Re: OT: was back pain, now mouse-hand pain

[tEd ® KiLLiAn <tedkillian@charter.net>]

Tilmann,

I'm sure others will come up with a variety of very good solutions and 
suggestions too.

I used to suffer with pain and fatigue in my right arm and shoulder 
from using a mouse (I'm right-handed).

I'm a graphic designer and make a living with my computer, so I 
couldn't very well stop feeding my family.

Now I use a track ball (a Kensington Orbit) and have none of that 
difficulty whatsoever.

Sometimes it's not that you have to stop doing what you're doing, but 
change something a little so you're using different muscles.

Good luck!

Ted


On May 13, 2009, at 10:08 PM, Tilmann Dehnhard wrote:

> dear fellow loopers, please be very careful with the computer mouse.
> after mixing a recording using almost only the mouse i had terrible 
> pain in the hand and inflammation around the elbow. my right hand got 
> slow and kind of numb. i changed to the left hand for a year. took 
> some serious conditioning to stop reaching for the mouse with the 
> right hand...
> today i am able to switch hands whenever fatigue and stress build up.
> letting go of the mouse when not in use and simply moving and 
> massaging the fingers regularly has helped me, too.
>
> one of the main problems is that the mouse-clicking finger joints do 
> experience stress from the operation. unfortunately the movement is 
> too small to trigger blood circulation and other recreative measures 
> usually maintained by the body.
> this was discovered when a condition surfaced called the "sms-thumb" - 
> a terrible stinging pain in the thumb from using cellulars for 
> messaging.
>
> best - tilmann
>