As
the name suggests, Ergonomic mice were designed to provide optimum comfort and
avoid injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome, arthritis and other repetitive
strain injuries. Most Ergonomic mice are designed to fit natural hand position
and movements, to reduce discomfort.
A
normal mouse requires you to hold your hand flat to the desk, thus twisting
your wrist approximately 60 degrees from its natural position and leaving it
resting on the desk. Most Ergonomic mice were designed to rectify this.
Traditional Ergonomic mouse
Some
more traditional type of Ergonomic mouse such as Microsoft Natural Wireless
Laser Mouse 6000 shown below. Personally, I am not convinced by these kinds of
mice and the reviews are mixed as well. These provide better tracking and have
more functions, but they still aren't quite as comfortable as, say, the
joystick design of the 3M Ergonomic mouse.
Trackballs
If your
pain is mainly located in upper arm or shoulder, a trackball can significantly
reduce your pain. Trackballs are a group of pointing device consisting of a
ball held by a socket containing sensors to detect a rotation of the ball. The
user rolls the ball with the thumb, fingers, or the palm of the hand to move the
cursor. Because you don’t have to move your arms, trackballs can help the
healing of RSI in the arms.
Trackballs
come with different shape and the user experience can be very different as
well. There is no way to tell whether you can get use to a specific type of
trackball without trying them out, though reviews on the web can always help.
Logitech
M570 Wireless Trackball is my favourite but your millage may vary.
3M Ergonomic mouse
The
3M Ergonomic Mouse (Ergo Mouse), is designed to help reduce the hand, wrist,
elbow and arm pains associated with using a traditional mouse. It aims to do
this by reducing the amount of twist in your wrist and by removing pressure
from the heel of your hand. The Ergo Mouse's joystick-like design allows you to
hold your hand as close as possible to its neutral posture - wrist and thumb
both straight and relaxed; fingers curled and at rest - while having its heel
float above the desk. The buttons are also positioned so that you don't have to
flex your fingers from the neutral posture in order to reach them. In contrast,
when using a conventional mouse your fingers are almost constantly flexed from
your hand's neutral posture, and they have to move even more to reach and
operate the buttons/scroll wheel. This can result in finger pain, and even
muscle contracture and reduced mobility.
The
3M Ergonomic Mouse is one of the most effective anti-RSI pointing devices in
the market. Its design ensures your wrist and arm are in their most comfortable
position and the button arrangement is also very comfortable. However, due to
the way in which you hold the Ergo Mouse, you have to use your whole arm to
move it, making it difficult to use accurately. So whereas a good mouse will
enable you to move around your desktop in lightening quick speed, the Ergo
Mouse requires a more ponderous approach. It will take some getting used to but
it’s well worth the effort of adapting.
Touch screen laptop,
There
are quite a few of these available in the market and many more are coming out
thanks to windows 8. Again, go for a big brand and read reviews on the web
before take out your wallet.
There
are two big players in the touch screen market, Wacom and Ntrig. Wacom has been
in the market for much longer and their panels tend to be better than the Ntrig
ones, which are a bit cheaper.
Touch
screens are fine if you mainly use your laptop to browse the web, look at
photos or watch move. However, you will need one that support digitizer which
is essential for any series work.
If money
is no issue, Lenovo X230T tablet or HP HP EliteBook 2760p are fantastic
machines. If on a tight budget, some older generation machines like x200T
tablet or 2740p can be found on eBay for a fraction of the price.
Graph tablet
Similar
to touch screen laptops, you use a pen to control the mouse cursor. Therefore you
are using a different set of muscles and can subsequently relieve the pain
caused by using traditional mouse. There is a wide range of Graph pad available
to buy. Again, Wacom ones are highly regarded but a cheap one will do the trick
just as well if you just want to use it as a mouse.
Motion controllers
These
have never been an option because their lack of accuracy. However, everything
changes with Leap Motion controller. It will be on sale in May and it certainly
looks very promising.
How to fight RSI - Part 3, Ergonomic Accessories-keyboard
How to fight RSI - Part 5, Software help tackling RSI
How to fight RSI - Part 5, Software help tackling RSI
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