Ergonomics Computer

Is the 3M Ergonomic Mouse good for RSI sufferers?

Has anyone used the joystick-style 3M Ergonomic Mouse? I suffer from hand/wrist pain and am searching for a more comfortable mouse.

Public Comments

1. I'm sure it works for some people. However, there may be a variety of causes for your wrist pain and it's not clear whether that particular mouse will address the particular problems you're having. The 3M mouse seems to allow you to use a mouse without pronating your forearm. "Pronation" is the term used to describe the rotation your forearm does when you rotate your hands so that the palms are parallel with the floor. Start by holding out one of your forearms as though you're going to shake hands with your palm at a right angle to the floor, then rotate your palm so that it's parallel to the floor. That's pronation. You might be interested to know that there are other devices that address this particular problem. There's a company named Evoluent which makes a line of vertical mice. That might be another option for you. If forearm pronation is related to your particular problems, that's great. However, there are other possible causes. You may be overusing your mousing arm and switching hands or switching to a device like a trackball might be an effective solution. Another possibility is that your preferred mousing position might be causing the problem and a better solution might be to use a keyboard tray to bring your keybord and/or mouse into a more comfortable position. For better or worse there really doesn't seem to be any panacea for these sorts of problems and dealing with them just boils down to trial an error, trying a bunch of things and paying attention to your body and figuring out what works. If you're in a position to get an ergonomic evaluation it can help, but even though they can help point you in the right direction there's still a certain amount of experimentation required. So you may be able to do as just as well by simply reading up on RSI issues and doing a little experimentation. I hope you find a solution that works for you.
2. Perhaps you need to loosen up the hands with some simple exercises. When there is much use of the hands, there is often a mild to moderate displacement of the carpal bones. Will cause pain and even swelling of the capsule around each of those little bones. This occurs when they are out of their normal seating. Is where carpal tunnel syndrome gets its start. You may find by using the other hand to grip your wrist and move it around in many directions, those little bones may find their way back to their proper position. .