Is Horse the New Mouse?

lopati writes "Europhysics News writes about a new ergonomical mouse called Horse (jpeg) that reduces repetitive stress injuries by allowing 'the three middle fingers to adopt a flexed position to relax the tendons' and including a thumb scrool [sic:] wheel. Just a few simple changes for so much more comfort!"

Comments

Kinda like my logitech

[venomkid]

I can (and do) grip my logitech MX1000 in a way that looks like what they're trying to accomplish... Fingers bent a bit, hand relaxed over the top arch. Its buttons extend quite far along the body of the mouse, it's very comfortable.

Alternative placement on a normal mouse.

[PxM]

When you use a mouse, do you have your forearm at an angle to the mouse with your index finger on the left button (assuming right-handedness), your middle finger on the right button, and your ring finger on the "forward" button on 5-button mice? I've found that having my forearm parallel to the mouse with my middle finger on the scroll, my ring finger on the right mouse button, and my pinky on the forward button reduces the stress on my wrist since my wrist is no longer twisted at an odd angle. I was wondering if anyone else did this too.

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Help with

[saitoh]

Since it causes the hand to be in a more downward (as opposed to a straighter possition) if you can find a spare baseball or rubber band ball it gives you a good idea of what this would feel like to use. I happen to have a rubber band ball from a conference I went to in September handy and noticed the similarity when looking at the pic.

Personally, I kind of like it, I can kind of tell the difference with the tendons, but I'm not sure how well it would react in uses where your moving your hand a lot now that the center of where your pressing on the input device (no longer can you just call it a mouse...) seems to be more toward the wrist, so forward or side to side movements would require more effort or at least leverage. Would be interesting to try it out though.

Mouse shape not the problem

[theLOUDroom]

Personally, I find the problem has almost nothing to do with the shape of my mouse.

The most fatiguing aspect my own mousing is wrist-related. While you're using a mouse, your arm is just sort of hanging out there, putting a lot of stress on your wrist.
Think about it, in order to use your mouse, you MUST hold your elbow above the desk the whole time.

Some work has been done to alleviate wrist strain by adding those gel wrist pads, but I think what we really need to see is another pad further back to support your forearm.

The actual standard mouse shape itself is pretty good.
Try this:
Put your hand on your mouse.
Allow it to rotate to a comfortable angle. (For me about 10 deg CCW.)
Freeze your hand and wrist in that position, lift your hand up and look at it.

For me, the result is a very natural even spacing between all my fingers, almost the same you would see if let your arm go limp at your side.

IMO, workstations need more forearm support, not a different-shaped mouse. Take writing for example, you typically rest not just your wrist, but your whole arm on the paper as you write.

Re:New hardware

[Alric]

I don't think the split keyboards were meant to "revolutionize" the human interface with computers. They were introduced as a means to reduce stress on wrists.

I love my split keyboard, and the majority of my MS-oriented professional developer friends all use the split keyboard as well. I was having some my wrist fatigue a couple years ago, but it has disappeared since switching to the more ergonomic keyboard. I'm sure they're not good for everyone, but I am extremely grateful that somebody produces them.

Regarding your main point, slightly improved keyboards and mouses are never going to revolutionize anything. For a revolution, an entirely new input device will be needed.

Re:New hardware

[evilviper]

I was having some my wrist fatigue a couple years ago, but it has disappeared since switching to the more ergonomic keyboard. I'm sure they're not good for everyone, but I am extremely grateful that somebody produces them.

I have to suspect the reduction in fatigue is due to a placebo effect. The split keyboards really put more stress on your wrists in most cases, and they are usually more inclined than a typical keyboard, which is the exact opposite of what you want to reduce stress. Perhaps it's not placebo, perhaps you've started using something else about the same time, such as an elevated wrist wrest, which was the real cause of the stress reduction.

There are REAL ergonomic keyboards out there, and they aren't of the split MS variety...