Ergonomic mouse advice?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Grant van Zevern on March 30, 2011 at 11:24am

I use a microsoft intellimouse, with scroll wheel and 4 buttons.  One thing you can do is get a few different models and change them out on a regular basis, like every few days.  I take breaks and wash my hands with warm water every so often as well, to get the blood moving again. 

My buddy had a similar issue, and went to an acupressure guy, who found the cause of his problems way up in his shoulder.  He taught him some simple stretches, and resolved the problem. 

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Permalink Reply by Steve Rice on March 31, 2011 at 3:22am

Thanks for your advice Grant, I appreciate you taking the time.

I tried another online forum (http://www.landscapejuicenetwork.com/group/gardendesigngroup/forum/...) and got similar advice about taking breaks and sorting out the ergonomics of my whole work area, not just the mouse.  I'm trying to discipline myself into more frequent breaks / task switches, and I've got a mouse mat with a gel wrist support - though I'm not convinced I'm using it correctly, as I don't find it very comfortable.  Warming up the mouse hand at breaks seems a very sensible idea - it does get extremely cold from lack of physical activity.  I do know a physio, so if the problem persists, I'll have him take a look and see what suggestions he has for exercises, etc.

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Permalink Reply by Charles Link on March 30, 2011 at 6:44pm

It may be the most expensive option, but it is the one that has worked for me for the last 4-5 years, and that is a Wacom 16:9 tablet and stylus. I have a larger one and it forces me to make larger movements with my hand and arm, instead of all the tight little movements I tend to make with my wrist using a mouse. I tried a few different brands, types (track ball) and this is the only thing that has worked for me. In the end, the extra cost is worth it because it allows me to work more. The tablet also comes with a scroll wheel mouse, so you can change things up, if you like. I tend to use it when I am in Sketchup.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Rice on March 31, 2011 at 3:28am

Hi Charles - thanks for your advice too. 

Someone else on the other forum (see reply to Grant) also favours a Wacom tablet & stylus.  At present, the cost of these (OK, I know, how much is one's health worth!) is beyond me, especially without a "try before you buy" option, but also the extra space needed would maybe make continued use of my dining/kitchen table tricky (i.e. even more to clear away when it's needed for dining purposes - though, like most people I know, we do tend to mostly eat on laptrays in front of the TV!).

I also found a thread on the Nemetschek-Vectorworks "community board forum" which had opinions favouring the Wacom/equivalent, the Evoluent and (various) trackballs.  I dropped the Kensington from my options, as it didn't seem to have a scroll wheel, and followed up the user reviews of the other two on both the manufacturers' websites and Amazon.  It was very difficult to choose, but I eventually came down in favour of the Logitech M570.  So, I'll add some feedback when I've tried that out.  I'll also see if any of my design buddies have a Wacom that they could show me and/or let me borrow.

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Lawson on April 1, 2011 at 8:11am

While the Wacom Intuis (?) is definitely a more expensive option, I've found the Wacom Bamboo works just as well and I use the stylus instead of the mouse. It keeps my wrist constantly moving around the pad, and it didn't take very long for my mind to 'map' itself to the tablet. ;)

I use it with my laptop wherever I go and it is very sturdy and reliable.

 

My 2 cents.... your mileage may vary.

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Permalink Reply by Wanda Madrid-Diaz on March 31, 2011 at 7:37am

Hi Steve

About a year ago I had the same problem with a pain in my right arm and up into my shoulder.

I went to a PT, they instructed me to drop the keyboard and the mouse pad area.

Sit in your chair  bend your arms in a 90 degree position or place them on an armrest of the chair, the mouse and keyboard area should be at that height. I installed an keyboard tray under my desk and the mouse sits next to the keyboard.

If you do this you are not reaching to use the mouse.

Attached is the heights for ergonomics for the computer I hope this helps good-luck -Wanda

Attachments:

• ergonomic-computer-cart.jpg, 33 KB

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Permalink Reply by Steve Rice on April 1, 2011 at 5:53am

Thanks Wanda.  I've done a couple of things already - changed my chair, so I've got a "manager" type chair with armrests (to support forearms), as well as giving better back support than the ("stylish") dining chair I was using, and started using a gel wrist-rest mouse pad.

My arm angle seems to be OK - i.e. the chair armrest puts my hands comfortably at the level of the keyboard.  There seems to be a lot of confusion about "correct" height for mouse pad though (see this Cornell University guidelines piece), and whether a wrist rest is a good or bad thing.  The HP ergo guidelines say NOT to use a wrist rest for mousing, and the Cornell piece also says this - but then it goes on to suggest that the "mousebean" is a good idea!  From looking at the latter, I've figured that my new wrist rest (Fellowes Easy Glide Gel Wrist Rest/Mouse Pad) is probably OK if it's used right - the fleshy base of my hand, not my wrist, rests on the pad, and the pad moves around on its gliders, so my wrist remains static with the mouse movement being whole arm, pivoted from elbow/shoulder.  I find it's not as quick/easy as without a wrist pad - I "run out of pad" more often and have to lift & reset the mouse/rest more - but I guess it's something that will improve with practise.

My intention now is to use this combination, plus the laptop trackpad plus the new Logitech trackball (when it arrives) to "ring the changes" as per Grant's advice (above), and see how things go.

Thanks again for helping. 

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Permalink Reply by Bob Holtzmann on April 1, 2011 at 9:07pm

Most of my personal experiences with RSI has been with finger mouse clicks with my right hand. Fortunately for me, I have a Macbook Pro with a built-in trackpad. So by using a USB mouse to move the cursor in my right hand, and clicking with the trackpad in the left hand, I can split up the click-draw operations, which can be otherwise stressful on my writing hand.

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Permalink Reply by Sergio on April 27, 2011 at 5:05am

I own an Intuos 4 and I strongly recommend a tablet instead of a mouse. Once you've tried the pen tablet you'll hardly go back to the mouse. It's more comfortable, faster, more precise.....all are advantages. Now I just use the mouse if I have to work with my laptop out of the office somewhere, but for a desktop working I think it's the best option, even though it's more expensive than a mouse, it worth it. 

And speaking about ergonomics there's no point, the tablet is much much better. I broke my wrist some years ago, and since then I hardly can work more than a few hours with a mouse and not to feel tension or even pain in my wrist and forearm. With the tablet I have no excuse for taking any break....that's not so good I guess ;-)

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Permalink Reply by Wanda Madrid-Diaz on April 27, 2011 at 8:27am

Sergio, You use a tablet for vectorworks, I'm confused on how this works, never have looked into a tablet. So it works just like a mouse click. Very interested in this can you explain further.

thanks

-Wanda

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Permalink Reply by Sergio on April 27, 2011 at 9:46am

Yes I do. Not just for VW, actually I use it for all the applications I work with. There's no need to use a mouse anymore if you have a tablet. It completely replaces a mouse. At least, that is my case. Of course you may find people who don't like it, but all my friends who had given a chance to a tablet haven't gone back to the mouse. It's pretty simple indeed, you just move the pen over the tablet and when you wanna click you just have to touch the tablet with the pen. It may sound weird or difficult to control, and it's at the very beginning, but if u give it a chance, after one or two days you just use it naturally, and you become more productive. The pen has also two buttons which you control with you thumb. From an ergonomic point of view, the position of your hand is more natural, we are all used to write with a pen since we were kids. This is just the same, and that's why the tension in your wrist disappears.

 

But if you are really interested, I think it's better you to try it yourself. I've tried to explain it, but english it's not my mother tongue so I don't know if I've explained it well enough. If you have the chance the try it in some shop or with some friend who has one just do it, so you can have your own impressions about it.

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Permalink Reply by Wanda Madrid-Diaz on April 27, 2011 at 10:09am

Sergio

Thanks for all the info, your English is Great! It was an excellent explanation! I think I will give it a try. Where are you from?

Again Thanks

-Wanda

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