Anyone got mouse hand?

[TimberWolf]

Worn down skin on the palms, presumably caused by excessive mouse manoeuvres, or a cheap, shiny, hard mouse mat? Specifically the skin over the jutty-out bone on the little-finger-side near the wrist is worn out? As illustrated below:



I've worn the skin down, which is red and tender and has a flat shiny plateau. I also note that I tend to lean on that hand when manoeuvring and a fair bit of weight goes through that point, rather than the mouse so that I don't put weight on it and break it to bits. Maybe I just need more room for less weighty mouse manoeuvrings? No I don't want to go on a mouse training course.

Anyone else suffering from mouse hand?

[AtW]

Ok, this sounds like RSI.

If you want to stay healthy then get proper trackballs:

1) Kensington Orbit Optical Trackball - trackball : Read reviews and compare prices at Ciao.co.uk - for left hand or both if you can handle it

2) Microsoft optical trackball for right hand:



Those are very rare - costs used £50-70 on Ebay, £100 new (from USA) - you'll be bidding against me as well so no sniping tulip please!

Also I recommend Microsoft Natural Keyboard - not the new tulip ones but proper stuff:



Don't bother bidding for one of those on Ebay - I am pretty much buying every single one I can get...

[hyperD]

TimberWolf, ouch...not pleasant.

You could try alleviating the problem by having a chair with arm rests? That might take some of the weight bearing down on your mouse hand. Chair setup is so very important in our line of work. I've already mentioned many times about Posturite chairs that I should be on commission!

[VectraMan]

Are you using your left hand, or just posted the wrong handed pic?

In the years since I started using the mouse left handed (I'm right handed), I've had far less of these sorts of problems. I do use a natural keyboard too.

[TimberWolf]

Are you using your left hand, or just posted the wrong handed pic?

In the years since I started using the mouse left handed (I'm right handed), I've had far less of these sorts of problems. I do use a natural keyboard too.

The hand illustrated was the best I could find and it is indeed wrong-handed. Using the mouse left handed would put me into non-desk space. I'm sitting awkward and a bit cramped. Anyway my hand is much recovered now, though the skin is flat and calloused. My desk is too low too.

[d000hg]

1) Kensington Orbit Optical Trackball - trackball : Read reviews and compare prices at Ciao.co.uk - for left hand or both if you can handle it

I had one like that once, the ball was the size of a snooker ball nearly and great for playing with when 'thinking' since it simply sat in the pad and could be lifted out.
I never really got used to it though. Now I just use an ergonomic mouse.

[Spacecadet]

try working less hard

Seriously though, try the following all at once

Get a new smaller mouse
change the mouse settings to that movement is more sensitive
retrain yourself to hold the mouse with your hand fully on top of it so the heel of your hand is off the desk

I tend to lean my arm on the edge of the desk so that, by cantilever action, my hand is kept clear of the desk surface. A 1 inch mouse movement left to right will get the mouse pointer from one end of the screen to the other.

[TimberWolf]

try working less hard

Seriously though, try the following all at once

Get a new smaller mouse
change the mouse settings to that movement is more sensitive
retrain yourself to hold the mouse with your hand fully on top of it so the heel of your hand is off the desk

I tend to lean my arm on the edge of the desk so that, by cantilever action, my hand is kept clear of the desk surface. A 1 inch mouse movement left to right will get the mouse pointer from one end of the screen to the other.

A man-sized mouse would be cool. Mine is way too short too allow mouse+hand manoeuvres, without necessitating hand-heel mat dragging, either that or the buttons wouldn't be reachable without claw-fist. The mouse would need to be about double its current size to allow this though.

[scooterscot]

i use a trackpad...

http://forums.contractoruk.com/gener...-trackpad.html

[Spacecadet]

A man-sized mouse would be cool. Mine is way too short too allow mouse+hand manoeuvres, without necessitating hand-heel mat dragging, either that or the buttons wouldn't be reachable without claw-fist. The mouse would need to be about double its current size to allow this though.

move your hand further forward on the mouse so the heel of your hand is off the desk, most modern mouse buttons overlap the front of the mouse so they should still be usable, unless you are doing a lot of precision mouse work.