Stopping Carpel Tunnel before it starts : change mouse to ...?

[radhak]

My wife has been complaining of pain in her wrist and hand. She's a QA analyst and spends 9 continuous hours a day at her desktop, and she's terrified this might degenerate into full blown carpen-tunnel syndrome. (A friend had to have surgery recently for it, heightening her fears).

I have seen her work and feel that she holds the mouse very wrong; but she's been unable to change her grip - and these have been regular mice (nothing ergonomic). So I'm thinking of going drastically different - but to what?

I saw in a prior thread that Corky had suggested a Wacom pad. Would this do? Does it really help to switch to a pen grip from a mouse grip?

I have a feeling a track-pad may not induce her to change her grip, because a track-pad is almost a mouse - does it relieve hand stress?

Then there's this new Leap Motion Controller. Anybody use it? Any opinion on it? It does look better than any mouse or mouse-like options. Dunno how fine its controls would be.

 

[Jaepheth]

I find that a pistol grip mouse + silicone cushion produces less strain since the pistol grip allows the wrist to be at a more natural angle..

 

[Eureka]

Trackball.

 

[poohbear]

The reality is she has to take breaks. Pistol grip mice are also important as the forearm bones arent crossed (main cause of CTS), but @ da end of the day she needs regular breaks. There's some excellent software that forces u to take breaks every 35 min & micro breaks every 6min (its ofcourse adjustable to user's prefrence). Its $80 but sure beats having CTS.

 

[corkyg]

The important thing is to periodically change. CTS happens from repetative use of the same muscles and tendons over a period of time. Frequent breaks help. Wrist flexion exercises help. Just chage the pattern now and then.

 

[radhak]

Pistol grip seems promising. Looks like I should take her to a Best Buy or something to try out some of these differently shaped 'mice'.

The Wacom itself has three types - 'Capture Pen and Touch', 'Create Pen and Touch' and 'Splash Pen'. Anybody know which of these will work best as a mouse-substitute for regular (non-graphic) tasks?

And yes, I've been advising frequent breaks, but I don't think it's translating to reality. The idea of software induced breaks is intriguing - which software is it?

 

[giantpandaman2]

#1-Make sure her mouse is being used at the right height. Some people use tables that are too high and that causes a bad angle on the wrist.

#2-Pistol Grip mouse/trackball helps.

#3-Keyboards can exacerbate the problem too, so it's not just the mouse. I'd suggest a split key keyboard. There are many good ones out there.

#4-Breaks + stretching + exercise all help

 

[Ancalagon44]

I used to get sore wrists - I found that using a desk at the right height was very important, as is making sure that my entire forearm lies flat on the desk. Dont rest your wrist against the edge of a desk.

 

[Hinda65]

I use these

http://www.amazon.com/Imak-20128-Com.../dp/B000FEVWU8

i was beggining to have very uncomfortable pain while gaming....I probably play 2 - 6hrs / day.....I've been using these for a couple years now....no more pain.

 

[poohbear]

Pistol grip seems promising. Looks like I should take her to a Best Buy or something to try out some of these differently shaped 'mice'.

The Wacom itself has three types - 'Capture Pen and Touch', 'Create Pen and Touch' and 'Splash Pen'. Anybody know which of these will work best as a mouse-substitute for regular (non-graphic) tasks?

And yes, I've been advising frequent breaks, but I don't think it's translating to reality. The idea of software induced breaks is intriguing - which software is it?

wellnomics is the software i use. It's really helped and im sometimes shocked at how fast time flies working on a computer.... it prompts me every 5 minutes for 6-7 second "micro breaks" (depending on how intense you're typing or how much you're moving the mouse). These micro breaks are just as important as the normal 5 min breaks every 30 -40 minutes to prevent CTS.

Its really worth it and its helped keep my computer use under control with breaks. U really don't realize how long you've been holding that mouse for before its too late, but wellnomics is sophisticated software that prompts you quite frequently with detailed exercises to do (with pictures and videos) during the breaks.