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Ergonomic Mice Reviewed
Gregg writes "Most of the time these mice are marketed towards people suffering from RSI, however anyone feeling discomfort using a regular mouse should be able to switch to any of these pointing devices that were created with ergonomics, and only ergonomics in mind. TechSpot's comparison includes three products: the Perific Wireless Dual Mouse, 3M Ergonomic 'Renaissance' Mouse, and Evoluent's VerticalMouse 2." From the article: "People are sometimes under the impression that only those who work at a computer all day are at risk of repetitive stress injuries (RSI). Unfortunately that is not true and even people spending an hour or two per day using a computer are now suffering from RSI. Even if you aren't going to purchase ergonomic products for your everyday use, there are still some very helpful tips on how to lower the risk of someday suffering from RSI. Many specialists recommend taking short breaks after long periods of computer use to reduce risk. It is also a good idea to do a few quick and simple hand/wrist stretches that will help make sure you are doing your best to try and stay healthy."
Mine's the old style: furry and with a little tail. I give it a little water, some pellets twice a day, and it just runs around on its little wheel and is happy.
I gave up work!
Honestly it's the best thing I ever did. I recommend it to anyone that doesn't like working.
I used to have a better sig but it broke.
Mac users may want to stay away from the Evoluent mouse because you'll need to spend $20 for a USB Overdrive to program all of the buttons.
While this is certainly a good thing to be aware of, I disagree that it's a reason to avoid this mouse. First of all, USB Overdrive good software - I don't use it myself but it has a good reputation. Second, the software is not actually required to use the mouse - Mac OS X fully supports the second button for contextual menus and the wheel for scrolling, and the third button works in Safari, Firefox 1.5, and probably other apps.
Finally, just about ANY mouse is going to require this software to make use of the fourth and fifth buttons, because mouse makers don't make their own Mac drivers. Some manufacturers may bundle it instead of making you buy it separately (I think Microsoft does this), so you should definitely consider that as part of the cost of the mouse, but that doesn't mean you should avoid this mouse, or any other, just for that reason.
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Might Mouse, here he comes to save the day!!
Trackballs, as someone's mentioned, are the way to go. You might have to try a couple before you find the one that works for you (Kensington Orbit, Logitech Trackman, etc.), but it's worth the try. Several injured people in my office have switched and are happier.
What I am annoyed about (it's always something, innit?) is that there are NO Bluetooth trackballs! Hello Logitech! It might be a small segment of your market, but I think there are enough of us who are very, very interested. Especially to go with our shiny new iMacs and their wireless BT keyboards. My trackball cord is abotu the only one in sight on my desktop, but a BT version is the only thing I'd trade it for. Neither Kensington nor Logitech seem to be interested.
(There is one weird-looking, unappealing BT trackball image circulating, but I have yet to hear of anyone actually finding it for purchase, and what I really want is one of the two more common trackballs.)
Seriously, I'm a Model M keyboard nut, and I'm just as comitted to my trackball. These things are like gold on eBay (no relation to seller). If you haven't used one of these (set the upper white thumb button to dounle-click), you haven't lived. This is the best pointer device I've ever used.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
My personal favourite, the MouseTrapper. Completely mechanic, can use whatever old mouse you have lying around, and the motion you use are completely different from a regular mouse. It also doesn't break. I personally cannot use any mouse, not even those 'ergonomic' ones, as I will feel it in my wrists in a couple of days. I usually use a laptop with touchpad, but when I sit behind a desktop machine, this thingy really helps.
My hands were so bad that I considered getting out of the computer area alltogether. As a last resort I bought a Wacom Graphire 3 board, and all my problems disappeared. The pen is very light and the angle of the forearm is just the same as when writing with a regular pen.
It takes a while getting used to, but was worth it, my hands are so good these days that I even spend time playing games and stuff again, very nice.
Linux support is good enough.
Most of them are big as houses are requires you to move your entire hand to move the damn thing around the desk. If anything, this increases the risk of getting "mouse arm".
The way to use a mouse, is to rest your wrist on the desk, and move the mouse with your fingertips. None of these ergonomic ones allow you to do that. Instead, they force you to move your entire arm, increasing stress on the shoulder.
Someone should tell the mouse manufacturers that the problem isn't that the hand isn't resting "comfortably" around the mouse, but rather that the user moves and strains his shoulder.
I started taking glucosamine and chondroitin to see if it would help a problem in my neck, and was amazed to find that my fingers felt like they had been hit with dollop of WD-40. Pain that I had sublminated was suddenly gone, and I can now do things that used to cause me agony, like hold a bowling ball or open a jar.
I recommend anyone who uses a computer all day long even if they don't notice any pain try this stuff for a week and see whether it makes a difference.
As with almost all higher-end mice, these seem aimed at primarily or entirely right-handed use. Left-handed mouse users are almost completely stuck with 2 or 3 button mice that are longitudinally symmetrical and thus work with either hand. I'd love one of the high end logitech laser mice but it's impossible to use in any reasonable fashion with the left hand. Yet I find most left-handed people have given up and just use the mouse with the right hand, which makes very little sense -- mousing with the left hand on a standar keyoard reduces by 3x-4x the distance required to move the arm to change from keyboard to mouse and allows the right hand to use the keypad or other control-type key clusters easily. I chose to use the left hand with the mouse on my first mouse-enabled machine ~18 years ago (I'm not strongly handed either way, but use left for some tasks and right for others) and am amazed that the mouse manufacturers treat 10% of the population this way. Logitech doesn't even answer my emails.
People at my company who have RSI usually just request a track ball mouse. They seen to help quite a bit, are fairly common, and relatively cheap. That's basically what the first one, the Perific mouse, is but with a small ball. I don't see how that's actually better than a trackball which has a much larger ball. Repetitive small movements are hard on the wrist (I know from hammering in nails in weird parts of houses for Habitat for Humanity).
EvilCON - Made Famous by
For less than $20 I modded a cheap mouse so that I can have one of these "vertical" mice at home. It's a lot cheaper than the 3M model. Also you can adjust it to fit your hand exactly.
Simon.
If the glucosamine and chondroitin don't work for you, there are therapies that will. Active Release Technique (ART) is great for RSI and other repetitive injuries (I'm a runner and triathlete, I've used ART to treat various problems).
The company where I work has an ART practitioner come on site 2 mornings a week to treat RSI and other problems. Several of my friends and colleagues have been rteated on site. It's a pretty cool benefit.
BTW - I don't do ART for a living, I'm a programmer, so don't consider this an advertisement.
Alan.
No. You may think it is, but in fact your knuckles are bearing some of the load by resting on the floor.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
I experienced serious pain from using the scroll wheel.n omicmouse.html
Why, Microsoft, why? Why did you place such a tempting button halfway down the longest finger, why? The tendons that control the bending motion for that finger extend through over six inches of flesh from the finger tips to the muscles in the upper arm. These tendons saw back and forth across several nerves, blood vessels, and tiny bones when when you use the scroll wheel.
I now swear by the Goldtouch optical mouse. Like the Evoluent VerticalMouse, it sits at a slant to place your hand in a more natural position. However, the scroll wheel has been moved from its middle-finger position to a bi-directional button at the side. The scroll button is operated by the thumb, which evolved large muscles at its base to perform this exact bending motion.
I have one of these mice for home and one for work: http://www.keyovation.com/ergonomics/product/ergo
I don't know why people still use mice, human index fingers are simply not made to make a clicking motion so many times in a day.
After working as a video editor using a mouse for a couple of months the pain in my index finger became so bad that I had to use my middle finger to keep on working.
After I got pen & tablet the pains resided, touching the tablet with a pen gives the so much less stress, not to mention that it feels much more efficient than a mouse.
Sure, decent tablets cost a whole lot more than mice but since we're talking about one of the primary ways we interact with computers here (and most of use spend several hours a day using them) I consider it money well spent.
I've tried TouchPads, trackballs, and various mice. After 20 years of computing, here are four things that I recommend to everyone:
1. Learn how to type by touch. It isn't difficult.
2. Reduce your clicks: use X-mouse focussing. (If you use Windows, install Microsoft's TweakUI Powertoy. If you use X, you have the setting somewhere.)
3. Keep your forearms flat on your desk. Adjust your chair's height if you must.
4. Use a REAL ergonomic keyboard, one with the split-key design. (Any keyboard that does not have the split-key design is ~not~ ergonomic.)
Rich And Stupid is not so bad as Working For Rich And Stupid.
I'm a 23 year old programmer, and I already have bad carpal tunnel in my right arm, and sorta bad in my left. I was so bad that I'd get tingling and a dull pain in my wrist after 15 minutes of computer use.
I say "had" because sometime around March I bought one of the 3M Ergonomic Mice. It was the best $50 I ever spent. The mouse is shaped like a joystick and has 3 buttons. It was hard to aim at first, but after a week I was back to 90% accuracy. (100% after 2 weeks). After adjusting I can play FPS games at my old skill level.
I started a new job in May, and I used an old-style mouse. After a month the pain came back, and I got my employer to purchase me one for work.
I can now use a computer all day, and have no pain at all in my wrist! I now look forward to a lifetime of happy mousing!
I've put a trackball on the floor, and I'm spinning the ball with my toes. That spares my hands and lets me leave my fingers in the home position for touch typing on the keyboard.
The trackball only has two buttons and I need three for X11 on FreeBSD so I've started the mouse demon with
"-3" gives me three button emulation, "-E" adjusts how simultaneous the left and right buttons have to be to count as the middle button. I boost it from 100ms to 500ms to accomodate my relative lack of coordination when I try to click both buttons with my toes