OT: ergonomics and vertical mice

[Andrew Gould]

On Wed, Mar 27, 2013 at 4:06 PM, Michael Hipp <michael at redmule.com> wrote:
> On 2013-03-27 1:21 PM, Andrew Gould wrote:
>> Does anyone out there use vertical mice to prevent or alleviate wrist
>> pain?  I was wondering whether keeping the hand in the "handshake"
>> position matters, ergonomically speaking.
>
> I used one for a while during a period when I was having lots of arm and
> hand pain. The idea of putting the hand in a vertical position seems
> logical but I just didn't care for it. Seemed the dexterity, speed and
> positional accuracy suffered greatly. And it just seemed to bring about
> a different set of discomforts. So I abandoned it after a while.
>
> I went to see a local chiropractor a few times for the various pains I
> was having and he did me a lot of good. I now use a normal mouse with
> one of the Microsoft Natural "humpback" keyboards and don't have much
> trouble.
>
> I also swapped out most of my editors for ones with Vim mappings. I
> believe this also helped a lot.
>
> But all the above is just FWIW. keyboards, mice, chairs, monitors,
> seating positions are very individual things and each person will have
> to find what works best.
>
> Michael
>

Michael,

Thanks for the input.  The idea of using keys more and mice less makes
sense.  I'll finally justify buying my vi cheat-sheet coffee mug!

I saw a massage therapist yesterday.  Based on her observations of my
right shoulder, she thought that the problem was far more likely to be
the positioning of the mouse than the axis of my hand.  I ordered a
mouse pad that attaches to the arm rest of my chair, which should fix
that problem.  I also found a vertical mouse for $16, so I decided to
give it a try.

Thanks again,

Andrew