Compensating for RSl/mouse hand

Raging_Ninja

So at long last, one of those common afflictions has finally struck me and I'm having difficulty using my mouse for extended periods of time without ibuprofen. It's the clicking that's doing me in - the knuckle on the ring finger of my right hand is swollen for weeks now.

While waiting for a consultation, am thinking of getting a pen mouse or similar to see if will make a difference.

Any recommendations?

Talisman

I've used a Logitech trackball for almost 10 years and found it very good. It took a couple of weeks to get used to but keeping the hand at rest helps reduce inflammation.

14ned

Firstly, you really want to deal with it as soon as possible by whatever means are necessary. The longer you leave it, the more scarring and damage and future disability you'll create for yourself.

The very first thing you should do, right now, is swap hand for the mouse. Right at this very moment. Don't use your injured hand for the mouse again.

The second thing is to buy a quality trackball, one with a very big ball. A Kensington Expert is what I use, they're about a hundred euro. Use it with your OTHER hand, not the injured one.

The third thing is to never use that hand after 6pm at night, not for anything. Most of RSI is accumulated damage from repetitive use when tired. So cut out all use after 6pm. Give your hand and arm time to heal.

Those above will make a big difference, but you need to be religious about observing them. If after a month it's not fully healed, you need to go further:

1. Strength training of all your muscles several times a week. Vigorous swimming is very effective.
2. Regular visits to a sports physio. They'll apply deep - and I mean deep - tissue massage and application of hot and cold to the tendons and muscles used in typing and clicking. This is extremely painful, but very effective. You'll be as surprised as I was to learn that desk workers will keyboard and mouse damage is not an insignificant part of their business.
3. Deep stretches throughout the day based on an alarm going off. Soaking of RSI regions in very hot water, followed by ice water, back into hot repeatedly twice a day.

It is curable. I lost most of the use of my right arm due to RSI. One year of painful treatment later it's back to full use. But honestly, nip it in the bud ASAP.

Niall

Raging_Ninja

I've booked an appointment for physio tomorrow and had already ordered a well-reviewed mouse to assist. Have been using my current mouse left-handed for a couple of days now. Will see what happena.

Coinsguy

14ned wrote: »

Firstly, you really want to deal with it as soon as possible by whatever means are necessary. The longer you leave it, the more scarring and damage and future disability you'll create for yourself.

The very first thing you should do, right now, is swap hand for the mouse. Right at this very moment. Don't use your injured hand for the mouse again.

The second thing is to buy a quality trackball, one with a very big ball. A Kensington Expert is what I use, they're about a hundred euro. Use it with your OTHER hand, not the injured one.

The third thing is to never use that hand after 6pm at night, not for anything. Most of RSI is accumulated damage from repetitive use when tired. So cut out all use after 6pm. Give your hand and arm time to heal.

Those above will make a big difference, but you need to be religious about observing them. If after a month it's not fully healed, you need to go further:

1. Strength training of all your muscles several times a week. Vigorous swimming is very effective.
2. Regular visits to a sports physio. They'll apply deep - and I mean deep - tissue massage and application of hot and cold to the tendons and muscles used in typing and clicking. This is extremely painful, but very effective. You'll be as surprised as I was to learn that desk workers will keyboard and mouse damage is not an insignificant part of their business.
3. Deep stretches throughout the day based on an alarm going off. Soaking of RSI regions in very hot water, followed by ice water, back into hot repeatedly twice a day.

It is curable. I lost most of the use of my right arm due to RSI. One year of painful treatment later it's back to full use. But honestly, nip it in the bud ASAP.

Niall

As someone that's young and been to the doctor about pains in my hands for the last few months, thanks for this. I got told to go to a physio about it but haven't done it yet thinking "it can't be worth it, it'll get better".

Raging_Ninja

So I've been told I was right to be taking ibuprofen, but that instead of taking the minimum to get through the day (since I don't like self-medicating) I should be taking the maximum dosage, 400mg 3 times a day for a week and ice the hand a few times a day.

The issue is the tendon in the arm being strained - it was dry-needled and have been given a couple of exercises to do and a hard, spiked plastic ball to rub hard into the arm to loosen it out.

New ergonomic mouse is here and I've been using it throughout the day - kind of awkward at the moment and a bit uncomfortable due to the new positioning but am sure that will sort itself out in a few days.

All in all things are looking up.

bilbot79

Do what I did. Use the wrong hand.

It works. No matter how much you think it won't.

srsly78

Luckily I haven't suffered from this yet - likely because of good ergonomic setup. Keep wrists straight and this issue can be avoided. Make sure desk and chair are the right height, position of arm rests is important.

beauf

There's generally something you are doing that's causing it. Bad position, some repetitive task. Might even something on your phone.

I find desk height to seat height very important in keeping the wrist flat and unstressed.

14ned

bilbot79 wrote: »

Do what I did. Use the wrong hand.

It works. No matter how much you think it won't.

For those who type a lot (usually not programmers, they mostly scroll), moving over to the Dvorak key layout can help a lot. QWERTY puts a lot of repetitive strain on a few tendons. Dvorak spreads the load much more equally.

However, most programmers spend most of their time reading, not typing. So scrolling and clicking is done a lot, puts lots of load on the pressing motion.

This is why a large trackball is much better. Scrolling is done using rotation of the circle around the ball using your thumb and other fingers in a rotary motion. Left and right keys are far apart, forcing you to move your arm when moving between the keys. Much more variety of motion than with a mouse, and thus much less cause of RSI.

Niall

Trojan

I use a vertical mouse, puts a lot less pressure on the wrist. The one I use is a Perixx 513.

PrzemoF

Get a graphical pen tablet. I got a Wacom, A4 size and never looked back. The problems with finger & wrist are gone. It took me ~2 weeks to convert. The downside - it requires more space on the desk, but the health is well worth finding the space.

The_B_Man

I'm starting to get a sore knuckle on my left hand, from using this macbook in work (scrolling on mouse pad).
Can anyone recommend me a good keyboard and mouse than I can use instead?

srsly78

Get a docking station. Laptops are not suitable for extended use.

14ned

srsly78 wrote: »

Get a docking station. Laptops are not suitable for extended use.

It depends on what you're doing with it.

As someone formerly with a now cured RSI, I still do several hours per day on my MacBook Pro 13 (2016 i.e. the even smaller one), as my time commuting on the train is the sole time in the day I get to do actual programming (day contract is 100% bug fixing). And one's posture on the train is far from ideal, usually one is squeezed into a window seat, no ability to put elbows by side naturally.

But I'll tell you why it doesn't cause RSI: it's damn uncomfortable on the train. So you keep moving around all the time trying to be less uncomfortable. That shifts your posture frequently, and thus prevents repetitive strain.

I can't say it frequently enough: best prevention of RSI is a very good chair. Very good chairs are subtly uncomfortable. Not enough to be tiring, but just enough to force you to adjust yourself throughout the day. Such chairs typically cost about a grand new (or more). Worth every penny, they are night and day compared to the "chairs" most employers supply.

Laptop keyboards nowadays are very good, almost universally so except on the very cheapest consumer tat. And the cramped layout isn't necessary a problem - I wrote a 120k word book on a 10" Intel Atom notebook. No RSI problems. Why? Great chair, plus back then I smoked, so I was taking constant, regular breaks.

Niall