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Subject:Re: Help! Need an ergonomic mouse From:"Linda K. Sherman" <linsherm -at- GTE -dot- NET> Date:Fri, 14 Aug 1998 17:18:47 -0400
I started having problems a couple years ago. I have found that they
have been greatly alleviated by simply getting in the habit of taking my
hands off the mouse and/or keyboard when I'm in thinking mode. I noticed
that I tend to sit with my hand on the mouse or keyboard while I'm
studying the screen. I've also tried to get in the habit of using more
keyboard commands and less mousing around.
A friend of mine recently taught me how to do some /*gentle*/ stretching
exercises. The general idea is to only stretch until you feel a little
resistance. Repeatedly doing this supposedly helps loosen up the muscle
and tendon fibers that cause these problems. If anybody is interested I
will try to find out more about this.
I tried trackballs and found that in my case they made things worse, but
the same friend who taught me the stretching exercises said his problems
largely went away when he switched to a trackball. I also have an IBM
keyboard with the trackpoint, but I find it hard to control. I recommend
IBM keyboards for other reasons (they last forever, never develop soft
or sticky key problems, and seem to be able to absorb endless quantities
of Diet Pepsi and Nacho Cheese Doritos) but not for the trackpoint.
I have also been fooling around with a copy of Dragon's speech
recognition system in hopes that I could use my hands less and my mouth
more (some friends of mine are probably wishing I wouldn't!). I haven't
had time to really "train" it yet, but it does seem to work and it might
be worth looking into for people who are doing a lot of word processing
(it's not much good for anything else, as far as I can tell.)
Finally, on the subject of using mice to draw graphics: if you are doing
a lot of this you might want to get a tablet device instead. They're
much easier and faster to use than a mouse, even if you don't have RSS
problems. They're expensive but still cheaper than paying workman's
comp, and you can probably justify it to your boss on the grounds of the
time you'll save, although it took me about a week to really get used to
using one.
