by top_post on 9/6/17, 9:38 AM with 27 comments
by 4010dell on 9/6/17, 1:21 PM
I recently suffered from ulnar entrapment syndrome ...googled it, watched videos, did suggested stretching for 2 weeks i guess. All healed.
by adamhorne on 9/6/17, 1:34 PM
And use the pomodoro technique where you can (20 mins on, 5 mins off).
by horsawlarway on 9/6/17, 4:28 PM
I did the following:
1. Use the trackball, but do it left handed.
It doesn't slow you down any more than it does learning to use it right handed, but it gives your right hand a break (and yes, it totally SUCKS for about 3 weeks, and then you're roughly as productive).
2. Take a serious look at your mouse.
If you have any of the "magic mice" that support gestures, ditch that shit as fast as possible. Holding your fingers arched like that for long periods does damage.
If you don't have that mouse, look for two things:
- Very light weight (yes, a super cheap lightweight mouse is better than a heavy "ergonomic" mouse in most cases).
- Able to rest your fingers. You need to be able to relax the tendons in your hand/wrist, and you can't do that if you're supporting your fingers in the air (part of why the magic mouse is literally the devil).
3. After a month or two of using the trackball, feel free to switch back to using a decent mouse like normal. In my case, eliminating a magic mouse and giving my hand/wrist a few months to heal did the trick.
4. If none of the above helps, contact a therapist.
by jakobegger on 9/6/17, 12:22 PM
Realising that at age 30 this is a bad sign, I invested around 2000€ on a more ergonomic setup:
- a proper chair (I got a Vitra ID, but there are lots of good options out there)
- an electric height-adjustable desk
- an external display mounted on an Ergotron LX monitor mount
- a mechanical split ergonomic keyboard (Matias)
- an ergonomic mouse (Logitech MX Master)
My setup allows me to stand (which I occasionally do), but it‘s amazing how much difference it makes even when sitting. I can adjust desk / chair / monitor so my arms and neck are in a relaxed position. After a few weeks, the pain in my hand went away.
Getting the right equipment is really important. I have short legs, so standard desks are too high for me. A lot of cheap chairs are not adjustable enough (too high on their lowest setting).
Invest in ergonomics, and consider your entire setup. A trackpad instead of a mouse won‘t help if your wrist is at the wrong angle because of a desk that has the wrong height.
by dpc_pw on 9/7/17, 4:53 AM
The first time, I think, it was because of me over-using AC during the commute. It would blow on my hands, and it struck me as a possible fault one day. After I changed my behavior, the discomfort started to go away in a matter of days, disappearing completely in a week or so.
The second time, it was due to a standing desk at new day-job. I've noticed that I have a bad habit of leaning on my hands when standing at the desk and putting some stress on them. I limited the time I am standing, and I'm more careful about it now.
My point is: watch your body, watch what you're doing, and think what could be affecting you. There is plenty of possible causes, and it's most efficient if you get a good sense of what makes your body hurt. It might be something more medical too, but doesn't have to be.
by uno7 on 9/6/17, 10:08 AM
Now after a few years I can left-hand mouse as if it was my right hand and my right wrist feels fine. When my left wrist starts to feel a bit sore, I just switch back to the right hand for a few days/weeks. Variety of movements helps a lot.
If I was you I would also try to take frequent breaks and do exercise regularly, if you don't already. You will just feel better overall if you're in good shape.
Good luck!
by cbanek on 9/6/17, 7:06 PM
1. Try different mice, as people suggested
2. Watch the height of your desk. Is your desk too high? Is your wrist kinked? I love my sit stand desk for this, sometimes just moving the surface up or down half an inch makes a huge difference. Keep it moving over time so you don't get locked in.
3. Wrist exercises, both stretching and grip strength. Get a pair of grippers from amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Captains-Crush-Hand-Gripper-Point/dp/...)
Working on strengthening your forearm might help as well.
by fauigerzigerk on 9/6/17, 1:31 PM
(a) Switching hands.
(b) Trying to use the mouse and the keyboard without constantly forcing the hand into a horizontal position (right hand thumb pointing left). Instead I got into a habit of holding the mouse in a more (not completely) vertical position (thumb up) and pressing the mouse button with the side of my finger.
by BrendanD on 9/6/17, 3:31 PM
Get a rest-splint for your wrist. Your injuries will not heal without rest.
EDIT: remembered my wrist-splint was bespoke
by seasoup on 9/6/17, 3:55 PM
by sriram_malhar on 9/6/17, 5:02 PM
2. Google "wrist pain stretches". Do them religiously, regularly (every time you have a break) and carefully.
3. Alternate ice and hot towels a few times a day. This really improves recovery time.
4. Work on your posture. Check Esther Gokhale's TED talk.
by Wildgoose on 9/6/17, 2:04 PM
The two things that helped me were: (a) Microsoft Trackball Explorer which is a lovely ergonomically shaped mouse - providing you are right-handed. (b) Tennis ball (or similar) to squeeze which helps build up both sets of muscles and thereby helping "rebalance" your wrist muscles.
by Shikadi on 9/6/17, 5:08 PM
by seren on 9/6/17, 9:43 AM
by anotheryou on 9/6/17, 1:31 PM
For browsing I use browser plugins that help navigating wtih the keyboard (saka keys e.g.)
by jwilliams on 9/7/17, 11:24 AM
by moretai on 9/6/17, 4:26 PM
by pvaldes on 9/6/17, 1:31 PM
by brudgers on 9/6/17, 1:07 PM
Large scale ergonomic are more likely to be the long term problem than the small scale ergonomics of mouse versus trackball.
My second trackball relieved mouse pain for a while, but long sessions at the computer still could produce pain in my mouse hand...or trackball hand as the case may be. Big long lasting improvement came from purchasing a new desk [4] with a well rounded corners where the top plane of the work surface meets the side edges. The large radius (say 1cm or more) eliminates the pressure point where my forearm starts to rest on the desktop.
The folding table pretty much solved my problems with mouse hand pain...when I could use it, but most of the workplaces I've worked in had bring your own desk policies...and one actively upgraded all of us to glass desktops while I worked there because glass desks looked stylish.[5]
So these days, I don't have mouse hand pain because I don't use a mouse (in anger for long periods). I use a laptop with a trackpoint and trackpad. I use as many keyboard shortcuts as I can remember. I try to learn the command line. If I had a touchscreen on my laptop, I'd use that too.
Which of course means I use a laptop to eliminate mouse hand pain. I also use it to eliminate keyboard related pain by sitting the laptop in my lap. Because it sits in my lap, I eliminate the pains associated with finding the perfect office chair and desk combination...and lighting, don't forget the effects of dealing with bad lighting on posture and display positioning. I primarily use a lounge chair [6] instead of a desk.
Finally, I still experience pain from bad ergonomics from time to time. When I do:
+ I identify the coarser grained ergonomic issues.
+ I stretch my hands. Arm extended palm down. With the other hand, bend all the fingers together up and back to and past a right angle. Googling "carpal tunnel stretch" was how I found that.
Good luck.
[1]: Like this with a cheap tiny extra push button added for the second mouse button. http://www.richardlagendijk.nl/foto/cip/joystick_wico_trackb...
[2]: Yes, that's a PS/2 Mouseport. It probably shipped with a DB9 serial port adapter as well. https://d2ydh70d4b5xgv.cloudfront.net/images/e/a/logitech-tr...
[3]: Besides get off my lawn nostalgia and a strange kind of joy that suddenly recollecting the old Amiga trackball brought me seven minutes into the in-head composition of this comment.
[4]: Well actually a folding table with a molded top. Probably similar to this, but I would inspect the corner in person: http://www.globalindustrial.com/p/office/tables/folding/port...
[5]: That's what you get working for a corporate VP of design in an organization where design is pretty pictures.
[6]: Ikea Poang with Ottoman
by lathiat on 9/6/17, 1:05 PM
Though excited by a number of custom ergonomic keyboard designs (a la ergodox etc), I started using the Microsoft Ergonomic keyboards about 2y ago, specifically the Sculpt Ergonomic and later the Surface Ergonomic. That has helped my comfort in that area a lot - and had a relatively low entry price ($100-200 AUD) versus some of the crazier keyboards. I would highly recommend them. The sculpt ergonomic (older version) also had a front rest to raise it to a kind of back angle. The newer Surface Ergonomic does not have that which I miss, but it does have proper arrow keys, home/end/pgup/pgdown and function keys. It also has a number pad which I dislike as it puts my trackpad further to the right, the original Sculpt did not. Either way both of them were a huge improvement and I would recommend either.
Secondarily laptops are DREADFUL for posture, because the screen is very low and the keyboard often quite deep into the desk. I've found this causes both slouching of myself to get to the keyboard and then my neck to look at the monitor. So I gave up using a laptop and now use a desktop - though a keyboard & mouse for your laptop is also a perfectly good solution! I have my monitors raised up off the desk about 10-15cm more than the default stands would allow (even a Dell fancy pants one) and find that is the best comfort for me. There are also various guides online for how to best setup your keyboard & monitor position, relatively also to your chair position. Arm angles etc. I'd suggest finding an authoritative guide and following that.
I also use a trackpad - but not because of wrist issues - I have no idea if that would help or hinder wrist issues (Google might know?). But from using a Mac Laptop with a very good trackpad for many years, I much prefer them to mice (actually I really dislike Mice) and so now I use a Logitech T650 trackpad on my desktop.
I would really like to move to a standing desk but I am a bit prohibited on cost for that one right now. I need to save a little as I think its a worthwild investment - but I think I want a desk that raises and lowers the entire thing as opposed to the vari-desk style systems - partly related to the fact I have 3x24-27" monitors. But it also needs to be fast & quiet.. mmm.... next project.
Lastly I would feel remiss not to refer you to your GP or some other kind of specialist in this area. There are serious problems that can occur and require treatment (a la Carpal Tunnel). You can read all the opinions you like but I was never having real pain of any kind personally, just a bit of discomfort. I decided to tweak my setup for the better. If you're already into the area of pain, having someone look at it and potentially do some scans etc seems like a highly valuable investment into both y our working future and your personal comfort - I am fairly sure these issues can escalate if untreated. Your hands are valuable.. don't mess around and at least investig ate it with professional help!
by apolymath on 9/6/17, 12:43 PM
