Gosh darn it to heck and BACK! All this time on this computation machine is tearing the bejezus out of my right wrist, all the way up to the elbow! Thank the almighty greek pantheon that I'm already using a vertical mouse, because I remember what it felt like when I was on the computer this much with one of your standard, regular mouses. Holey moley, as loudly as I'm complaining now, it's still minor compared to how much, and for how long that hurt! At the moment I'm using the mouse in the picture below (although not the wireless version as pictured). This is the most commonly available, cheap vertical mouse that you can grab on eBay (usually from a Chinese dealer) for less than $20. But man, I'd sure consider at this point to throw down some old chashola for a fancier version. Does anybody have and recommendations or positive experiences they'll share?
I had that wrist problem too but it's not because of my mouse but because of the way my hands and wrists are positioned. If your wrists and hands aren't resting horizontally flat on your desk you will experience some sort aching in the joints. I don't know if that makes sense but try checking on that and see what happens.
Hi Prayer, For a long time I tried taking a plank of wood and bolting it to the end of my desk so that it would protrude on the right side of my body, letting me have the mouse a position where my hands and wrist would be aligned straight with one another (please reference diagram). I found, however, that having my elbow bent, raised upward, and extended outward from the body, puts a whole ton of strain on the tendons in the elbow. Ouch. At the moment, my ergonomic strategy is to have the mouse up and right next to the side of my computer. So it's farther away, but in reaching out for it, my elbow is in a straight position, and doesn't have to be bent and brought outward, as I had to do to rest it on the plank.
You should probably see a doctor about it. Could be carpal tunnel, nothing to do with your mouse. I've been sitting in front of the PC most of my life in very long periods of time, and I have never had wrist problems, even without taking any kind of precaution or using ergonomic mouses.. So yeah, you should try and get that checked out. I realoze that body reacts differently with every person, but this doesn't sound good anyway.
I have this problem before though it's with my left because of the way I type on the keyboard. I haven't tried a mouse like this. However, I suggest that you should just go to the doctor to make sure that what you have is not just carpal tunnel.
I find whenever I use my husbands mouse, my hand gets super sore. His is larger than mine. The smaller the mouse, the less my hand is unnaturally positioned. You have to find something your hand can relax on, not find something more "fancy". He's always complaining of a sore hand and I haven't since I bought my little mouse. It's from Logitech, that's all I know. Another thing most people don't think of is how they type as well. Again, my husband has aching everything when he has to be on the computer for longish periods of time. He types as he was taught, fingers on the home keys yadda yadda and I type comfortably; just letting my fingers go to the keys as they're needed. The home key typing isn't a natural position for our fingers and hands at all. He tried it my way.. no more aches.
What the hey... I'm totally envious. Could you please describe the orientation of your arm and elbow in terms of the structure of the arm/wrist, and in relation to the position of your torso, when you are using the mouse? How much of your computer usage involves mouse contact, and how much is primarily keyboard use? And in terms of hours, how long are you on the computer each day? Yea it's probably carpal tunnel, but I'm an American, so not only is going to the doctor nearly impossible without a crippling war injury, it's against my personal values. So because my new setup isn't working, the only option I really have left is to stop spending 18 hours per day on the computer. That's the only thing that's ever worked consistently to give me some pain relief. I could even simply mix up my routine so that I space out the activities which require alot of pointing and clicking, and the activities which are more keyboard oriented. The vertical mouse has helped quite a bit so far, but I know that it’s the mouse use which is messing up my arm. I have a keyboard tray, and using it (middle school gave me two weeks of typing training; I don’t type the standard way either) has always been very natural and comfortable.
You may already know this, but carpal tunnel is caused by inflammation. If you ice your wrist when it is hurting and rest it as much as possible, it can really help get the inflammation down so it won't be pinching on the nerve causing you so much pain. Carpal Tunnel can actually heal if you treat it right. Some people seem to think that surgery is the only option for that, but it's not true, that's actually not a good choice as it doesn't address the underlying cause.
Honestly I would suspect the bulk of your pains aren't even due to the mouse itself, but rather your seating and your desk. Are you able to raise your desk chair up or down, so that your arms are above or level with the desk when using your mouse? Your elbow should be completely level with your desk - if you are sitting up too high relative to your desk, or down too low, and your forearm is at an angle to your desk, that's going to cause a lot of strain. This is why I try to purchase my desk and desk chair in the store together, instead of separately, because I need to make sure they work together well. I've bought desks in the past that stood too high, and the chair I bought separately could not raise me up high enough to keep my arms level with the desk.
Uhh.. I would love to help, but I'm just sitting here on a $5 kitchen chair and holding a $4 mouse just.. uh.. normally? I never cared about ergonomics of anything like that.. As for how long.. pretty much all day, so, 10 hours a day? I really don't know how to tell you, I just think some people are more prone to carpal tunnel.
In my preferred position, my arm is about 4" lower than the top of the desk. I raised the chair up a bit, and yea it does feel better, thanks. Because of the keyboard tray being in front of me, it is still a bit of an un-ideal reach out to the mouse, and it feels weird to have my elbow hanging out in midair. Clearly it would be preferable to, when using the mouse, push the keyboard tray back so that it is completely underneath the desk, while also pushing the screen and the mouse back on the desk, so that my elbow can rest on the desk. Unfortunately, with frequent typing, this is impractical. So my solution to the strain put on the elbow is just to make more of a muscular effort when suspending it in the air, and to really limit the time I have on the mouse to a matter of minimal seconds in between the typing. This does feel better. I'll see how it works out. In the diagram, my elblow is about at that angle. I have to have the mouse placed about 4" away from the side of the laptop screen as it sit's on my desk (ergonomically elevated to eye level), because to have the mouse right next to the screen requires me to push my shoulder inwards uncomfortably; maybe I just have wide shoulders, and this is just me.
