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A mouse on a desktop computer is an essential input device, even with the era of touch screens.
It’s something that we spend a lot of the day holding and moving and therefore can cause its own stresses on our body.
Wellnomics published some research in 2007 about computer use in organisations. One element it found is that the average worker studied used a computer 12.4 hours a week, with 6.9 hours of mouse usage and an amazing 7,400 mouse clicks!
Admittedly this is some years ago now and, personally, I feel like I massively exceed this in my day to day work.
With that in mind, it’s worth investing in something that will minimise strain.
I bought the Evoluent VerticalMouse (I have the 3rd iteration) for this reason. It can be strange to describe, which I usually do by saying “it’s a computer mouse on its side”.
You can imagine turning your normal mouse on it’s side edge and having the laser tracker (or trackball) on that side edge. Obviously the shape of the hardware and buttons is slightly different to accommodate this.
It’s a very effective way to reduce strain in the wrist and shoulder, simply by rotating the hand (and therefore wrist and forearm) 45 degrees out away from the body.
By doing this it frees the wrist and forearm to be in a more natural position when using the mouse. If you are body aware you can also feel this in the shoulder, with a subtle shift in the scapula bone moving down a little so as to release stress on the neck and upper shoulder muscles.
I find this style mouse very comfortable to use and really reduces any kind of repetitive strain type feeling in my mouse hand.
It is something a little different to get used to, but as with all things, this comes relatively quickly when you work with something a lot.
People who come to my desk do find it a little strange at first, however they often comment on what a good, yet simple, design this is and how effective it can be after only a short amount of time.
