Hi all,

Just wondering what peoples experiences/recomendations are for ergonomic mice, Ive been using a gell pad for office work and a normal mouse, which seems to have staved off some discomfort/numbness in my wrist/little finger for a year or so but the last week or so it’s happening again, with also some elbow and shoulder discomfort.

I’m not really keen on trackballs, so was looking at ‘vertical’ style mice, something like:

https://www.cclonline.com/product/208818/SL-610005-BK/Mice/SPEEDLINK-Manejo-Ergonomic-Vertical-Mouse-Black-/MOU2442/

or

https://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing-accessories/computer-accessories/mice-and-keyboards/mice/trust-evo-advanced-wireless-laser-mouse-black-10168181-pdt.html

I think i’d need something that would fill my palm too, so a larger mouse would be better.

Anyone got any thoughts to share?  Thanks.

G/f was an ergonomic assessor is a previous life,  and mice are very much a personal preference (like everything..)

Take a look here for options/idea’s (rats or slugs as I used to call them): https://www.posturite.co.uk/ergonomic-mice.html

She particularly liked the roller bar mice, being an IT bod I hate everything except a normal mouse, as I have to use what’s on your desk…

PS: If you work in an office (company) you should have an ergonomic assessment and can raise stuff like this with them and they should have a selection for you to test

I have/had RSI which manifested as tendinitis, and I tried one of the rollerball jobbies but it still didn’t do much for me.

I ended up using a trackpad (basically a big laptop pad) and since I’ve been using that, my problems have massively reduced.

I was going to get an Apple one and jigger about with drivers (to the delight of my IT dept…) but happened across one of these going cheap:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-T650-Wireless-Rechargeable-Touchpad/dp/B00969DLL6

Dunno if there’s a newer version or not.

Hi,

Thanks for the reply – it’s a pretty smal company and they are accomodating with things like this, but I suspect if I raise the issue,the response would be ‘go online and choose what you want and we’ll order it in’.

Trying differnt models wouldnt really be practical, so I suppose i’ll just have to choose something and hope its right..

She particularly liked the roller bar mice

My OH had one of those.  She said it was awesome.

Where i currently work, I was getting a really sore forearm/wrist from spending most of my day doing 3D CAD work.

The IT department were being particularly rubbish at getting anything sorted, so I bought one of these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wireless-Vertical-Ergonomic-Optical-1600DPI/dp/B00BIFNTMC

I figured, for £13 it was worth the risk. They do a wired version for £10 if you’d rather that:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anker%C2%AE-Ergonomic-Optical-Vertical-Buttons/dp/B009D9CZ5C

The improvement in comfort was instant & I very rarely have any problems now at all. I recommended this to a friend who put a message on Facebook asking for similar recommendations, and he updated about 2 weeks later to say he couldn’t believe how much it had helped.

It takes maybe 5 minutes to get used to.

You need to avoid kinking your wrist to raise your hand to reach the mouse, which is what your gel pad helps with.

Many of the logitech mouse are angled away quite sharply so you can hold them with your forearm/hand more naturally angled and your hand at 45 degrees rather than forcing your hand flat, and so it is easier to avoid that tilt back of your hand.

But also look at keyboards that don’t have a numeric keypad, then you don’t have to reach so far to the side to get to your mouse. even leaving your elbows supported by your arm rests.

I use the goldtouch keyboards which you can get for about £70 which basically are like one of those split keyboards that angles each half of the keyboard out a bit so your hands come into the keyboard at a more natural angle, and again avoid you having to kink your wrists. You can also adjust them even more radically but I do not bother.

I used to get some dodgy feelings in my wrist but a change to these keyboard stopped it. Been programming for 30 years so mucho keyboard/mouse use.

They do a wired version for £10 if you’d rather that:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anker%C2%AE-Ergonomic-Optical-Vertical-Buttons/dp/B009D9CZ5C

Just ordered this one as it happens! hopefully I can get on with it.

I’ve one of those Anker mice – ace things.

As per TG  – mice that look like they are on their side work well – like a handshake if I hold my hands out with my elbows bent thats the way my hands present – not flat.

I find the gel pad to raise the wrist helps as mentioned above. Also, it takes some getting used to but try swapping the mouse to the other hand to give the problematic one a rest.   95% of my work is spreadsheet/email/word so it quite “easy” to get used to alternating. I’d imagine it’d be harder for designers etc.

Also look at shoulder/neck exercises. I was diagnosed with RSI and would need surgery, however a few visits to an osteopath sorted it.  Hunching my shoulders caused nerves passing under my collar bone to become trapped.

The gel pad certainty helped me up to now, no doubt, but the twinges are back.. Maybe due to the compact cheap standard dell mice we have, they are not quite as small as a laptop mouse, but they are not what I’d call a full size mouse.

It’s purely my ‘mousing arm’ that’s the problem I think, as I’m a fairly intense mouser lol!

As far as I can tell, the more like a penis it looks and feels, the better a mouse is for RSI. My colleague has one that actually has a ballbag, but it suits her wrist action well.

I had to use an on-its-side one for a while, it never stopped feeling weird tbh. In the end I managed to get back to normal ones just by working hard on the whole ergonomics/posture thing- and that included a bit of ignoring perceived wisdom. Basically find what works for you, it’s probably not what works for me.

Maybe try a graphics pen?

We issued new workstations to our consultants including Logitech mice which look like the mouse in the OP’s post.  One complained of RSI – carpal tunnel IIRC – and we replaced the mouse with a vertical trackball, again similar to the the first OP pic.  She was happy with the replacement

I’m not bothered with any form of RSI but have a mousemat with a gel wrist rest.  I find it comfortable enough and would recommend it as a very cheap workplace enhancement

As per FB-ATB – I  just swap hands. Maybe a few months on one side, then swap. Doesn’t take long to get used to it even for cad work.

Have a look at the madcats rat9 mouse. It’s completely customisable with various includes pieces and sliding parts. It’s a gaming mouse and looks weird but you can get it to be the perfect shape to suit your hand and wrist postion. They do cheaper similar versions but I have only owned the cordless rat 9. I used to get terrible rsi but don’t get it anymore. I use it for 3D cad 5 days a week.

Boring but positive update, after a couple of days use, things are much better.

Bit tricky adjusting to the new shape, although not as bad as I was expecting and i can’t mouse like a ninja with it yet, but the discomfort has all but disappeared, very positive. 🙂

Sorry didn’t see this thread when originally posted but what’s worked really well for me was adding a trackpad to my setup. I use the trackpad with my left hand which gets used for scrolling/zooming/panning and other low precision tasks and the mouse with my right hand that gets used for everything else.

Aside from entirely eliminating any wrist pain it also had the unexpected benefit of forcing me into a more balanced posture rather than being able to slouch to one side.

Hopefully your current setup will sort things out for you but if not give the additional trackpad thing a try.

Maybe the ergo mouse is a compromise, I could make an effort to use more keyboard shortcuts etc. But old habits die hard. I’ve never liked track balls and touch pads.

It’s certainly given me almost instant relief.

I use my left hand for my mouse. I found I was getting RSI from scrolling with my index finger and my right hand is my motorbike throttle hand, so I switched to my left. Did it years ago, now able to use it ambidextrously but in the office it’s generally with my left