of using your fingers/wrist. If you're solely on a trackball I'm not sure what you can do. I always thought those seemed like a bad idea..

Mouse at work, trackball at home.
I've relocated my trackball to sit on my desk instead of my keyboard tray and that helps a little bit because it reduces my wrist angle ... just doesn't seem to help enough.

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Go back to zero, take a pill, and get well ~ Lemmy Kilmister

Well it still doesn't stop you from repeating the same motion with your thumb over and over which likely is the cause of your pain.

The thing that honestly made the biggest, mega-plethora-of-results, impact for me? It's extremely simple, but it's an option I think few people will do:

At work, and only at work, I configured my mouse as well as forced myself to learn to use it left-handed.

I figured splitting up the workload would make a big difference. And it did. It took a couple weeks to get proficient with it. But once I got used to it, it became second-nature. I wouldn't want to try gaming with it, but for work-related tasks it was not a problem at all. If you do go this route, I would recommend swapping the buttons so that your left-index finger is still your primary "clicker." To me this made the most sense to my brain to get used to it.

Since I don't do nearly as much clicking anymore, I currently use a trackball at work and a regular mouse at home. This also has helped greatly. But, again, not NEARLY as much as my first solution did.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

Lenas : really don't think it's the thumb movement. Given the location of the pain, and which movements trigger it, I think I have cause to be pretty confident on this one.

Numbuk - I might give that a try, thanks.

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Go back to zero, take a pill, and get well ~ Lemmy Kilmister

A couple other things:

1. If you do try the left-handed mouse, I found I had to set the sensitivity of the mouse cursor to be a bit lower than I was used to on my right hand. Not sure why, but it helped. But I should amend this by saying that my mice sensitivity is generally MUCH higher than the average user.

2. Another thing I found contributing to my RSI problems was something you wouldn't think to normally look at: the arms of the chair. I found that as I rested my arms on the chair and used my mouse, that the chair arms would pinch the nerves I used to "click" with my fingers. It wasn't immediately noticeable or painful. But over time, and a LOT of clicks later, this developed into a more painful injury. Removing the chair arms from my work chair and my desk chair at home resolved this problem as well.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

I try to make sure my computers don't have armrests if possible just for that reason.

edge of the desk digging into the forearm also sucks

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Ron Paul 2012

Go back to magazines for your porn instead of the computer.

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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

Bah ruhm bum, she'll be here all week guys, but the King takes her home.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

Came here to make this joke. Can't believe it took 9 posts.

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Sail forth! steer for the deep waters only!
Reckless, O soul, exploring, I with thee, and thou with me;
For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,
And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.

I know, right? Hahaha thats what I was thinkin!!

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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

My mouse and keyboard sit at the edge, so I never have this problem.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

I use an L setup like this:


Note, that isn't the actual model I have for my desk, but it gets the idea across. Now, instead of putting the mouse up on the desktop with the monitor, I have it on that shorter shelf unit you see off to the right in the picture. I started doing this back when I played EQ by using a fold-out tray table to set my mouse on, because I was getting pain in my wrist. My mother suggested to me that I have my mouse beside me rather than in front of me on the desk.

The way I'm sitting, my elbow is bent at a right angle, and my forearm and hand are straight. My wrist sits on one of those gel pads. My arm just sort of hangs out in a relaxed position on that side table. I can do almost all of my mouse movement with my shoulder and elbow.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

You shouldn't use a gel pad.. They can still put pressure on the carpal tunnel. Ideally the wrist should be contact-free.

That's probably true for most people who use gel pads. Most computer users seem to hold their arm out in front of them, and most of the weight of the arm is supported by the wrist. The weight of my arm is distributed across the full length of my forearm, with the majority of the upper arm being supported at the elbow. There is very little downward force at my wrist, and as a result, the contact force between my wrist and the gel pad is small.

The gel pad keeps my wrist and hand lined up with the rest of my arm. If I were to remove it, my wrist would drop and my hand would be bent up at an angle. That would actually place more stress on my wrist than what I currently experience.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.